You must
unify yourself in thought with the thing you desire; and whatever state or
condition you unify with yourself in thought will soon become unified with you
in body. The scientific way is to sever relations with everything you do not
want, and to enter into relations with everything you do want. Form a
conception of perfect health, and relate yourself to this conception in word,
act, and attitude.
Guard
your speech; make every word harmonize with the conception of perfect health.
Never complain; never say things like these: "I did not sleep well last
night;" "I have a pain in my side;" "I do not feel at all
well to-day," and so on.
Say
"I am looking forward to a good night's sleep to- night;" "I can
see that I progress rapidly," and things of similar meaning. In so far as
everything which is connected with disease is concerned, your way is to forget
it; and in so far as everything which is connected with health is concerned,
your way is to unify yourself with it in thought and speech.
This is
the whole thing in a nutshell: make yourself one with Health in thought, word,
and action; and do not connect yourself with sickness either by thought, word,
or action.
Do not
read "Doctor books" or medical literature, or the literature of those
whose theories conflict with those herein set forth; to do so will certainly
undermine your faith in the Way of Living upon which you have entered, and
cause you to again come into mental relations with disease.
This
book really gives you all that is required; nothing essential has been omitted,
and practically all the superfluous has been eliminated. The Science of Being
Well is an exact science, like arithmetic; nothing can be added to the
fundamental principles, and if anything be taken from them, a failure will
result. If you follow strictly the way of living prescribed in this book, you
will be well; and you certainly CAN follow this way, both in thought and
action.
Relate
not only yourself, but so far as possible all others, in your thoughts, to
perfect health. Do not sympathize with people when they complain, or even when
they are sick and suffering. Turn their thoughts into a constructive channel if
you can; do all you can for their relief, but do it with the health thought in
your mind.
Do not
let people tell their woes and catalogue their symptoms to you; turn the
conversation to some other subject, or excuse yourself and go. Better be
considered an unfeeling person than to have the disease thought forced upon
you.
When you
are in company of people whose conversational stock-in-trade is sickness and
kindred matters, ignore what they say and fall to offering a mental prayer of
gratitude for your perfect health; and if that does not enable you to shut out
their thoughts, say good-bye and leave them.
No
matter what they think or say; politeness does not require you to permit
yourself to be poisoned by diseased or perverted thought. When we have a few
more hundreds of thousands of enlightened thinkers who will not stay where
people complain and talk sickness, the world will advance rapidly toward
health. When you let people talk to you of sickness, you assist them to
increase and multiply sickness.
What
shall I do when I am in pain? Can one be in actual physical suffering and still
think only thoughts of health?
Yes. Do
not resist pain; recognize that it is a good thing. Pain is caused by an effort
of the Principle of Health to overcome some unnatural condition; this you must
know and feel. When you have a pain, think that a process of healing is going
on in the affected part, and mentally assist and cooperate with it. Put
yourself in full mental harmony with the power which is causing the pain;
assist it; help it along.
Do not
hesitate, when necessary, to use hot formulations and similar means to further
the good work which is going on. If the pain is severe, lie down and give your
mind to the work of quietly and easily co-operating with the force which is at
work for your good. This is the time to exercise gratitude and faith; be
thankful for the power of health which is causing the pain, and be certain that
the pain will cease as soon as the good work is done. Fix your thoughts, with
confidence, on the Principle of Health which is making such conditions within
you that pain will soon be unnecessary. You will be surprised to find out how
easily you can conquer pain; and after you have lived for a time in this Scientific Way,
pains and aches will be things unknown to you.
What
shall I do when I am too weak for my work? Shall I drive myself beyond my
strength, trusting in God to support me? Shall I go on, like the runner,
expecting a "second wind"?
No;
better not. When you begin to live in this Way, you will probably not be of
normal strength; and you will gradually pass from a low physical condition to a
higher one. If you relate yourself mentally with health and strength, and
perform the voluntary functions of life in a perfectly healthy manner, your
strength will increase from day to day; but for a time you may have days when
your strength is insufficient for the work you would like to do. At such times
rest, and exercise gratitude.
