第一章 如何抗拒忧虑
改变人生的一句话
战胜忧虑的万能公式
忧虑是健康的大敌
第二章 分析你的忧虑
揭开忧虑之谜
让生意上的忧虑减半
第三章 改变忧虑的习惯
消除思想上的忧虑
不要为小事而气馁
平均概率可以战胜忧虑
接受不可避免的事实
让忧虑“到此为止”
不要去锯木屑
第四章 常保充沛的活力
每天多清醒一小时
你为什么感到疲劳
家庭主妇青春永驻的妙方
四种良好的工作习惯
如何远离烦闷的心理
不要为失眠而忧虑
Part One-Fundamental Facts You Should Know About Worry
Chapter 1 -Live in "Day-tight Compartments"
Chapter 2 -A Magic Formula For Solving Worry Situations
Chapter 3 -What Worry May Do To You
Part Two-Basic Techniques In Analysing Worry
Chapter 4 -How To Analyse And Solve Worry Problems
Chapter 5 -How To Eliminate Fifty Per Cent Of Tour Business
Worries
Part Three-How To Break The Worry Habit Before It Breaks You
Chapter 6 -How To Crowd Worry Out Of Your Mind
Chapter 7 -Don''t Let The Beetles Get You Down
Chapter 8 -A Law That Will Outlaw Many Of Your Worries
Chapter 9 -Co-operate With The Inevitable
Chapter 10 -Put A " Stop-Loss" Order On Your Worries
Chapter 11 -Don''t Try To Saw Sawdust
Part Four-Six Ways To Prevent Fatigue And Worry Keep Your
Energy And Spirits High
Chapter 12 -How To Add One Hour A Day To Your Waking Life
Chapter 13 -What Makes You Tired And What You Can Do About It
Chapter 14 -How The Housewife Can Avoid Fatigue And Keep Looking
Young
Chapter 15 -Four Good Working Habits That Will Help Prevent Fatigue
And Worry
Chapter 16 -How To Banish The Boredom That Produces Fatigue, Worry,
AndResentment
Chapter 17 -How To Keep From Worrying About Insomnia
参考文献
內容試閱：
第一章
如何抗拒忧虑
改变人生的一句话
1871年春天，一个年轻人看到一本书，读到了一句对他前途有莫大影响的话。他是梦特瑞综合医院的医科学生，生活中正充满了忧虑，担心自己是否能够通过期末考试，担心该做什么事情，该到什么地方去，怎样才能开业，怎样才能过活等。
这位年轻的医科学生，在1871年看到那一句话，使他成为当时最有名的医学家，他创建了全世界知名的约翰?霍普金斯医学院，成为牛津大学医学院的钦定讲座教授——这是当时在英国学医的人所能得到的最高荣誉，他还被英国国王册封为爵士，度过了无忧无虑的一生。他死后，需要厚达1466页的两大卷书才能记述他的一生。
他的名字叫威廉?奥斯勒。下面就是他在1871年春天所看到的那一句话——是由托马斯?卡莱尔所写的一句话：“对我们来说，最重要不是去考虑未来虚无缥缈的事情，而是去做手头实实在在的事。”
时隔42年，在一个温和的春夜，郁金香开满校园的时候，威廉?奥斯勒爵士对耶鲁大学的学生作了一次演讲。他对那些耶鲁大学的学生们说，像他这样一个曾经在四所大学当过教授，写过一本非常受欢迎的书的人，似乎应该有“特殊的头脑”，但其实并非如此，他说他的一些朋友都知道，他的脑筋其实是“最普通不过了”。
