Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-04-13
OVERTAX THE BRAIN
MOST PEOPLE DO ENTIRELY TOO
MUCH THINKING.
exhaust the Cells of Their "BesE
Friend" by Unnecessary Thought
Effort-Not Difficult to Check
This Bad Habit.


"The brain Is mans most faithfui
friend, and would be mans best COM
uanion il he understood it better.
said a prominent specialist.
I use the word brain to comprehep1
what we term the miud and the pfr
cess of thinking, and not as physical
object or q medium which directs cur
actions or thoughts which we, or the
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
dude, always raises laugh when with
a vacant stare and set features ne
speaks his lines about the effort OF
thinking and the wearying effect such
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
to 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
terest1ng 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
tivity, which fills the insane asylums,
produces nervous wrecks in other in
dividuals 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 will 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
sible 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
a tremendous amount OF unnecessary
thought effort upon the simples; 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 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
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,
disguised though it is with such shah
by treatment, goes on doing the best
it can for its 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 suo-
cessful practice, and | commend it to
men of active minds, especially p10
fessional men, for it will be found to
lessen nervous tension, soothe the
temper, promote the appetite and pro
duce good nature in otherwise nerV-
Gus, melancholy people"