Laugh and Live Part 5

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL PREPAREDNESS

It is not the object of this chapter to deal with a set course of physical culture, but rather to emphasize the necessity of keeping our physical house in order. There are plenty of books on physical culture which can be relied upon and also any number of physical instructors who are able to advise and help along a set program. There are hundreds of places, inst.i.tutions, clubs, Y.M.C.A.'s, and the like, which provide gymnasiums and every other facility for those who determine to build themselves up through consistent physical exercise. That is all very well to begin with, but afterward we must have some simple methods of our own which will not make it a hardship or a ch.o.r.e to keep ourselves in trim--_a state of physical preparedness_. It should become a part of our daily scheme to obey certain, simple rules which tend toward an _automatic effort_ instead of a discipline, and we should persevere in these until they become _fixed habits_.

It is no trouble at all to take exercise unconsciously, and we only arrive at this by turning into an exercise any of our ordinary physical actions during the day as we go along. For instance, we can sit down in a chair and in so doing can add a certain amount of exercise to the action itself--also in rising. With very little effort we can come into the habit of sitting correctly--posing the body as it should be--holding the shoulders in proper position--also the chin so that it becomes a hardship to sit improperly.

All of this has to do with _general physique_. In walking we can go along with a spring, elasticity, and vigor of motion which forces a fine blood circulation throughout the entire system. We can stoop over in the act of picking up some object from the floor and at the same time make it a matter of physical exercise, and we may take a hat from the rack while standing away from it, thus stretching ourselves, as it were, into a little needful action. Putting on an overcoat, or any part of our clothing, may be done in such a way as to set the blood to racing through the body. Morning and night--upon getting up and upon retiring--there is every reason to make it a rule to exercise freely.

The morning exercise wakes us up and sits us down finally at the breakfast table with a zest for the food set before us. The morning bath is an agency for good in this direction after we have given ourselves a good shake-up from head to foot. By the same token, exercises at night before retiring induces sound sleep and takes away the strain of the preceding day.

A very successful system is that of exercising in bed. Instead of immediately jumping to the floor in the morning it is very inviting to go through some simple form of gymnastics in which the physical structure is brought into play.

Physical exercise is something which can be carried to extremes. We can go at the work so intensely that we become muscle-bound and develop some structural enlargements that we do not need. This happens very often among athletes. The ordinary man should fight shy of such plans.

Superfluous strength is only for those who have need of it. What we really want is strength enough to carry us through our daily rounds with comfort and _a feeling of efficiency_.

In a sense we all live by our wits and these decline when not properly fed by our general physical organization. Prize fighters are not the longest lived people, nor are the professional athletes. Their calling requires extra building up which would be a positive handicap to the average man whose manner of life doesn't require this super-development.

In other words, there are intemperate methods of exercising just as there are of eating and drinking. We may easily go too far. Again, we can sin just as greatly by not going far enough. There was a time when men of forty were as worn and old as men of sixty-five and seventy are today. As a matter of fact, nowadays a half-century mark is no longer a badge of senility when a man has kept himself fit and treated himself right.

We all have friends who are pretty well along in years by virtue of their carefully planned physical training, plus their _cheerful dispositions_. They are as sprightly and companionable as though they were many years younger. We should come to know early in life what a large part _good humor_ plays in _physical fitness_. In previous chapters hearty laughter was extolled as one of the very best of exercises. It is an organizer in itself and opens up the heart and lungs as nothing else will do. It makes the blood go galloping all through the system. It is one of the best automatic _blood circulators_ in the business.

Laughter takes the stress off of the mind, and whatever is ahead of us for the day that seems likely to become a burden is soon turned into an ordinary circ.u.mstance. We smile as we go about doing it.

A friend once said to a banker:

"How do you know when to lend money?"

The banker replied:

"I look a man in the eye and then _I do or I don't_."

The friend said:

"I would like to borrow ten thousand dollars--now!"

"You shall have it, Sir," the banker replied.

