I want you to check your troubles. I believe that it was Mark Twain who said something to the effect that he had gone through many troubles in his life, a mighty lot of them, though as a matter of fact not many of them had really happened

It was a very expressive way on the part of the celebrated philosopher of saying that most of his troubles had been imaginary.

We can't all be witty, but we can all have common sense. A little plain philosophy and common sense is all that is required in order to apply the analytic method to the breaking up of unconscious mental conflicts, and thereby to release the energy thus wast­ed and to make it available for conscious application.

The difference between Mark Twain's treatment of a trouble and that of a neurotic person is that, whereas that gentleman's custom was to do his level best to make a joke out of the affair, the neurotic person likes to sit in a mental morgue and gaze upon the gruesome relics that recline upon the mortuary slabs.

If we can say with Mark Twain, however, that most of our troubles have never happened, there will still be a few memories left that will be hard to treat thus lightly. But our troubles and difficulties haven't all come together, anyway; and oftentimes they are spread well apart. So much so, in fact, that we have quite a little time in which to catch our breath be­tween the experiences—if we only know how to do so.

One Trouble at a Time

Many sufferers from unpleasant experiences sit down by their mental ghosts as if fascinated; and oftentimes with such persistence that other troubles eventually come along and add their burdens to those already existing. Now, one trouble at a time is gen­erally enough for the average individual; and if a person will persist in hanging on to old troubles and at the same time permit new ones to pile up, then it will not be very long before he will be weighted down with a vengeance.

Some people love to accumulate junk. I know a good lady who has lived in the same house ever since she was married long years ago, out of which habita­tion no object ever emerges—not even an empty medicine bottle or a broken umbrella-stick. In this attitude no principles of utility are involved; the good lady simply wants to hang on to anything and every­thing that comes within her little sphere of influence, and she makes an exceedingly great success of it— even down to her troubles.

The person who is always bowed down with trou­ble is like this junk-collecting acquaintance of mine. No matter what unpleasant experience is encoun­tered, it is piled on top of the rest, accepted as an in­evitable burden, and life is resumed with a little added groaning. Everything is held on to and nothing is ever let go. Even the "medicine bottles" and "broken umbrella-sticks" of little petty troubles are clutched and hoarded.

The capacity to withstand trouble is properly measurable by the faculty that exists for throwing it off. It is not the amount that can be sustained, but that which can be successfully disposed of.

As soon as a person specializes in a capacity to carry troubles, the end is in sight. No one has yet been able to make much of a showing in that sort of spe­cialty. The manufacturer of a good raincoat does not advertise the amount of moisture that his coat will absorb, but how beautifully the garment will shed the rain.

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