er nerves, and relieved the
tension caused by her sensitive feelings. The cure seemed to her
wonderful. It would not have done for her to think a table heavy, or a
chair, or to have diverted her mind in any other way, for it was the
effect of relaxation in her own body that she wanted, which came from
persistently thinking her legs heavy. Neither could her sensitiveness
have taken a very deep hold, or mere outside relaxation would not have
reached it; but that outside process had the effect of greatly
assisting in the power to use a higher philosophy with the mind.

Self-consciousness and all the personal annoyances that come with or
follow it are to so great an extent nervous tension, that the ease with
which they may be helped seems sometimes like a miracle to those who
study for a better guidance of their bodies.

Of worries, from the big worries with a real foundation to the
miserable, petty, nagging worries that wear a woman's nervous system
more than any amount of steady work, there is so much to be said that
it would prove tedious, and indeed unnecessary to recount them. A few
words will suggest enough toward their remedy to those who are looking
in the right direction, and to others many words would be of no avail.

The petty worries are the most wearing, and they fortunately are the
most easily helped. By relaxing the muscular contractions invariably
accompanying them we seem to make an open channel, and they slip
through,--which expression I am well aware is not scientific. The
common saying, "Cares roll off her like water off a duck's back," means
the same thing. Some human ducks are made with backs eminently fitted
for cares to slip from; but those whose backs seem to be made to hold
the cares can remould themselves to the right proportions, and there is
great compensation in their appreciation of the contrast.

Never resist a worry. It is increased many times by the effort to
overcome it. The strain of the effort makes it constantly more
difficult to drop the strain of the worry. When we quietly go to work
to relax the muscles and so quiet the nerves, ignoring a worry, the way
in which it disappears is surprising. Then is the time to meet it with
a broad philosophizing on the uselessness of worry, etc., and "clinch"
our freedom, so to speak.

It is not at the first attempt to relax, or the second, or the ninth,
that the worry will disappear for many of us, and especially for
worriers. It takes many hou