That old man taught Vicki Baum and the other children how to fall, how to do flip-flops,
and how to turn somersaults. And always he insisted: "Think of yourself as an old
crumpled sock. Then you've got to relax!"
You can relax in odd moments, almost anywhere you are. Only don't make an effort to
relax. Relaxation is the absence of all tension and effort. Think ease and relaxation.
Begin by thinking relaxation of the muscles of your eyes and your face, saying over and
over: "Let go ... let go ... let go and relax." Feel the energy flowing out of your facial
muscles to the centre of your body. Think of yourself as free from tension as a baby.
That is what Galli-Curci, the great soprano, used to do. Helen Jepson told me that she
used to see Galli-Curci before a performance, sitting in a chair with all her muscles
relaxed and her lower jaw so limp it actually sagged. An excellent practice-it kept her
from becoming too nervous before her stage entrance; it prevented fatigue.
Here are five suggestions that will help you learn to relax:
- Read one of the best books ever written on this subject: Release from Nervous
Tension, by Dr. David Harold Fink. - Relax in odd moments. Let your body go limp like an old sock. I keep an old, maroon-
coloured sock on my desk as I work-keep it there as a reminder of how limp I ought to
be. If you haven't got a sock, a cat will do. Did you ever pick up a kitten sleeping in the
sunshine? If so, both ends sagged like a wet newspaper. Even the yogis in India say
that if you want to master the art of relaxation, study the cat. I never saw a tired cat, a
cat with a nervous breakdown, or a cat suffering from insomnia, worry, or stomach
ulcers. You will probably avoid these disasters if you learn to relax as the cat does. - Work, as much as possible, in a comfortable position. Remember that tensions in the
body produce aching shoulders and nervous fatigue. - Check yourself four or five times a day, and say to yourself: "Am I making my work
harder than it actually is? Am I using muscles that have nothing to do with the work I am
doing?" This will help you form the habit of relaxing, and as Dr. David Harold Fink says:
"Among those who know psychology best, it is habits two to one." - Test yourself again at the end of the day, by asking yourself: "Just how tired am I? If I
am tired, it is not because of the mental work I have done but because of the way I have
done it." "I measure my accomplishments," says Daniel W. Josselyn, "not by how tired I
am at the end of the day, but how tired I am not." He says: "When I feel particularly tired
at the end of the day, or when irritability proves that my nerves are tired, I know beyond
question that it has been an inefficient day both as to quantity and quality." If every
business man would learn that same lesson, the death rate from "hypertension"
diseases would drop overnight. And we would stop filling up our sanatoriums and
asylums with men who have been broken by fatigue and worry.
Chapter 25: How The Housewife Can Avoid Fatigue-and Keep Looking Young
One day last autumn, my associate flew up to Boston to attend a session of one of the
most unusual medical classes in the world. Medical? Well, yes, it meets once a week at
the Boston Dispensary, and the patients who attend it get regular and thorough medical
examinations before they are admitted. But actually this class is a psychological clinic.
Although it is officially called the Class in Applied Psychology (formerly the Thought