Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-05-07
Life's Problems
Are Discussed
BY MRS. WILSON WOODROW

BY MRS. WILSON WOODROW
Where is your attention fixed?
Did you ever stop to think of the
faculty within you which permits
you to see thing mentally as clear
| ly as if it were before you in visible
form When anything attracts your
| interest it automatically focuses
our attention and you find it I'M
possible to keep it out of your
| thoughts.
Perhaps you are working along
in a rut day after day, doing some
thing to which you are so accus-
/ toned that your efforts become al
most mechanical. In that case your
mind is occupied with something
apart from your work-not usually
one absorbing thing, but scattering
over a number of things ranging
here, there and everywhere.
Bearing on this matter of in
ward attention, l have letter from
a girl that is more or less typical
OF many others that 1 receive. She
says:
Il am not satisfied with my job.
II does not offer enough opportuni-
ties. / have had five years of busi-
ness experience and have held three
good positions in that time, leaving
two of them because l could earn
more money in the next one.
What / consider my best assets
are an optimistic disposition, pa
tience and a willingness to work
nr6 leo k1II
possess a keen sense of humor and
the ability to approach people right
II am, however, afraid to branch
out very far, as there are younger
members of the family dependent
partly on my earnings.
My present occupation is mono
tonous Office work, and although I
will continue to put forth my best
efforts, I have higher ideals. I wish
you would be so gracious as to tell
me how to get out of the rut into
which circumstances have forced
me. G. NJ"
I wonder if my correspondent has
ever read the story of the widow
who came to the Prophet Elisha and
said:
Thy servant my husband, is
dead, and the creditor is come to
take unto him my two sons to be
| bondsmen."
And Elisha answered: What
shall I do for thee? Tell me, what
hast thou in the house?'
Was there ever more pertinent
question put? What hast thou in
the house?
We could probably have no diff
Guilty in describing the furniture
ornaments and utsnsls of the
| dwelling in which we live; but
when we apply the question to our
mental equipment, it Immediately
becomes more complex and perplex-
ing.
&c. NJ" however, seems to have
a pretty accurate inventory of her
mental furnishings, and a very fine
list it is. An optimistic disposi-
ton, patience and the Willingness
to work hard; those three alone
spell success and nature has thrown
in. just for good measure, that saw
ing prace, sense of humor, and
tact. the gift which is above rubies.
Knowing that she is in possession
of these qualities, it naturally frets
her not to be able to use : n to
the fullest extent; yet with ung-
er members of the family to look
out for, it is of course difficult for
her to branch out.
hoIle says wisely LnaC Sne mas no
intention of shirking the work she
is now doing. But that doesn't get
her out of the rut she is in, and in
which circumstances apparently
compel her for the time being to
remain.
How shall she get out of it? BY
attention. Attention to what? To
that which she wishes to accom-
plish.
She has the training and qualifi-
cations for business career: in an
other part of her letter which I
have not published. she speaks of
her desire to succeed in q certain
line.
She should Immediately let the
needle of attention swing right
around to the pole of her desire
and stay there.
There is an old Hindu saying,
that the thing upon which we un-
waveringly fix our minds will grad
ually give up to us all of its Sc
crets. The more we study one sub
ject, the more we get out of 1t. &c.
M" can go on faithfully and pa
taiently performing the tasks she
now finds so monotonouS; but they
will soon cease to be so. for her
mind will be revivified by q new
idea.
And the time she has outside of
her work, instead of spending 1t in
fretting because of her lack of op-
portunity, she can give to the study
of that branch of business in which
she wishes to engage.
While she is busy considering its
possibilities and studying It's various
phases and fitting herself to be an
expert in it, the younger members
of her family will have grown up
and be self-supporting before she
knows it, and she will find herself
free to embark on her new ven-
ture.