with which the others treated her increased her nervous strain. After
this there followed various other worries and a personal sense of
annoyance--all of which made her more nervous.

Then--the stomach and brain are so closely associated--her digestion
began to cause her discomfort: a lump in her stomach, her food "would
not digest," and various other symptoms, all of which mean strained and
overwrought nerves, although they are more often attributed merely to a
disordered stomach. She worried as to what she had better eat and what
she had better not eat. If her stomach was tired and some simple food
disagreed with her all the discomfort was attributed to the food,
instead of to the real cause,--a tired stomach,--and the cause back of
that,--strained nerves. The consequence was that one kind of wholesome
food after another was cut off as being impossible for her to eat.
Anything that this poor little invalid did not like about circumstances
or people she felt ugly and cried over. Finally, the entire family were
centered about her illness, either in overcare or annoyance.

You see, she kept constantly repeating her brain impression of
overfatigue: first annoyance because she stayed awake; then annoyance
at noises; then excited distress that she should have stayed awake all
night; then resistance and anger at other people who interfered with
her. Over and over that brain impression of nervous illness was
repeated by the woman herself and people about her until she seemed
settled into it for the rest of her life. It was like expecting a sore
to get well while it was constantly being rubbed and irritated. A woman
might have the healthiest blood in the world, but if she cut herself
and then rubbed and irritated the cut, and put salt in it, it would be
impossible for it to heal.

Now let me tell you how this little woman got well. The first thing she
did was to take some very simple relaxing exercises while she was lying
in bed. She raised her arms very slowly and as loosely as she could
from the elbow and then her hands from the wrist, and stretched and
relaxed her fingers steadily, then dropped her hand and forearm
heavily, and felt it drop slowly at first, then quickly and quietly,
with its own weight. She tried to shut her eyes like a baby going to
sleep, and followed that with long, gentle, quiet breaths. These and
other exercises gave her an impression of quiet relaxation so that she
became more sensitive to superflu