那么他成功的秘诀何在呢？他认为这完全是因为他活在所谓的“完全独立的今天”里，他这句话的意思是什么呢？在奥斯勒爵士到耶鲁大学演讲的几个月前，他乘着一艘巨轮横渡大西洋，看见船长站在舵房里，按下一个按钮，立即就听到发出一阵机械运转的声音，船的几个部分之后立即彼此隔绝开来——隔成几个完全防水的隔舱。
“你们每一个人，”奥斯勒爵士对那些耶鲁大学的学生说，“都有着比那条大海轮精美得多的构造，所要走的航程也更远，我要劝告各位的是，你们也要学习那位船长，知道怎样控制一切，而活在一个‘完全独立的今天’里，才是在航程中确保完全最好的方法。到舵房去，你会发现那些大的隔舱至少都可以使用，按下一个按钮，注意听你生活的每一个层面，用铁门隔断已经死去的昨天。按下另一个按钮，将还没到来的明天也用铁幕隔断。然后你就安全了——你有的是今天……切断过去，让已死的过去被埋葬掉，切断那些会把傻子引上死亡之路的昨天……明日的重担，加上昨日的重担，就会成为今日最大障碍，要把未来像过去一样紧紧地关在门外……未来就在于今天……没有明天这个东西，人类得到救赎的日子就是现在，精力的浪费、精神的苦闷，都会紧随着一个为未来担忧的人……那么就把船前船后的大隔舱都切断吧，准备养成一个良好的习惯，生活在‘完全独立的今天’里。”
奥斯勒博士是不是说我们不应该为明天而下工夫准备了呢？不是的，绝不是这样。在那次讲演里，他就继续说，“为明日做准备的最好方法，就是要集中你所有的智慧与热诚，把今天的工作做得尽善尽美，这就是你能应付未来的唯一方法。奥斯勒博士告诫耶鲁大学的学生们，让他们从向上帝祈祷“赐我今日之食，天天皆然，”开始新的一天。
一定要为明天着想，不错，要小心地考虑、计划和准备，可是不要担忧。
在战时，军事领袖必须为次日做好计划，然而他们绝不能有任何焦虑。“我把我们最好的装备，供应给最好的人手，”指挥美国海军的上将厄耐斯特?金恩说：“再交给他们看起来是最明智的命令，我所能做的事就是这些。”
“若是一条船沉了，”金恩上将继续说，“我不能把它捞上来，要是船再往下沉，我也挡不住，我把时间花在解决明天的问题上，要比为昨天的问题而后悔好多了，何况我若是为这些事情烦心的话，我是无法支撑很久的。”
不论是在战时还是在和平时，好想法和坏想法之间的区别是：好想法考虑到原因和结果，而产生很合乎逻辑的、很有建设性的计划，而坏想法通常会让一个人紧张甚至精神崩溃。
我最近很荣幸能去访问亚瑟?海斯?苏兹伯格，他是世界上最有名的《纽约时报》的发行人。苏兹伯格先生对我说，当第二次世界大战的战火烧过欧洲的时候，他感到非常吃惊，对未来非常担忧，这使得他寝食难安。他常常在半夜爬下床来，拿着颜料和画布，望着镜子，想画一张自画像。虽然他对绘画一无所知，可是他还是画着，好让自己不再担忧。苏兹伯格先生告诉我说，最后，他用一首赞美诗里的一句话作为他的座右铭，终于将他内心的忧虑消除了，得到了安宁。这一句话是：“只要一步就好。”
指引我，仁慈的灯光……
请你常在我脚旁，
我并不想看到远方的风景，
只要一步就好。
大概就在这个时候，有个当兵的年轻人也同样学到了这一课，他的名字叫做泰德?班哲明诺，住在马里兰的巴尔的摩城——他曾经忧虑得几乎完全丧失了斗志。
泰德?班哲明诺写道：“在1945年的4月，我忧愁得患了一种医生称之为‘结肠痉挛’的病，这种病使人极为痛苦，若是战事不在那时候结束的话，我想我整个人都会垮了。
“我当时整个人筋疲力尽。我在第94步兵师，担任士官，工作是建立和保存在作战中死伤和失踪者的人名记录，还要帮助发掘那些在战事激烈的时候被打死的、被草草掩埋在坟墓里的盟军及敌军的士兵，我得收集那些人的私人物品，要确切地把那些东西送回到重视这些私人物品的死者家属或是近亲手中。我担心我是不是能把这些事做好，我担心是不是还能活着回去把我唯一的孩子抱在怀里——我从来没有见过的16个月的儿子。我既担心又疲劳，足足瘦了34磅，而且担忧得几乎发疯。我眼看自己的两只手剩下皮包骨。我一想到自己瘦弱不堪地回家，我就非常害怕，我崩溃了，哭得像个孩子，我浑身发抖……有一段时间，也就是德军最后大反攻开始不久，我常常哭泣，使得我几乎放弃了还能再成为正常人的希望。
“最后我住进了医院，一位军医给我一些忠告，令我的生活彻底改变了，在为我做完一次彻底的全身检查之后，他告诉我，我的问题纯粹是精神上的。‘泰德，’他说，‘我希望你把你的生活想象成为一个沙漏，你知道在沙漏的上一半，有成千上万粒的沙子，它们都缓慢而且均匀地从中间那条窄缝流过。除了弄坏沙漏，你跟我都没有办法让两粒以上的沙子同时通过那条窄缝。你、我以及每一个人，都像这个沙漏。从每一天早上开始，就有很多的工作，让我们觉得我们一定得在那一天里完成。可是我们只能每次做一件事，让它们缓慢平均地通过这一天，像沙粒通过窄缝一样，否则我们就一定会损害到我们自己的身体或精神了。’