This meant that the man who asked for the loan was in a state of physical and mental preparedness. If he had gone into the banker's office looking like an animated tombstone he wouldn't have had much of a chance to borrow the ten thousand. It goes without saying that the open-faced, hearty fellow inspires confidence. There is nothing coming to the dried-up, sour chap, and that's what he usually gets. And what we get is largely a matter of our physical well being. A modern philosopher observed that "the blues are the product of bad livers"--and there is no doubt but that he was right.

The problem of life is to fill our days with sunshine. In so doing we shall find that the "little graces" are those which will lend us the most help. Tiny favors extended, words of encouragement, courtesies of all sorts, unselfish work carried out in an open manner, true friendships and love, a hearty laugh, a sincere appreciation of the other fellow's struggle to keep his head above water, the conscientious carrying out of all tasks a.s.signed us--these are our helpmates and they are the products of our physical and mental equipment. Through these we come into our knack of detecting friends among those who are _the salt of the earth_.

It is impossible for the person who desires good health to obtain it, or having it, to retain it, without consistent effort. A watch will not run without the proper regulation of the mainspring. We must keep up our activities. We have taken the earth and are turning it into something to serve us--therefore the need of fine bodily preparedness. Nothing can take the place of achievement and it comes through physical and mental efficiency. The one must not be neglected for the other; both must be cultivated and developed alike in order that each may help the other.

Happiness comes only to those who take care of themselves. It is the natural product of _clean-mindedness_. No pleasure can surpa.s.s that of a conscious feeling of our strength of character. It is an all important element in men who aspire to succeed. The man who rises in the morning from a healthy slumber and plunges into the bath after some vigorous exercise is prepared to undertake anything. His world seems fair, and though the sun may not be shining literally, it is to all intents and purposes. Thus, we go swinging along with a cheery smile, carrying the message of hope and joy to all those with whom we come in contact. Oh!

it's fine to be physically and mentally fit!

CHAPTER XIII

SELF-INDULGENCE AND FAILURE

The correct definition of self-indulgence is _failure_--because self-indulgence is comprised of an aggregation of vices, large and small, and failure is the logical sequence thereof. Even the habit of eating may be cultivated into a vice. Indeed, there are those who gorge without restraint, which in itself is unchaste and immoral. We've often seen them as, with napkin under foot or tucked under the collar, they eat their way through mountains of food and wash it down as they reach for more.

No use to say how and what we feel when we attend such performances. It is all right to say "Look the Other Way," _but it can't be done_. It is human nature to gaze upon horror--sometimes in sympathy, but more often in amazement. Sometimes a well staged scene of gormandizing viewed from a seat in the second or third row center of a softly lighted, thick carpeted food emporium _saves us the price of our own meal_. We no longer hunger on our own account. Our appet.i.te is appeased by proxy, so to speak, and we calmly fix our eyes on the "big show" and _sigh for a baseball bat_.

No wonder a noted bachelor of medicine declares "People are what they eat!" The exclamation point is our own. We quite agree with our medical brother for we have seen people eat until we thought _we_ would never be hungry again.

But there is more to self-indulgence than the food specialist has to answer for, so we will be on our way. For instance, there is _the spendthrift_; surely he is ent.i.tled to a short stanza. We all know him.

He goes on the theory that he has all the spending money in the world, and that long after he is dead those on whom he spent it will remember his generosity. Vain hope!--Whatever memory of him remains will be of a different kind. Those who have been bored by his gratuitous attentions will take up the threads of their existence where they left off when he drove them away from their usual haunts. No longer will they have to dodge down alleys and run up strange stairways in an effort to avoid his overtures.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Douglas Fairbanks in "The Good Bad-Man"_]

When alive and in full operation he knew more about what was best for us than we could possibly think of knowing. Left to his own devices he would have us smoke his particular brands, drink his labels, eat his selections, wear his kind of a cravat, overcoat, cap, hat, shoes, and underwear. And to make his proposition sound business like he would willingly pay the bills! In this little amus.e.m.e.nt we are supposed to play the part of receiver and _praise his generosity_.

