The Untroubled Mind | Page 7

was an illness of
the mind and of the nerves, and not of the body, although the body had
suffered in its turn. That young man, instead of becoming a nervous
invalid as he might have done, is now working steadily in partnership
with his father, in business in the city. I had found him a very
interesting patient, full of originality and not at all the tedious and
boresome person he might have been had I listened day after day, week
after week to the recital of his ills. I was willing to listen,--I did
listen,--but I also gave him a new trend of life, which pretty soon made
his complaints sound hollow and then disappear.
Of course, the problem is not always so simple as this, and we must
often deal with complexities of body and mind requiring prolonged
investigation and treatment. I cite this case because it shows clearly that
relief from some forms of nervous illness can come when we stop
thinking, when we stop analyzing, and then back up our position with
prescribed work.

There may be some nervous invalids who read these lines who will say,
"But I have tried so many times to work and have failed."
Unfortunately, such failure must often occur unless we can proceed
with care and with understanding. But the principle remains true,
although it must be modified in an infinite variety to meet the changing
conditions of individuals.
I see a great many people who are conscientiously trying to get well
from nervous exhaustion. They almost inevitably try too hard. They
think and worry too much about it, and so exhaust themselves the more.
This is the greater pity because it is the honest and the conscientious
people who make the greatest effort. It is very hard for them to realize
that they must stop thinking, stop trying, and if possible get to work
before they can accomplish their end. We shall have to repeat to them
over and over again that they must stop thinking the matter out,
because the thing they are attempting to overcome is too subtle to be
met in that way. So, if they are fortunate, they may rid themselves of
the vagueness and uncertainty of life, until all the multitude of details
which go to make up life lose their desultoriness and their lack of
meaning, and they may find themselves no longer the subjects of
physical or nervous exhaustion.

IV
IDLENESS
O ye! who have your eyeballs vex'd and tir'd, Feast them upon the
wideness of the sea. KEATS.
Extreme busyness, whether at school or college, kirk or market, is a
symptom of deficient vitality; and a faculty for idleness implies a
catholic appetite and a strong sense of personal identity. STEVENSON.
It is an unfortunate fact that very few people are able to be idle
successfully. I think it is not so much because we misuse idleness as
because we misinterpret it that the long days become increasingly

demoralizing. I would ask no one to accept a forced idleness without
objection or regret. Such an acceptance would imply a lack of spirit, to
say the least. But idleness and rest are not incompatible; neither are
idleness and service, nor idleness and contentment. If we can look upon
rest as a preparation for service, if we can make it serve us in the
opportunity it gives for quiet growth and legitimate enjoyment, then it
is fully justified and it may offer advantages and opportunity of the
best.
The chief trouble with idleness is that it so often means introspection,
worry, and impatience, especially to those conscientious souls who
would fain be about their business.
I have for a long time been accustomed to combat the worry and fret of
necessary idleness--not by forbidding it, not by advising struggle and
fight against it, but by insisting that the best way to get rid of it is to
leave it alone, to accept it. When we do this there may come a kind of
fallow time in which the mind enriches and refreshes itself beyond our
conception.
I would rather my patient who must rest for a long time would give up
all thought of method, would give up all idea of making his mind
follow any particular line of thought or absence of thought. I know that
the mind which has been under conscious control a good deal of the
time is apt to rebel at this freedom and to indulge in all kinds of
alarming extravagances. I am sure, however, that the best way to meet
these demands for conscious control is to be careless of them, to be
willing to experience these extravagances and inconsistencies without
fear, in the belief that finally will come a quiet and peace which will be