“从值得纪念的那一天起，当那位军官把这段话告诉我之后，我就一直奉行着这种哲学。‘一次只流过一粒沙……一次只做一件事。’这个忠告，在战时挽救了我的身心，对我现在的职位也很有帮助。我现在在巴尔的摩的商业信用公司做库存管理员。我发现在工作上，也有像在战场上同样的问题，一次要做完好几件事情——但却没有充足的时间。比如我们的材料不够了，我们有新的表格要处理，还要安排新的资料，地址的变更，分公司的增开和关闭等。我不再紧张不安了，因为我记得那个军医告诉我的话：‘一次只流过一粒沙子……一次只做一件工作。’我一再对自己重复地念着这两句话。我的工作比以前更有效率，做起来也不会再有那种在战场上几乎使我崩溃的、迷惑和混乱的感觉了。”
在目前的生活方式中，最可怕的一件事情就是，我们的医院里大概有一半以上的床位，都是留给神经或者精神上有问题的人。他们都是被累积起来的昨天和令人担心的今天所加起来的重担而压垮的病人。而那些病人中，大多数只要能奉行耶酥的这句话，“不要为明天忧虑”，或者是威廉?奥斯勒爵士的这句话，“生活在一个完全独立的今天里”，就都能在今天走在街上，过上快乐而幸福的生活了。
你和我，在目前这一瞬间，都站在两个永恒的交会之点——已经永远成为过去的过去以及延伸到无穷无尽的未来——我们都不可能生活在这两个永恒之中，连一秒钟也不行。如果想那样做的话，我们就会毁了自己的身体和精神。因此，我们就以能活在所能活的这一刻而感到满足吧。从现在一直到我们上床，“不论任务有多重，每个人都能支持到夜晚的来临，”罗勃?史蒂文生写道，“不论工作有多苦，每个人都能做他那一天的工作，每一个人都能很甜美、很有耐心、很可爱、很纯洁地活到太阳下山，而这就是生命的真谛。”
确实如此，生命对我们所要求的也就是这些。然而住在密歇根州萨吉纳城的薛尔德太太，在学到“只要生活到上床为止”这一点之前，却感到极度的颓丧和疲惫，甚至于想自杀。“1937年我丈夫死了，”薛尔德太太把她的过去告诉我，“我觉得非常颓丧——而且几乎身无分文。我写信给我以前在堪萨斯城的老板利昂?罗茨先生，请他让我回去做我以前的老工作。我从前靠推销书给村镇的学校过活。两年前我丈夫生病的时候，我把汽车卖了，现在我又勉强凑足了钱，分期付款买了一部旧车，重操旧业，出去卖书。
“我原想，再回去做事或许可以使我从颓丧中解脱出来；然而要一个人驾车、一个人吃饭，这几乎令我无法忍受。有些区域根本就做不出什么成绩来，虽然分期付款买车的钱不多，却很难付清。
“1938年春，我在密苏里州的维沙里市，那儿的学校都很穷，路况很差，我一个人孤独而沮丧，所以有一次我甚至想要自杀。我觉得成功是不可能的，活着也没什么希望。每天早上我都很怕起床面对生活。我为任何事担心害怕，怕我付不出分期付款的车钱，怕我付不出房租，怕没有足够的东西吃，怕我的健康情况恶化而没钱看医生。我之所以没有自杀，唯一理由是我担心我的姐姐会因此而感到很难过，而且她又没有足够的钱来付我的丧葬费用。
“后来有一天，我读到一篇文章，它使我有勇气继续活下去。我永远感激那篇文章里那一句很令人振奋的话：‘对聪明人来说，每一天都是一个新的生命。’我用打字机把这句话打下来，贴在我车子前面的挡风玻璃上，使我在开车的时候随时都能看见，我发现每次只活一天并不困难，我学会忘记过去，不想未来，每天早上我都对自己说：‘今天又是一个新的生命。’
“我成功地战胜了对孤寂与贫困的恐惧，现在我感到很快乐，也还算成功，并对生命满怀热诚和爱，现在我明白了，不论在生活上遭遇什么事情，我都不会再害怕了，我现在知道，我每次只要活一天——而‘对一个聪明人来说，每一天都是一个新的生命’。”
你猜是谁写的下面这几行诗：
这个人很快乐，也只有他快乐，
因为他能把今天，看成是自己的一天；
他在今天里能感到安全，能够说：
“不管明天有多么糟糕，我已经过了今天。”
这几句话听起来很现代，可是却是写在基督降生前的30年，它的作者是古罗马诗人贺拉斯。
我清楚人性上最可悲的事就是，我们所有的人，都拖延着生活，我们都梦想着天边的一座奇妙的玫瑰园，而不去欣赏今天就开放在窗口的玫瑰。
我们为什么会变成这种可怜的傻子呢？
“我们生命的短暂历程是多么奇怪啊。”史蒂芬?李科克写着：“小孩子说，‘等我是个大孩子的时候，’可是又怎样呢？大孩子说，‘等我长大成人后，’然而等他长大成人了，他又说，‘等我结婚之后，’可是结婚了又能怎么样呢？他们的想法随之又变成了‘等到我退休之后’。等到他退休之后，回头看看所经历过的一切，似乎有一阵冷风吹过来——他把所有的都错过了，而这一切又一去不复返了。我们总是无法及早学会这个道理：生命就在生活里，就在每一天和每一时刻里。”
