NERVES AND COMMON SENSE

CONTENTS

I. HABIT AND NERVOUS STRAIN

II. HOW WOMEN CAN KEEP FROM BEING NERVOUS

III. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW I AM RUSHED"

IV. "WHY DOES MRS. SMITH GET ON MY NERVES?"

V. THE TRYING MEMBER OF THE FAMILY

VI. IRRITABLE HUSBANDS

VII. QUIET _vs._ CHRONIC EXCITEMENT

VIII. THE TIRED EMPHASIS

IX. HOW TO BE ILL AND GET WELL

X. IS PHYSICAL CULTURE GOOD FOR GIRLS?

XI. WORKING RESTFULLY

XII. IMAGINARY VACATIONS

XIII. THE WOMAN AT THE NEXT DESK

XIV. TELEPHONES AND TELEPHONING

XV. DON'T TALK

XVI. "WHY FUSS SO MUCH ABOUT WHAT I EAT?"

XVII. TAKE CARE OF YOUR STOMACH

XVIII. ABOUT FACES

XIX. ABOUT VOICES

XX. ABOUT FRIGHTS

XXI. CONTRARINESS

XXII. HOW TO SEW EASILY

XXIII. DO NOT HURRY

XXIV. THE CARE OF AN INVALID

XXV. THE HABIT OF ILLNESS

XXVI. WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES ME SO NERVOUS?

XXVII. POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFORT

XVIII. HUMAN DUST

XXIX. PLAIN EVERY-DAY COMMON SENSE

XXX. A SUMMING UP




CHAPTER I

_Habit and Nervous Strain_


PEOPLE form habits which cause nervous strain. When these habits
have fixed themselves for long enough upon their victims, the nerves
give way and severe depression or some other form of nervous
prostration is the result. If such an illness turns the attention to
its cause, and so starts the sufferer toward a radical change from
habits which cause nervous strain to habits which bring nervous
strength, then the illness can be the beginning of better and
permanent health. If, however, there simply is an enforced rest,
without any intelligent understanding of the trouble, the invalid
gets "well" only to drag out a miserable existence or to get very
ill again.

Although any nervous suffering is worth while if it is the means of
teaching us how to avoid nervous strain, it certainly is far
preferable to avoid the strain without the extreme pain of a nervous
breakdown.

To point out many of these pernicious habits and to suggest a
practical remedy for each and all of them is the aim of this book,
and for that reason common examples in various phases of every-day
life are used as illustrations.

When there is no organic trouble there can be no doubt that _defects
of character, inherited or acquired, are at the root of all nervous
illness._ If this can once be generally recognized and acknowledged,
especially by the sufferers themselves, we are in a fair way toward
eliminating such illness entirely.