ntured to hint at it and was at once discharged. My
friend knew all these difficulties and, when he made up his mind that
the only right thing for him to do was to stay, he found himself
intensely interested in trying to approach his patient with so much
delicacy that he could finally convince him of the truth; and I am
happy to say that his efforts were to a great degree successful. The
patient was awakened to the fact that, if he tried, he could be a well
man. He never got so far as to see that he really was a well man who
was allowing old habits to keep him ill; but he got enough of a new and
healthy point of view to improve greatly and to feel a hearty sense of
gratitude toward the man who had enlightened him. The long habit of
illness had dulled his brain too much for him to appreciate the whole
truth about himself.

The only way that such an invalid's brain can be enlightened is by
going to work very gently and leading him to the light--never by
combating. This young physician whom I mention was successful only
through making friends with his patient and leading him gradually to
appear to discover for himself the fact which all the time the
physician was really telling him. The only way to help others is to
help them to help themselves, and this is especially the truth with
nerves.

If you, my friend, are so fortunate as to find out that your illness is
more a habit of illness than illness itself, do not expect to break the
habit at once. Go about it slowly and with common sense. A habit can be
broken sooner than it can be formed, but even then it cannot be broken
immediately. First recognize that your uncomfortable feelings whether
of eyes, nose, stomach, back of neck, top of head, or whatever it may
be, are mere habits, and then go about gradually but steadily ignoring
them. When once you find that your own healthy self can assert itself
and realize that you are stronger than your habits, these habits of
illness will weaken and finally disappear altogether.

The moment an illness gets hold of one, the illness has the floor, so
to speak, and the temptation is to consider it the master of the
situation--and yielding to this temptation is the most effectual way of
beginning to establish the habits which the illness has started, and
makes it more difficult to know when one is well. On the other hand it
is clearly possible to yield completely to an illness and let Nature
take its course, and at the same time to ta