Nerves and Common Sense | Page 5

nerves
may get well. As an example, I have in mind a little woman who had
been ill for eight years--eight of what might have been the best years of
her life--all because neither she nor her family knew the straight road
toward getting well. Now that she has found the path she has gained
health wonderfully in six months, and promises to be better than ever
before in her life.

Let me tell you how she became ill and then I can explain her process
of getting well again. One night she was overtired and could not get to
sleep, and became very much annoyed at various noises that were about
the house. Just after she had succeeded in stopping one noise she would
go back to bed and hear several others. Finally, she was so worked up
and nervously strained over the noises that her hearing became
exaggerated, and she was troubled by noises that other people would
not have even heard; so she managed to keep herself awake all night.
The next day the strain of the overfatigue was, of course, very much
increased, not only by the wakeful night, but also by the annoyance
which had kept her awake. The family were distressed that she should
not have slept all night; talked a great deal about it, and called in the
doctor.
The woman's strained nerves were on edge all day, so that her feelings
were easily hurt, and her brothers and sisters became, as they thought,
justly impatient at what they considered her silly babyishness. This, of
course, roused her to more strain. The overcare and the feeble,
unintelligent sympathy that she had from some members of her family
kept her weak and self-centered, and the ignorant, selfish impatience
with which the others treated her increased her nervous strain. After
this there followed various other worries and a personal sense of
annoyance--all of which made her more nervous.
Then--the stomach and brain are so closely associated--her digestion
began to cause her discomfort: a lump in her stomach, her food "would
not digest," and various other symptoms, all of which mean strained
and overwrought nerves, although they are more often attributed
merely to a disordered stomach. She worried as to what she had better
eat and what she had better not eat. If her stomach was tired and some
simple food disagreed with her all the discomfort was attributed to the
food, instead of to the real cause,--a tired stomach,--and the cause back
of that,--strained nerves. The consequence was that one kind of
wholesome food after another was cut off as being impossible for her to
eat. Anything that this poor little invalid did not like about
circumstances or people she felt ugly and cried over. Finally, the entire
family were centered about her illness, either in overcare or annoyance.
You see, she kept constantly repeating her brain impression of
overfatigue: first annoyance because she stayed awake; then annoyance

at noises; then excited distress that she should have stayed awake all
night; then resistance and anger at other people who interfered with her.
Over and over that brain impression of nervous illness was repeated by
the woman herself and people about her until she seemed settled into it
for the rest of her life. It was like expecting a sore to get well while it
was constantly being rubbed and irritated. A woman might have the
healthiest blood in the world, but if she cut herself and then rubbed and
irritated the cut, and put salt in it, it would be impossible for it to heal.
Now let me tell you how this little woman got well. The first thing she
did was to take some very simple relaxing exercises while she was
lying in bed. She raised her arms very slowly and as loosely as she
could from the elbow and then her hands from the wrist, and stretched
and relaxed her fingers steadily, then dropped her hand and forearm
heavily, and felt it drop slowly at first, then quickly and quietly, with its
own weight. She tried to shut her eyes like a baby going to sleep, and
followed that with long, gentle, quiet breaths. These and other exercises
gave her an impression of quiet relaxation so that she became more
sensitive to superfluous tension.
When she felt annoyed at noises she easily noticed that in response to
the annoyance her whole body became tense and strained. After she
had done her exercises and felt quiet and rested something would
happen or some one would say something that went against the grain,
and quick as a wink all the good of the exercises would be gone and she
would be tight and strained again, and nervously irritated.
Very soon she saw clearly that she must learn