Nerves and Common Sense | Page 7

to work at intervals for long afterward to keep free
from the resistance; but the habit is getting more and more established
as life goes on with him, and the result is a brain clearer than ever
before in his life, a power of nerve which is a surprise to every one
about him, and a most successful business career.
The success in business is, however, a minor matter. His brain would
have cleared and his nerve strengthened just the same if what might be
called the business luck had continued to go against him, as it seemed
to do for the first few months after his recovery. That everything did go
against him for some time was the greatest blessing he could have had.
The way he met all the reverses increased his nerve power steadily and
consistently.
These two men are fair examples of two extremes. The first one did not
know how to meet life. If he had had the opportunity to learn he might
have done as well as the other. The second had worked and studied to
help himself out of nerves, and had found the true secret of doing it.
Some men, however, and, I regret to say, more women, have the
weakening habit so strong upon them that they are unwilling to learn

how to get well, even when they have the opportunity. It seems so
strange to see people suffer intensely--and be unwilling to face and
follow the only way that will lead them out of their torture.
The trouble is we want our own way and nervous health, too, and with
those who have once broken down nervously the only chance of
permanent health is through learning to drop the strain of resistance
when things do not go their way. This is proved over and over by the
constant relapse into "nerves" which comes to those who have simply
been healed over. Even with those who appear to have been well for
some time, if they have not acquired the habit of dropping their mental
and physical tension you can always detect an overcare for themselves
which means dormant fear--or even active fear in the background.
There are some wounds which the surgeons keep open, even though the
process is most painful, because they know that to heal really they must
heal from the inside. Healing over on the outside only means decay
underneath, and eventual death. This is in most cases exactly
synonymous with the healing of broken-down nerves. They must be
healed in causes to be permanently cured. Sometimes the change that
comes in the process is so great that it is like reversing an engine.
If the little woman whom I mentioned first had practiced relaxing and
quieting exercises every day for years, and had not used the quiet
impression gained by the exercises to help her in dropping mental
resistances, she never would have gained her health.
Concentrating steadily on dropping the tension of the body is very
radically helpful in dropping resistance from the mind, and the right
idea is to do the exercises over and over until the impression of quiet
openness is, by constant repetition, so strong with us that we can recall
it at will whenever we need it. Finally, after repeated tests, we gain the
habit of meeting the difficulties of life without strain--first in little ways,
and then in larger ways.
The most quieting, relaxing, and strengthening of all exercises for the
nerves comes in deep and rhythmic breathing, and in voice exercises in
connection with it. Nervous strain is more evident in a voice than in
any other expressive part of man or woman. It sometimes seems as if
all other relaxing exercises were mainly useful because of opening a
way for us to breathe better. There is a pressure on every part of the
body when we inhale, and a consequent reaction when we exhale, and

the more passive the body is when we take our deep breaths the more
freely and quietly the blood can circulate all the way through it, and, of
course, all nervous and muscular contraction impairs circulation, and
all impaired circulation emphasizes nervous contraction.
To any one who is suffering from "nerves," in a lesser or greater degree,
it could not fail to be of very great help to take half an hour in the
morning, lie flat on the back, with the body as loose and heavy as it can
be made, and then study taking gentle, quiet, and rhythmic breaths,
long and short. Try to have the body so loose and open and responsive
that it will open as you inhale and relax as you exhale, just as a rubber
bag would. Of course, it will take time, but the refreshing quiet is sure