底特律城已故的爱德华?依文斯先生，几乎因为忧虑而自杀，不过那是在他懂得“生命就在生活里，在每一天和每一个时刻里”之前。
爱德华?S.埃文斯出生在一个贫苦的家庭，起先他以卖报赚钱为生，然后在一家杂货店当店员。后来，一家7口人都要靠他吃饭，他就谋到一个当助理图书管理员的职位，虽然待遇很差，他却不敢辞职。直到8年之后，他才鼓起勇气开始他自己的事业。可是开始之后，他就用借来的55美元，干出了一番大事业，一年赚两万美元。然而，不久厄运降临了——非常可怕的厄运：他替一个朋友背书一张面额很大的支票，而那位朋友破产了。很快的，在这件灾祸之后他又遭遇了一次大灾祸，那家存着他全部财产的大银行垮了。这样一来，不但他所有的钱都损失了，还负债16000美元。他的精神受不住这样的打击。
“我吃不下，睡不着，”他告诉我，“我开始生起奇怪的病来。没有别的原因，只是因为担忧。有一天，我走在路上的时候，昏倒在路边，以后我就再不能走路了。他们让我躺在床上，我的全身都生疮了，那些疮逐渐往里面烂进去之后，我连躺在床上都受不了。我的身体越来越弱，最后医生告诉我，我只有两个星期好活了。我大吃一惊，写好我的遗嘱，然后躺在床上等死。挣扎或是担忧都已经无济于事了，我只好放弃，也放松下来了。连续好几个星期，我都睡不到两个小时。可是因为这时候一切困难就快要结束了，我反而睡得像个孩子似的安稳。那些令人疲倦的忧虑渐渐烟消云散，我的胃口恢复了，体重也开始增加。
“几个星期之后，我就能柱着拐杖走路了。6个星期之后，我又可以回去工作了。以前我一年曾赚过两万美元，可是现在我能找到一周30美元的工作的话，就已经谢天谢地了。我的工作是推销运送汽车的轮船上用在车胎后面的挡板。到这时，我已经学会不再忧虑，不再为以前发生的事情后悔，也不再为将来的事忧虑。我把所有的时间、精力和热诚，都放在了推销挡板上。”
爱德华?S.依文斯的进步很快，只几年时间，他就成了依文斯工业公司的董事长。多年以来，这家公司一直是纽约股票市场交易所的一家公司。如果你乘飞机去格陵兰，很可能降落在依文斯机场——这个机场就是为了纪念他而命名的。可是，假如他没有学会“生活在完全独立的今天”的话，爱德华?S.依文斯绝不可能获得这样辉煌的成就。
这也是罗威尔?托马斯的人生哲学。我最近在他的农场与他共度周末的时候，我注意到他引用了《诗篇》第118篇的句子，装在镜框中，挂在他收音机旁的墙上，好让他常常可以看到。这句话是：
这是主耶和华所创造的日子，
我们要高兴欢喜地度过。
约翰?罗斯金在他的桌上放了一块石头，石头上只刻有两个字——“今天”。我的书桌上虽然没有放什么石头，也没有把警言挂在墙上，不过我的镜子上倒贴了一首诗。在我每天早上刮胡子的时候都能够看见它——这也是威廉?奥斯勒爵士放在他桌上的那首诗——这首诗的作者是一位很有名的印度戏剧家迦梨陀娑。在此，把它献给读者。
向黎明致敬
注目今日！
因为它就是生命，
生命中的生命。
在它短暂的时间里，
蕴涵着你的所有幻想与现实：
成长的福佑，
行动的荣耀，
还有成功的辉煌。
昨天恰如一场梦，
明天如同一个幻影，
但生活在美好的今天，
却能使每一个昨天成为一个快乐的梦，
使每一个明天都充满了希望的幻景。
好好度过今天吧，
这就是你应该对黎明的敬礼。
所以，你对于忧虑所应该知道的第一件事就是：如果你不希望它干扰你的生活，就要学习威廉?奥斯勒爵士——“用铁门把过去和未来隔断，生活在完全独立的今天。”
现在，请你问自己以下几个问题，然后写出各个问题的答案：
（1）我是否忽略了现在，而只担心未来？或者只追求所谓的“遥远奇妙的玫瑰园”？
（2）我是否经常为过去已经发生的事情而后悔，并让那些已经过去、已经做过的事情使现在更难受？
（3）我清晨起床的时候，是否形成了明确的意识——“我要抓住今天”，尽量利用这24小时？
（4）如果我真的按照威廉?奥斯勒爵士所说的“活在完全独立的今天”，是否能使我从生命中得到更多的东西？
（5）我应该从什么时候开始这么做？是下个星期……明天……还是今天？
Part One
Fundamental Facts You Should Know About Worry
Chapter 1 -Live In "Day-tight Compartments"
In the spring of 1871, a young man picked up a book and read
twenty-one words that had a profound effect on his future. A
