The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1914-07-31

ioie'eT IN a straight line with TIL
same velocity unless acted upon b,
some other force which compels
change. This property is known n
inertia. Inertia is not force, but II
the result of absorbing force.
Inc hardest thing we have to over
come in ourselves Is mental inertia
An idea once formed will persist unit
stronger one overwhelms it and
alters 1t. This 10 the foundation OF
habit and the reason the past has &C
strong hold on US always. The past
is the line OF least resistance and
leaning on 1t is highly characteristic
or one with slothful intellect, the ira
dition worshiper, the dawdling con.
servative.
We are naturally conservative be,
cause 1t requires an initial effort to up
root old notions and habits; II Ia pain
iul and we resent IT. We want to be
,et alone.
IL because of some indiscretion we
mao a pain yesterday for which by
recommendation of authority we took
something out Of a bottle, 1t is easier
TO repeat the act again today than 1t
ID TO determine the cause or to ignore
the temporary penalty of pain and re-
solve TO sin no more. To repeat an
act is usually to follow the line Of
ieast resistance. 1t requires less
thought and less effort with each
repetition until finally an automatic
cycle OF reaction is established and a
habit is born.
With the track once laid, word
spoken, the flash of sign before the
eye, the most remotely associated idea,
each serves as signal for a train of
thought bringing into action automatic
ally complicated line of co-ordinating
nerve centers, and the act is again per
formed practically involuntarily, often
unconsciously.
This is why the drunkard is in a
perilous condition If he contents him
self merely with saying or swearing
that he will avoid strong drink.
Thought precedes action and therefore
II thought be not clearly focused on
some wholesome dominant idea it
must inevitably revert to the estab-
lished line
To rescue one permanently from
habit we must have an equivalent in
some mental occupation sufficiently at
tractive to submerge the old impress
sions, else ones vitality will be squan-
OIL In itu 10
sist drink or drugs or bad habits in
general is because of inertia.
If one is weak it is difficult to gen.
crate sufficient power to overcome the
accumulated force of the little act fire.
quently repeated, and one becomes a
slave to habit
Habits may be good or bad; both |
are the natural and inevitable result |
OF training. For the future must grow |
out OF and inherit the present, Just as |
the present grew out of and inherited |
the past. Intelligence gives thorough |
good habits, good health and
happiness. Ignorance or Indifference
gives bad training, vicious' habits, dis
ease and crime. Bad habits can be
surely and safely broken. not by sub
'titution, nor by cures, nor by miracles,
but only by a frank and COURAGEOUS
of the true conditions and
sane development out of them.
The fundamental necessity for the
correction of bad habits Is intellectual
ntegrity-a rare quality. The most
iifficult and unpleasant duty we have
o perform, but one absolutely neces-
AIRY if we would have good health and
'e able to use the greatest power
within the reach of man. thought. is to
'e square and truthful with ourselves,
o see ourselves as we are.