Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-09-11
RS in Conference Seek Causes of Success and Failure

content to blame some one else or
Fate. but will look within for causes
which he may control to his advan-
tage.
If we were to attempt an account Of
the human being from birth to death
from the point of view of the ways he
could fail at the different stages of his
career. some of the outstanding points
would be these: He might he born of
parents who furnished inadequate
ideals or parents who. from lack of
love or from overanXiety. early instilled
false standards or fears or distorted
ways of thinking that later would
prove disastrous: his education might
be clumsily ordered. so that, perhaps
due to an uncongenial school atmos-
phere or the unfortunate personality
OF q teacher or for many other reasons,
he might be left with q distaste for
work or learning or lacking in ambi-
ton and with sense of failure and in
adequacy: his early adolescence might.
from ignorance or misfortune, result
in disagreeable or terrifying sex expo
riences that might seriously warp his
character and his later development
might be further hampered by getting
the wrong job and being forced by cir
CumStances to stay in it, having his
find any real satisfaction through self
expression in his life work.
On the other hand, a successful indi.
vidual would have been able to negoti.
ate all these obstacles. He would
have had wise and loving parents,
joyous childhood not too much fraueht
with frustrating don'ts. but with the
emphasis on announcement and ap-
prevail. with a smooth transition into
adolescence and a wholesome sex en-
lightenment and a vocation that offer
ed self-eXpTession and was a natural
transition from the play of childhood
to the play and joy of work and &C
complishment.
/ 1FE must be neither so hard that it
brushes nor so easy that it weak.
ems. Strength comes only from over.
coming obstacles and not by having
the way made easy. The successful
accomplishment of hard task brings
reward in a feeling of self-reliance that
makes not only for happiness but is a
character builder in itself. Such ac-
complishments bring the right to a de-
served rest. but, as a French writer
has said, Rest is not laziness" and
"laziness is incompatible with rest"
sibilities for solving difficulties that
seem as we look at them to be unsolv-
able and it is this message of hope that
is the object of these articles. The ar
ticles will be written by psychiatrists
engaged in the work of assisting those
who are on the wrong track to right
themselves and they will discuss brief.
ly few only of the many types of
cases that seek assistance in the hone
that they will serve to illustrate the
way in which the modern students of
the mind are thinking about them and
so be of aid to those who are founder
ing, perhaps in despair. because they
do not know in what direction to seek
for help.
Success and failure when due to emo
tional factors, to false directions. to
faulty ways of thinking-in other
words, when their origin is a mental
twist OF some. sort-are in the field of
human functiOnS-the mind-which is
the most modifiable part of us. Even
though we may not have had the adj
vantages of education and environ
ment. we wish we might have had or
would choose for our children, still.
when we think of success as it should
be thought of, in terms of adequate,
in the sense of satisfying, self.expres-
SION IN creative endeaVOr, then 1t Is
not hard to see how at least much
may be done to improve conditions
that on their surface seem very bad.
The adult man or woman who can.
not relive his childhood may yet learn
from his childhood experiences much
that will be of help in the remolding of
his life along lines of activity that will
bring some of the joy of accomplish
ment we wish we might have had, or
pick up in his quest. a latent or neg
lected talent that had been rusting all
forgotten these many years and reani.
mate it into "a usefulness that with
cultivation may change a drab and
hopeless life to one of joy. Many per.
sons have never had the real pleasure
of success until adversely has forced
them to remold their lives when for
the first time they have found of
what they are really capable.
Mental-hygiene clinics have sprung
up over all the United States until
now many of the large cities have
such clinics, as have a number Of
smaller ones. These clinics are some
times connected with general hospitals
or with university or medical teaching
centers, or they may be run by various
State hospitals in their districts.