The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-05-26
WORRY REACTS UPON
THE PHYSICAL BEING
A Sick Mind Soon Disturbs the Whole
Body and Casts Shadow
Over Others,
BY FRANCES sHAFFER.

Sometime when things have gone all
wrong or when just one thing hangs over
US with a weight that simply will not
lift. maybe. If we are very wise there
will be tonic in the words OF James Rus
sell Lowell
There is no good in arguing with the
inevitable. The only argument available
with an east wind is to put on your over
coat"
Isn't it blunt? And isn't 1t sometimes
sickening-but isn't 1t true?
And just because II is so horribly true
the very straightforward LONELINESS of
the argument in self-defense is worth
learning. word for. word. But the worst
of 1t is that it is infinitely easier to learn
how to overcome than II is to forget and
TO drive out the worry once 1t has taken
its gripping. ugly hold upon the mind.
1T will not let you eat, nor talk, nor
sleep''-yet they tell US that a strong will
would conquer his unnecessary. fruitless
grieving.
When wee child persistently worries
and cries over something he cannot have,
We try by every art known to grownups
to make him forget, TO turn his mind in a
different channel and to accept the thing
next best to his baby dreams And when
he will not, when he tearfully struggles
and protests in all his tiny might that it
is that or nothing, we older folks some
times grow impatient and force him-if
we can.
And yet
Very Like the Child.
How very like we are to the little
struggler! We know the thing is be-
yond our reach. know that worry will
not bring 1t an inch nearer, know, alas,
that while we are fretting and worry
ing about it, happiness and mental peace
are quite likely to go by for they take
very easy flight sometimes. And il is
generally the human craving for happi-
ness and personal well-being in one form
or another that Is responsible for our
long days and nights of worry.
We know, too. that worry reacts upon
the physical self, for a sick mind soon
disturbs the whole body; and we realize
that il casts its ugly shadow upon 9TH
ers, the home-folk, the friends we love
and all.
Remembering how earnestly we try to
make tho little ones forget. to think of
something different and to reach out for
another plaything, Ii In strange how fu-
tile are all our wiles when the trouble
Is within. We do not see any silver
lining to our dark. dark cloud. have not
the heart to look, and ike the child,
nothing else will suffice; I've do not even
try to find substitute.
Practical Advice.
Lowell says, Put on your overcoat"
when you simply must face the strong,
biting wind. Surely in every normal life
there are plenty Of times when we bit
terlY naad
will make II easier to go on; there are
times without number when there is
ground sufficient for worry.
But did you ever stop to analyze your
state OF mind at time when there
really was something to excuse, IL not
to warrant, worry? And have YOU
noticed how persistently you cling to
the one wearing. grinding thought? II
else obtrudes with a sweeter.
brighter suggestion. somehow II is pushed
aside. without even an effort to hold fast
to the healing mental visitor. And again.
we are just like the child; we do not
try to find remedy; yet the only ar
gument available with an east wind is
to put on your overcoat"
Do you recall Abraham Lincoln's mot. |
to when trouble came to him? And
this, too. win pass" That was his ref |
nge when grief or disappointments set
tied about him. and it embodies the doc |
trine of "a day at a time"
Might Overcome SOME of Them,
1t is not possible to wipe out the trou-
oles and not easy to forget hurts that |
must come with the passage of time;
put IL we tried harder to find some on
yet. in healing thought or healthful ac-
ivity, there 10 little doubt that we might