bad habits more closely to
herself. What we can do, however, is to throw out a suggestion here and
there which may lead such a one to discover the truth for herself;
then, if she comes to you with sincere interest in her discovery, don't
say: "Yes, I have thought so for some time." Keep yourself out of it,
except in so far as you can give aid which is really wanted, and
accepted and used.

Beware of saying or doing anything to or for any one which will only
rouse resentment and serve to push deeper into the brain an impression
already made by a mistaken conviction. More than half of the functional
and nervous illnesses in the world are caused by bad habit, either
formed or inherited.

Happy are those who discover the fact for themselves and, with the
intelligence born from such discovery, work with patient insight until
they have freed themselves from bondage. Happy are those who feel
willing to change any mistaken conviction or prejudice and to recognize
it as a sin against the truth.

CHAPTER XXVI

_What is It that Makes Me so Nervous?_

THE two main reasons why women are nervous are, first, that they do not
take intelligent care of their bodies, and secondly, that they do not
govern their emotions.

I know a woman who prefers to make herself genuinely miserable rather
than take food normally, to eat it normally, and to exercise in the
fresh air.

"Everybody is against me," she says; and if you answer her, "My dear,
you are acting against yourself by keeping your stomach on a steady
strain with too much unmasticated, unhealthy, undigested food," she
turns a woe-begone face on you and asks how you can be "so material."
"Nobody loves me; nobody is kind to me. Everybody neglects me," she
says.

And when you answer, "How can any one love you when you are always
whining and complaining? How can any one be kind to you when you resent
and resist every friendly attention because it does not suit your
especial taste? Indeed, how can you expect anything from any one when
you are giving nothing yourself?" She replies,

"But I am so nervous. I suffer. Why don't they sympathize?"

"My dear child, would you sympathize with a woman who went down into
the cellar and cried because she was so cold, when fresh air and warm
sunshine were waiting for her outside?"

This very woman herself is cold all the time. She piles covers over
herself at night so that the weight alone would be enough to make her
ill. She sleep