Whatever may be our verdict on this chap we must keep in mind that his inordinate desire to waste his substance was no less than a vice if for no other reason than its example upon others; it is just as bad to be _a "receiver"_ as it is to be _a spendthrift_. If we cannot build up a reputation for generosity without becoming ostentatious we might better take lessons in refinement from someone "to the manor born."

There is no desire to single out and set down by name and number every sort of self-indulgence. _Excesses of any kind are indulgences_, and it is easy to fall into them if we have not built up our stamina to resist.

Our failures are usually traceable to ourselves. No matter what excuses may be offered in our behalf we know in our own minds that we are to blame. Somewhere along the line of our endeavors we faltered--_then we fell_. Our conservatism reinforced by our strength of character finally gave way at a given point and put the whole plant out of business. Our system of inspection had become cursory instead of painstaking.

Everything had been running along so smoothly we forgot that everything _must_ wear out in time if it isn't looked after properly.

A previous chapter ent.i.tled, "Taking Stock of Ourselves," has a specific bearing upon the subject in hand. It emphasizes the necessity of taking stock of ourselves early in life in order that we may know our weak spots and take immediate steps to dig them out by the roots and replace them with "_hardy perennials_" which thrive on and on unto the last day.

And that reminds us that it is well to take stock of ourselves every little while. Even "hardy perennials" have to be looked after--the ground kept fertile and watered against the draughts of forgetfulness and neglect. And so it must be with our mental and physical processes in order that each day of our lives we may go forth with renewed forcefulness--with every atom of character in full working order.

Having started off on the right foot, we are less likely to have trouble with our higher resolves during the lean and hungry years of our youth when we go plunging headlong toward the goal of our ambitions. Usually it is not until we come into "Easy Street" that we find that we dropped something somewhere along the line which we must replace at once or we will be laid up for repairs. But lo and behold! "Easy Street" is fair to look upon. It dazzles the eye--it takes hold of the sensibilities.

Everybody wears "Sunday clothes" on this street and seems to be superlatively happy. Surely it wouldn't hurt to linger awhile and see what is going on. Why, this is the most talked about street in the world! Some of the people we have dealt with have told us about it. They said it was _the only street_ for a man of means, for there could be found the very things for which we strive in life. They told us that the people we would meet represented the higher order of intelligence, brainy, alert, accomplished--a grand thoroughfare for those who would know life in the fullness thereof.

Now it is a fact that "Easy Street" may be crossed and recrossed in safety every day of our lives if we do not tarry. Financial competence might permit of it, but competent efficiency demands that we trot along--_keep moving_--get away before we settle down into its ways. The action we need is not along this brilliant lane.

But suppose we do take a chance just to test the serene confidence which we think is so safely nailed down within us. The very thought of it makes the "caution bell" tinkle in our ears--but caution is a species of cowardice, after all, we say--a man of _courage_ may dare anything _once_. And just at the moment we waver who comes along but our old friend _Self-indulgence_!--the well dressed, carefree fellow who once told us all about "Easy Street" and invited us to look in on him sometime. Nothing would please him more than to show us the whole works--and here he is shaking us by the hand and pulling us along--for he is an affable fellow and will not take "no" for an answer.

Our struggle is feeble--a huge chunk of our strength of character falls off into s.p.a.ce then and there. Even at the gilded entrance we try again to beg off--to slip away--but Self-indulgence will not hear. So together we go through the portals leading into a grandeur we had never known--beyond our experience and power to believe. _This is likely to become the turning point in our career._

Bill Nye once said "When we start down hill we usually find everything greased for the occasion." We might add--"_except the b.u.mps_!"

CHAPTER XIV

LIVING BEYOND OUR MEANS

Living beyond our means is a big subject that must be treated broadly, for circ.u.mstances alter cases. There is a sane way to look at every problem, and the matter of living beyond our means is one of the major problems we have to face. If every man was alike and every avocation in life was on a parity, it would be possible to dispose of this subject in a paragraph. But men are not alike. What one could do successfully might easily baffle another. Therefore, it seems advisable to consider the subject by looking into its depths.

To most people debt is terrifying. To some it means nothing--and thus we have individual temperament as an angle from which to consider. Living beyond our ability to pay means going into debt via the shortest route.