The principles of health control . d allare intent upon play. Voluntary effort is necessary attimes, to be sure, and is to be recommended, but is neverso prolific of good results as the method which dependsupon a vital interest in the subject in hand. Value of Interest. — Though the field of consciousnessis occupied at all times with a variety of feelings andthoughts, only one of these can have the center of the fieldat a given time or can hold the attention. Referring to thediagram (Fig. 67) which represents the mental field of abusiness man on his way to work, it will be seen thatthoughts of
The principles of health control . d allare intent upon play. Voluntary effort is necessary attimes, to be sure, and is to be recommended, but is neverso prolific of good results as the method which dependsupon a vital interest in the subject in hand. Value of Interest. — Though the field of consciousnessis occupied at all times with a variety of feelings andthoughts, only one of these can have the center of the fieldat a given time or can hold the attention. Referring to thediagram (Fig. 67) which represents the mental field of abusiness man on his way to work, it will be seen thatthoughts of business occupy the center of his the first place, this is so because the man is engaged inbusiness and has a natural interest in making it a success,and in the second place, because he is on his way to hisoffice and anticipates the tasks which there await him. Hedoes not have to force himself to think of business; hismind naturally turns in that direction. Through habit NERVOUS CONSERVATION AND MENTAL WORK 303. this has become for him the natural outlet for his mentalenergy. As the illustration suggests, the main element in thesolution of the problem of mental direction is an Such an in-terest may be a naturalcondition or it may bedeveloped throughstudy, investigation,observation, or experi-mentation. Before avital interest can bedeveloped, however, itis frequently necessaryto rid the mind ofmuch useless material— mental rubbish, soto speak. Disposition of Men-tal Rubbish. — Someminds are like unkeptworkshops. There isso much loose rubbishlying about that it isdifficult to find the tools which one wishes to use or asuitable place for using them. In such minds theeffort at concentration is difficult, because there islikely to be more attraction for something of the natureof rubbish than for useful A most practical prob-lem, therefore, is that of cleaning out the rubbish and put- 1 The author has frequently talked with students
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjecthygiene, bookyear1920
