torturing
experiences will gradually fade away. Live in the future and forget the
past. The man or woman who lives in the future, and for the
future, will invariably be optimistic and cheerful. It is a good habit
to cultivate.

Then there is a mental poison called anger. Avoid it as you would a
venomous snake. It has indeed been said by scientists that the venom of
the snake is developed through anger, induced by impure circulation, for
in reptiles the pure arterial blood mixes in the imperfectly formed
heart with the impure venous blood. Scientists have also stated that
anger produces a poison in the perspiration that emanates from the
human body. This may or may not be true, but there is no question,
however, about anger being a mental poison. It represents a tremendous
waste of nervous energy. To be sure, there may be occasions when anger
is justified, when it is actually desirable, but such occasions are
rare. Learn to master such emotions. Get control of your feelings and
mental states. Avoid useless anger definitely and finally. It usually
indicates a lack of mental control, and should be recognized as a
destructive force to be carefully avoided.

Hate is, to a certain extent, synonymous with anger. One may call it
anger in a chronic form. Hate and the personal enmities associated with
it develop emotions and characteristics that unquestionably have a
destructive influence. Why hate anybody? Why waste your nervous
energies by trying to "get even" with a fancied enemy? A tremendous
amount of human energy is wasted in this manner. You may be impressed
with the idea that someone has wronged you. You lie awake at night
forming plans for "getting even." Every mental effort spent in this
direction is not only destructive to body, mind and character, but it
represents a waste of nervous energy. One's life should be so filled
with useful activities that no time will be left for a waste of this
sort. Show me a man who spends his time and efforts trying to "get even"
with his supposed enemies, and I will show you a shining example of
failure. No man can succeed who wastes his nervous forces in this
manner.

Then there is the poison of avarice. Financial gain seems to be the one
end and aim of many ambitious men. They struggle day after day and year
after year in the whirlpool of perverted enthusiasm, looking
continuously for wealth and still more wealth. But there is something
more in life th