medical student at the Montreal General Hospital, he was worried
about passing the final examination, worried about what to do,
where to go, how to build up a practice, how to make a
living.
The twenty-one words that this young medical student read in 1871
helped him to become the most famous physician of his generation.
He organized the world-famous Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He
became Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford-the highest honour
that can be bestowed upon any medical man in the British Empire. He
was knighted by the King of England. When he died, two huge volumes
containing 1,466 pages were required to tell the story of his
life.
His name was Sir William Osier. Here are the twenty-one words
that he read in the spring of 1871-twenty-one words from Thomas
Carlyle that helped him lead a life free from worry: "Our main
business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do
what lies clearly at hand."
Forty-two years later, on a soft spring night when the tulips
were blooming on the campus, this man, Sir William Osier, addressed
the students of Yale University. He told those Yale students that a
man like himself who had been a professor in four universities and
had written a popular book was supposed to have "brains of a
special quality". He declared that that was untrue. He said that
his intimate friends knew that his brains were "of the most
mediocre character".
What, then, was the secret of his success? He stated that it was
owing to what he called living in "day-tight compartments". What
did he mean by that? A few months before he spoke at Yale, Sir
William Osier had crossed the Atlantic on a great ocean liner where
the captain standing on the bridge, could press a button
and-presto!-there was a clanging of machinery and various parts of
the ship were immediately shut off from one another-shut off into
watertight compartments.
