author - "Annie Payson Call"

of the trouble, the invalidgets "well" only to drag out a miserable existence or to get veryill again.Although any nervous suffering is worth while if it is the means ofteaching us how to avoid nervous strain, it certainly is farpreferable to avoid the strain without the extreme pain of a nervousbreakdown. To point out many of these pernicious habits and to suggest apractical remedy for each and all of them is the aim of this book,and for that reason common examples in various phases

rewhat might perhaps be called the outside elements of life. Theseonce normally faced, cease to exist as impediments, dwindle away,and finally disappear altogether.Thus we are enabled to get nearer the kernel, and have a growingrealization of life itself. Civilization may give a man new freedom, a freedom beyond any powerof description or conception, except to those who achieve it, or itmay so bind him body and soul that in moments when he recognizes hisnervous contractions he would willingly

hand,strengthens the will and increases strength of purpose as the pettyobstacles of mere self-love are removed. Concentration alone cannotlong remain wholesome, for it needs the light of growingself-knowledge to prevent its becoming self-centred. Yielding aloneis of no avail, for in itself it has no constructive power. But ifwe try to look at ourselves as we really are, we shall find greatstrength in yielding where only our small and private interests areconcerned, and concentrating upon