The Washington herald., 1916-09-01
When You Feel the Blues Coming On.
BY ORIsON SWEET MARDEN


| The sea captain does not stop his ship when
the sky is overcast, He goes by his compass.
1t does not matter how discouraging the out
look or how horrible the tempest of misfortune
all about us we should steer by our compass
principle, use our best judgment, push ahead, not
allow ourselves to be swamped by mood,
No man accomplishes anything very great in
this world until he becomes the master Of his
moods until he can dominate his unfortunate
! feelings. That man is not master of his moods
! is really a great humiliation even greater than
| II he could not master his muscles and continued
the victim OF some repellant form of palsy, ST.
Vitus' dance. Every one deplores such affections
as. these, yet most people rather boast of ''the
artistic temperament" which is ever at the mercy
or organic sensations, leading to optimistic writ
ing when the digestion is in order, or when
alcohol has modified the organic sensations, and
to an equally decided pessimsm in writings pro-
duced when the digestion is out of order, or
during the period of depression that follows the
transient stimulation OF alcohol man who
writes or paints or plans such stimuli as
these is not an artist in the finer, deeper sense
| OF the word, but merely mood driven artisan
"A mere mood" seems indeed small thing
but as matter of fact it is much more often
the weak yielding to a passing mood that defeats
great life enterprise than we realize The
man who can not work against the grain" is not
made of very strong fiber.
People who work only when they feel like it,
who do only what they inclined to do, who
are governed by their whims and moods appe-
ties and passions instead OF principle, are in
capable of any real success in life
1t is the intelligent ordering of our lives, the
wise direction OF our acts, that counts 1t is the
mastery OF our moods that results in the complete
mastery of our lives. 1t is the mastery of the
tI,,t
determine upon. Postponement is fatal
When you feel the blues coming on don't
"urse them; quit brooding over the things that
have made you blue. If you are any sort of a
mental chemist you neutralizc and antdotc
the causes OF your trouble with the injection Of
their opPosites There is your great power.
The expert mental chemist can definitely, rcso-
lutcly substitute good cheer and sense of well
being, contentment and happiness for fit OF
| the worst kind OF blues. Drive out the sick
thoughts by the we'll thoughts, the health
thoughts Drive out sad thoughts by cheerful
thoughts
Wien you feel an attack of depression coming
on, just make up your mind that you arc not
going to allow little thing like mood to
| keep You from doing mans work. Resolve
that you will not only do a good days work.
but that you going to do hing that IS
distinctive, something unusual fo- yourself, You
will be amazed to see how this very assumption
OF power, the assertion of victory will change
your mental attitude. After while you will
be able in an instant to assert supreme self
! dominion even the severest attack of the
blues mental depression You will be able
to throw off mood Of this sort as you would
a dark veil cast over your head
| Some people, when they feel the blues coming
! on, drop everything and run out doors take a
brisk walk or run, inhale deep breaths OF clean
air 1t is great inspiration to take deep full
breaths OF fresh air You will be surprised to
see how even simple thing as this will
assist you.
If you do the thing you under
take vigorously and effectively when you don't
feel like it your victory will hold a great
reserve power for the future. To be able
to call ones powers into line when the mind
persists in wandering, to drive ones tagging
! forces up to standard that we can do good
days work in spite of them, is a victory indeed
1t is worth many struggle and you will be a
stronger man for it. and every time it is repeated
the rebellion in you will become weaker and
weaker until it finally disappears.