Sharp County record., 1906-10-26
OVERTAX THE BRAIN
MOST PEOPLE DO ENTIRELY TOO
MUCH THINKING.
Exhaust the Cells of Their "ses'
Friend" by Unnecessary Thought
Etort-Not Difficult to Check
This Bad Habit.

"The brain is mans most lalthIui
friend. and would be mans best com,
nanion if he understood it better,
said a prominent specialist.
4 use the word brain to comprehend
what we term the mind and the pro-
cess of thinking, and not as physlcai
object or a medium which directs our
actions or thoughts which we, or tne
animate spirit, directs us, just as
theorists please to take tive VIII
look upon it as a thing with which we
may hold communion and proceed
upon that hypothesis.
On the stage the prize idiot IN the
cast usually young nobleman or a
dude, always raises laugh when WIN
a vacant stare and set features ne
speaks his lines about the effort OF
thinking and the wearying eHect sucn
a mental process produces upon MS
physical being. He really speaks
greater truth than either he or the
audience takes in, for thinking IS an
effort, be the thought itself ever so
frothy and ephemeral, and could we
lessen the process of thought at WILL
as an engineer applies the air brakes
70 his train. much of the trouble and
disease in life would vanish like the
meadow vapor before the rays OF the
rising sun.
1T is this impossible process entire
" to still what is called the thinking
process which is one of the most IN
teresting studies of the specialist, for
it is, plainly speaking, the inability
of the individual to eliminate certain
thoughts. or a certain thought, from
the brain cells, or to still it into mac
tiyitv. which fills the insane asylums,
produces nervous wrecks in other IN
diyiduals and causes trouble, confu-
sion and chaos all around in every
day life.
Persons to whom this fact appeals
should endeavor to take their own
brain into communion with their own
nerves; to set it up as another per-
son, with whom they may hold con-
verse and the objective and subjec.
tive mind admits of this through con.
scious action, and in some happy and
fortunate individuals through uncon-
scious action.
"A little practice viii make this pos.
sible to the student, though his prog
ress will be by degrees and not in
one jump. He should first understand
that thinking is largely matter of
habit; that the brain is one of the
most willing organs in his body at his
command, and, honest and faithful
as it is to him, will respond to his
calls upon it. He should, therefore,
give it as much needed rest as pos
sble by the process of sleep, and
during waking hours by not calling
upon it for thought except when neces'
sary. The average person will put
tremendous amount of unnecessary
thought effort upon the simplest every.
day matter Of life.
again, he will allow his objective
mind to cling to one or several
thoughts with persistent tenacity. In
this event he wears out particular
cells of his best friend, and where
this habit is maintained he often be.
comes a nuisance to his friends and
family by developing into what is
termed a crank and at times he ex'
hausts these same cells in this man
ner, and lands in the asylum.
Most people use their brains too
much, either in utter idle waste or
in overconcentrated work, and when
their best friend begins to show a
mild resentment by showing signs OF
fatigue they ply it with stimulants
which science or the distillery have
placed at their disposal. Even under
these mean circumstances the brain,
disgusted though it is with such shah
by treatment, goes on doing the best
it can for it's owner until temporarily
insensibility, insanity or death en-.
sues.
1t will be found that cooperation
with the brain in the process of still.
ing thought is not as difficult as would
be supposed for the brain will re.
main quiescent if you will only per.
nit it, and become strengthened there
by, just as it will respond to the limit
of exhaustion when called upon. This
theory is very easily evolved into sue.
cessful practice, and l commend it to
men of active minds, especially pro.
fessional men, for it will be found to
lessen nervous tension, sootho the
temper, promote the appetite and pro.