Recognize
the fact that your strength is growing rapidly, and feel a deep thankfulness to
the Living One from whom it comes. Spend an hour of weakness in thanksgiving
and rest, with full faith that great strength is at hand; and then get up and
go on again. While you rest do not think of your present weakness; think of the
strength that is coming.
Never,
at any time, allow yourself to think that you are giving way to weakness; when
you rest, as when you go to sleep, fix your mind of the Principle of Health
which is building you into complete strength.
What
shall I do about the great bugaboo which scares millions of people to death
every year - Constipation?
Do
nothing. Read Horace Fletcher on "The A B Z of Our Own Nutrition,"
and get the full force of his explanation of the fact that when you live on
this scientific plan you need not, and indeed cannot, have an evacuation of the
bowels every day; and that an operation in from once in three days to once in
two weeks is quite sufficient for perfect health.
The
gross feeders who eat from three to ten times as much as can be utilized in
their systems have a great amount of waste to eliminate; but if you live in the
manner we have described it will be otherwise with you.
If you
eat only when you have an EARNED HUNGER,
and chew every mouthful to a liquid, and if you stop eating the instant you BEGIN to be conscious of an abatement
of your hunger, you will so perfectly prepare your food for digestion and
assimilation that practically all of it will be taken up by the absorbents; and
there will be little - almost nothing - remaining in the bowels to be excreted.
If you
are able to entirely banish from your memory all that you have read in
"doctor books" and patent medicine advertisements concerning
constipation, you need give this matter no further thought at all. The
Principle of Health will take care of it.
But if
your mind has been filled with fear-thought in regard to constipation, it may
be well in the beginning for you to occasionally flush the colon with warm
water. There is not the least need of doing it, except to make the process of
your mental emancipation from fear a little easier; it may be worthwhile for
that.
And as
soon as you see that you are making good progress, and that you have cut down
your quantity of food, and are really eating in the Scientific Way, dismiss constipation from
your mind forever; you have nothing more to do with it. Put your trust in that
Principle within you which has the power to give you perfect health; relate It
by your reverent gratitude to the Principle of Life which is All Power and go
on your way rejoicing.
What about exercise?
Every
one is the better for a little all-round use of the muscles every day; and the
best way to get this is to do it by engaging in some form of play or amusement.
Get your exercise in the natural way; as recreation, not a forced stunt for
health's sake alone. Ride a horse or a bicycle; play tennis or tenpins, or toss
a ball.
Have
some avocation like gardening in which you can spend an hour every day with pleasure
and profit; there are a thousand ways in which you can get exercise enough to
keep your body supple and your circulation good, and yet not fall into the rut
of "exercising for your health." Exercise for fun or profit; exercise
because you are too healthy to sit still, and not because you wish to become
healthy, or remain so.
Are long continued fasts
necessary?
Seldom,
if ever. The Principle of Health does not often require twenty, thirty, or
forty days to get ready for action; under normal circumstances, hunger will
come in much less time. In most long fasts, the reason hunger does not come
sooner is because it has been inhibited by the patient himself. He begins the
fast with the FEAR if not actually with the hope that it will be many days before
hunger comes; the literature he has read on the subject has prepared him to
expect a long fast, and he is grimly determined to go to a finish, let the time
be as long as it will. And the sub-conscious mind, under the influence of
powerful and positive suggestion, suspends hunger.
When,
for any reason, nature takes away your hunger, go cheerfully on with your usual
work, and do not eat until she gives it back. No matter if it is two, three,
ten days or longer; you may be perfectly sure that when it is time for you to
eat you will be hungry; and if you are cheerfully confident and keep your faith
in health, you will suffer from no weakness or discomfort caused by abstinence.
When you are not hungry, you will feel stronger, happier, and more comfortable
if you do not eat than you will if you do eat; no matter how long the fast.