"Now each one of you," Dr. Osier said to those Yale students, "is
a much more marvelous organization than the great liner, and bound
on a longer voyage. What I urge is that you so learn to control the
machinery as to live with ''day-tight compartments'' as the most
certain way to ensure safety on the voyage. Get on the bridge, and
see that at least the great bulkheads are in working order. Touch a
button and hear, at every level of your life, the iron doors
shutting out the Past-the dead yesterdays. Touch another and shut
off, with a metal curtain, the Future -the unborn tomorrows. Then
you are safe-safe for today! ... Shut off the past! Let the dead
past bury its dead. ... Shut out the yesterdays which have lighted
fools the way to dusty death. ... The load of tomorrow, added to
that of yesterday, carried today, makes the strongest falter. Shut
off the future as tightly as the past. ... The future is today. ...
There is no tomorrow. The day of man''s salvation is now. Waste of
energy, mental distress, nervous worries dog the steps of a man who
is anxious about the future. ... Shut close, then the great fore
and aft bulkheads, and prepare to cultivate the habit of life of
''day-tight compartments''."
Did Dr. Osier mean to say that we should not make any effort to
prepare for tomorrow? No. Not at all. But he did go on in that
address to say that the best possible way to prepare for tomorrow
is to concentrate with all your intelligence, all your enthusiasm,
on doing today''s work superbly today. That is the only possible way
you can prepare for the future. Sir William Osier urged the
students at Yale to begin the day with Christ''s prayer: "Give us
this day our daily bread."
By all means take thought for the tomorrow, yes, careful thought
and planning and preparation. But have no anxiety.
During the war, our military leaders planned for the morrow, but
they could not afford to have any anxiety. "I have supplied the
best men with the best equipment we have," said Admiral Ernest J.
King, who directed the United States Navy, "and have given them
what seems to be the wisest mission. That is all I can do."
"If a ship has been sunk," Admiral King went on, "I can''t bring
it up. If it is going to be sunk, I can''t stop it. I can use my
time much better working on tomorrow''s problem than by fretting
about yesterday''s. Besides, if I let those things get me, I
wouldn''t last long."
Whether in war or peace, the chief difference between good
thinking and bad thinking is this: good thinking deals with causes
and effects and leads to logical, constructive planning; bad
thinking frequently leads to tension and nervous breakdowns.
I recently had the privilege of interviewing Arthur Hays
Sulzberger, publisher of one of the most famous newspapers in the
world, The New York Times. Mr. Sulzberger told me that when the
Second World War flamed across Europe, he was so stunned, so
worried about the future, that he found it almost impossible to
sleep. He would frequently get out of bed in the middle of the
night, take some canvas and tubes of paint, look in the mirror, and
try to paint a portrait of himself. He didn''t know anything about
painting, but he painted anyway, to get his mind off his worries.
Mr. Sulzberger told me that he was never able to banish his worries
and find peace until he had adopted as his motto five words from a
church hymn: One step enough for me.
Lead, kindly Light ...
Keep thou my feet: I do not ask to see.
The distant scene; one step enough for me.
At about the same time, a young man in uniform-somewhere in
Europe-was learning the same lesson. His name was Ted Bengermino,
of 5716 Newholme Road, Baltimore, Maryland-and he had worried
himself into a first-class case of combat fatigue.
"In April, 1945," writes Ted Bengermino, "I had worried until I
had developed what doctors call a ''spasmodic transverse colon''-a
condition that produced intense pain. If the war hadn''t ended when
it did, I am sure I would have had a complete physical
breakdown.
"I was utterly exhausted. I was a Graves Registration,
Noncommissioned Officer for the 94th Infantry Division. My work was
to help set up and maintain records of all men killed in action,
missing in action, and hospitalised. I also had to help disinter
the bodies of both Allied and enemy soldiers who had been killed
and hastily buried in shallow graves during the pitch of battle. I
had to gather up the personal effects of these men and see that
they were sent back to parents or closest relatives who would prize
these personal effects so much. I was constantly worried for fear
we might be making embarrassing and serious mistakes. I was worried
about whether or not I would come through all this. I was worried
about whether I would live to hold my only child in my arms-a son
of sixteen months, whom I had never seen. I was so worried and
exhausted that I lost thirty-four pounds. I was so frantic that I
was almost out of my mind. I looked at my hands. They were hardly
more than skin and bones. I was terrified at the thought of going
home a physical wreck. I broke down and sobbed like a child. I was
so shaken that tears welled up every time I was alone. There was
one period soon after the Battle of the Bulge started that I wept
so often that I almost gave up hope of ever being a normal human
being again.
