Sixth--Don"t stay in bed Sunday morning. It will make you tired, loggy, stupid and cross. Get up Sunday, say, a half hour or an hour later than week days. Later in the day take a nap if you wish.
Seventh--Spend fifteen minutes just before going to bed in quiet, relaxed solitude. This is the time to slow down your tension, relax your muscles and soothe your nerves.
These rules you can easily remember and if you follow them as I hope you will, the red blood will course in your veins and joy will be in your countenance and the halo of happiness will be around your face.
20.
Every once in a while the human has a negative day. Every act, thought, or spoken sentence has a but, a don"t, a can"t, or some other negative attachment to it.
[Sidenote: The Negative Att.i.tude.]
The children laugh, play and cut up in the morning, and mother says: "I don"t know what I shall do with you, you are just wearing me out." This puts a fear-thought and a weakness-germ both in mother and the kiddies.
On Sunday afternoon the family is resting. Mother maybe gets the blues, and says: "What"s the use, I never get anywhere, go any place; it"s just grind, work and worry all the time."
Mother worries because there"s a leak in the roof and the water stained the paper in the spare room. She worries because she lives in a rented house, and says: "I have no heart to fix things up because this is a rented house."
This negative thought brings on a misery state; it"s worry, and the worry comes because you dwell on the off side of things. You rehea.r.s.e your problem, you go over your work, you count your obstacles, and you pile up the negative and fear thoughts.
Bless you, my dear sister, I know what this negative can"t, don"t, but, and what"s-the-use thought is and how it brings misery. I know how the children get on your nerves and make you say "don"t" all day to them.
[Sidenote: Show Your Positive Side.]
There"s only one way to drive out this negative thought and that is to switch your will power to the positive current. Next time you have a negative day and the fear thoughts come, just start in one by one and count your blessings of health, blessings of home, and blessings of love.
Nothing can hurt you. You"ve been through these negative days time and time again; the clouds gathered, you were blue, lonesome, homesick and heartsick, but next day you got busy with work, and occupation drove away the clouds, and the sunshine came. The next Sunday you get in this negative state, just put on your hat and go out to see some neighbor, or go to the park, or take a walk.
Don"t sit and stew and fret over your magnified troubles.
Let the children play and laugh; they are not hurting anyone. G.o.d bless them. They don"t have worries; their little lives are all too short.
Their example of smiles and laughter should make you happy. Soon, too soon, they will grow up and go their ways in life and how precious will be the memories of their carefree, golden, happy childhood days.
Cut out envy; that"s a mighty bad negative wire. It"s the devil"s favorite food to make worry and discontent.
[Sidenote: Envy Makes Worry.]
Many of the people you envied in the past are dead and buried. Many of the people you envy now are at heart miserable, and you wouldn"t envy them if you could look through the artificial outside and know their real hidden thoughts and lives.
"What"s-the-use"--that"s a bad thing to say; it plants worry seed.
You are all right; you have far more blessings than sorrows. You can never be entirely free from troubles, care or little irritations.
Rise superior to these things; those around you are affected by and susceptible to your influence and example.
If you have a "but," an "if" or a "don"t" tied to every command to your children, they will recognize your uncertainty and your negative, hurtful att.i.tude, and they will take your threats, as well as your promises, with a grain of salt.
Be careful in giving commands; don"t put a Spanish bit in the children"s mouths to jerk them and torture them.
Be positive, make your promises and orders stick, and the kiddies will soon know you mean what you say.
[Sidenote: Exposing Your Weakness.]
These negative "driving me crazy" attachments to your commands spell weakness, and make you drive, cajole and spin out your orders, and the children hesitate and are slow to obey. Let them see your positive side.
Let them learn to obey with a "yes, mamma" spirit, and your orders will be less frequent, shorter, and they will be obeyed on the instant.
The kiddies learn to size you up, mamma, and if they see a wobbly, worried, despondent, unsure att.i.tude in you, they will discount your threats and make allowances, saying: "That"s mamma"s way."
Don"t show your cry side but show your smile side.
Sunday is a great trial day for you, mamma, but don"t let your negative wires get the best of you.
Sing as you make the beds and tidy up; let sunshine in and drive out the gloom.
Blue Sundays are horror days for the children; you can"t expect them to sit still like older folks. They are full of red blood and active muscles.
Don"t make Sunday a day of punishment to your children. They get their cue from you. Don"t you be negative and cross and gloomy. It"s bad business for you and all the family.
21.
The benefits of walking are so quickly apparent that I hope to get you to make the start and keep it up for two weeks. Then you will require no further urging.
[Sidenote: The Best Exercise.]
In walking, there are two most important things to do in order to get the greatest benefits: first--walk alone; second--walk your natural gait. So many people tell me they would like to walk all, or part of the way, between their home and office if they had company.
Company is the very thing you don"t want in walking, and there are two reasons for this. One is, if you walk with a friend, you will hold yourself back, or else you will be walking faster than your natural gait. In either case it is a conscious effort, and this conscious effort, to a large degree, will cause you to lose much of the benefit from your walk.
The most important reason, however, is that if you walk with a friend, you are sure to talk, and thus you are using your nervous energy and tiring your brain--the very thing you want to avoid.
[Sidenote: Walk, Not Talk.]
Walking gives you physical exercise which is absolutely necessary for health. It is the best exercise I know of, because you do not overdo your strength. Walking is beneficial, because when you walk alone, you give your brain a rest. You cannot read the papers, you cannot talk, and your mental apparatus gets complete rest.
I recommend that you walk anywhere from three to four miles in the morning. If your home is more than four miles from the office, walk three or four miles of the distance and then take the car.
Do not walk home in the evening unless the walk is a short one. In the evening you are tired, and you should conserve your strength. In the morning you are fresh, and the exercise comes to you at a time it is most needed. It will give you strength and courage, and help to keep you in a good mood all day.
I cannot too strongly emphasize the importance of walking alone, for it is then that you shift your nerve energy from the dry cell battery of the brain to the magneto, which is the spinal cord. The spinal cord works automatically and it doesn"t wear itself out. The brain tires if it uses its energy.
In walking you use the thought and the brain impulse to start the magneto, and then the spinal cord action is automatic.