I know that statement is true. I know from tragic experience.
The book that saved my marriage from shipwreck, Dr. Van de Velde's Ideal Marriage,
can be found in most large public libraries, or bought at any bookshop. If you want to
give a little gift to some bride and groom, don't give them a carving set. Give them a
copy of Ideal Marriage. That book will do more to increase their happiness than all the
carving sets in the world.
[Note by Dale Carnegie: If you find Ideal Marriage too expensive, here is another book I
can recommend: A Marriage Manual, by Drs. Hannah and Abraham Stone.]
I Was Committing Slow Suicide Because I Didn't Know How To Relax
By
Paul Sampson
Direct-Mail Advertising, 12815 Sycamore, Wyandotte, Michigan
UP to six months ago, I was rushing through life in high gear. I was always tense, never
relaxed. I arrived home from work every night worried and exhausted from nervous
fatigue Why? Because no one ever said to me: "Paul, you are killing yourself. Why don't
you slow down? Why don't you relax?"
I would get up fast in the morning, eat fast, shave fast, dress fast, and drive to work as if
I were afraid the steering wheel would fly out the window if I didn't have a death grip on
it. I worked fast, hurried home, and at night I even tried to sleep fast.
I was in such a state that I went to see a famous nerve specialist in Detroit. He told me
to relax. (By the way, he gave me the same principles for relaxation that are advocated
in Chapter 24 of this book.) He told me to think of relaxing all the time-to think about it
when I was working, driving, eating, and trying to go to sleep. He told me that I was
committing slow suicide because I didn't know how to relax.
Ever since then I have practised relaxation. When I go to bed at night, I don't try to go to
sleep until I've consciously relaxed my body and my breathing. And now I wake up in the
morning rested-a big improvement, because I used to wake up in the morning tired and
tense. I relax now when I eat and when I drive. To be sure, I am alert when driving, but I
drive with my mind now instead of my nerves. The most important place I relax is at my
work. Several times a day I stop everything and take inventory of myself to see if I am
entirely relaxed. When the phone rings now, no longer do I grab it as though someone
were trying to beat me to it; and when someone is talking to me, I'm as relaxed as a
sleeping baby.
The result? Life is much more pleasant and enjoyable; and I'm completely free of
nervous fatigue and nervous worry.
A Real Miracle Happened To Me
By
Mrs. John Burger
3,940 Colorado Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota