ecause we are choosing in response to
hidden desires, and giving satisfaction to cravings which we have not
recognized. Repeated indulgence of such desires is responsible for the
emotional habits which we are too likely to consider an inevitable
part of our personality, inherited from ancestors who are not on hand
to defend themselves. When we form the habit of being afraid of things
that other people do not fear, or of being irritated or depressed, or
of giving way to fits of temper, it is because these habit-reactions
satisfy the inner cravings that in the circumstances can get
satisfaction in no better way.

These hidden desires are of several different kinds, when squarely
looked at. Some of the cravings are found to be childish, and so out
of keeping with our real characters that we could not possibly hold on
to them as conscious desires. Others turn out to be so natural and so
inevitable that we wonder how we could ever have imagined that they
ought to be repressed. Still others, legitimate in themselves, but
denied because of outer circumstances, are found to be easily
satisfied in indirect ways which bear no resemblance to their old
unfortunate forms of outlet.

WHEN KNOWLEDGE HELPS

The way to get rid of an undesirable emotion is not by working at the
emotion itself, but by realizing that this is merely an offshoot of a
deeper root, hidden below the surface. The great point is to recognize
this deeper root.

=Childish Anger.= It helps to know that uncalled-for anger is a
defense reaction--a sort of camouflage or smoke cloud which we throw
out to hide from ourselves and others the fact that we are being
worsted in an argument, or being shown up in an undesirable light.
Better than any amount of weeping over a hot temper is an
understanding of the fact that when we fly into unseemly rage we are
usually giving indulgence to a childhood desire to run away from
unpleasant facts and to cover up our own faults.

=Enjoying the Blues.= It helps to know that the easiest way to fight
the blues is by realizing that they are a deliberate, if unconscious,
attempt to gain the pity of ourselves and others. There seems to be in
undeveloped human nature something that really enjoys being pitied,
and if we cannot get the commiseration of other people, we can,
without much trouble, work up a case of self-pity. Most of us would
have to acknowledge that we seldom find tears in our eyes except when
our own woes are under con