"I ended up in an Army dispensary. An Army doctor gave me some
advice which has completely changed my life. After giving me a
thorough physical examination, he informed me that my troubles were
mental. ''Ted'', he said, ''I want you to think of your life as an
hourglass. You know there are thousands of grains of sand in the
top of the hourglass; and they all pass slowly and evenly through
the narrow neck in the middle. Nothing you or I could do would make
more than one grain of sand pass through this narrow neck without
impairing the hourglass. You and I and everyone else are like this
hourglass. When we start in the morning, there are hundreds of
tasks which we feel that we must accomplish that day, but if we do
not take them one at a time and let them pass through the day
slowly and evenly, as do the grains of sand passing through the
narrow neck of the hourglass, then we are bound to break our own
physical or mental structure.''
"I have practised that philosophy ever since that memorable day
that an Army doctor gave it to me. ''One grain of sand at a time.
... One task at a time.'' That advice saved me physically and
mentally during the war; and it has also helped me in my present
position in business. I am a Stock Control Clerk for the Commercial
Credit Company in Baltimore. I found the same problems arising in
business that had arisen during the war: a score of things had to
be done at once-and there was little time to do them. We were low
in stocks. We had new forms to handle, new stock arrangements,
changes of address, opening and closing offices, and so on. Instead
of getting taut and nervous, I remembered what the doctor had told
me. ''One grain of sand at a time. One task at a time.'' By repeating
those words to myself over and over, I accomplished my tasks in a
more efficient manner and I did my work without the confused and
jumbled feeling that had almost wrecked me on the
battlefield."
One of the most appalling comments on our present way of life is
that half of all the beds in our hospitals are reserved for
patients with nervous and mental troubles, patients who have
collapsed under the crushing burden of accumulated yesterdays and
fearful tomorrows. Yet a vast majority of those people would be
walking the streets today, leading happy, useful lives, if they had
only heeded the words of Jesus: "Have no anxiety about the morrow";
or the words of Sir William Osier: "Live in day-tight
compartments."
You and I are standing this very second at the meeting-place of
two eternities: the vast past that has endured for ever, and the
future that is plunging on to the last syllable of recorded time.
We can''t possibly live in either of those eternities-no, not even
for one split second. But, by trying to do so, we can wreck both
our bodies and our minds. So let''s be content to live the only time
we can possibly live: from now until bedtime. "Anyone can carry his
burden, however hard, until nightfall," wrote Robert Louis
Stevenson. "Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day.
Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun
goes down. And this is all that life really means."
Yes, that is all that life requires of us; but Mrs. E. K.
Shields, 815, Court Street, Saginaw, Michigan, was driven to
despair-even to the brink of suicide-before she learned to live
just till bedtime.
"In 1937, I lost my husband," Mrs. Shields said as she told me
her story. "I was very depressed-and almost penniless. I wrote my
former employer, Mr. Leon Roach, of the Roach-Fowler Company of
Kansas City, and got my old job back. I had formerly made my living
selling books to rural and town school boards. I had sold my car
two years previously when my husband became ill; but I managed to
scrape together enough money to put a down payment on a used car
and started out to sell books again.
"I had thought that getting back on the road would help relieve
my depression; but driving alone and eating alone was almost more
than I could take. Some of the territory was not very productive,
and I found it hard to make those car payments, small as they
were.
"In the spring of 1938, I was working out from Versailles,
Missouri. The schools were poor, the roads bad; I was so lonely and
discouraged that at one time I even considered suicide. It seemed
that success was impossible. I had nothing to live for. I dreaded
getting up each morning and facing life. I was afraid of
everything: afraid I could not meet the car payments; afraid I
could not pay my room rent; afraid I would not have enough to eat.
I was afraid my health was failing and I had no money for a doctor.
All that kept me from suicide were the thoughts that my sister
would be deeply grieved, and that I did not have enough money to
pay my funeral expenses.
……
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