Fourth.
Don’t take other people too seriously.
They are not so much, anyway. Don’t let
their criticisms worry you. You can’t please
everybody, so please yourself. Don’t let
your neighbors set your standards for you.
Don’t run into debt trying to keep up with
the Joneses, or bore yourself to death trying
to be as intelligent as the Highbrows. Be
yourself and do the things you enjoy doing if
you want to be comfortable and happy.
Fifth.
Don’t borrow trouble. You have to pay
compound interest on that and it will bankrupt
you in the end. It is a queer thing, but
imaginary troubles are harder to bear than
actual ones. There are none of us who have not
lain awake at night petrified with dread of
some calamity that we feared might befall us
and that we felt would shatter our lives if it
should occur. Generally it never happened, but
if it did, it was not so bad after all and we
survived it without serious injury. Enjoy
today and let tomorrow take care of itself.
There is no sounder adage than that which bids
us not to trouble trouble until trouble
troubles us. The only good that worrying ever
did anyone was make him thin. It is grand for
the figure but hard on the disposition.
Sixth.
Don’t cherish enmities and grudges.
Don’t keep up old quarrels. Don’t remember
all the mean things people have done to you.
Forget them. Hate is a dreadful chemical that
we distill in our own hearts, that poisons our
own souls. It takes all the joy out of life
and hurts us far worse than it does anyone
else. There is nothing so depressing as having
a grudge against someone. Nothing makes a home
so miserable as for the family not to be on
good terms. Meeting someone you don’t speak
to will spoil any party. So if you have an
enemy, forgive him and kiss on both cheeks,
not for his sake but simply because it is to
making you unhappy and uncomfortable to be
stirred up in wrath against him.
Seventh.
Keep in circulation. Go around and meet
people. Belong to clubs. Travel as much as you
can. Have as many interests as possible.
Have
hosts of friends. That is the way to keep
yourself cheerful and jolly and thinking that
this is the best of all possible worlds.
Eighth.
Don’t hold post-mortems. Don’t spend
your life brooding over the mistakes you have
made or the sorrows that have befallen on you.
What is done is done and cannot be changed,
but you can have your whole future life in
which to make good. Not all the tears can
bring back those we have lost, but we can make
life miserable for ourselves and those about
us by our unavailing weeping. Quit beating
upon your breast because you haven’t as much
money as you used to have. Don’t be one of
those who never get over things. Have the
courage to take misfortune on the chin and
come up smiling.
Ninth.
Do something for somebody less fortunate than
yourself. Minister to other people’s trouble
and you will forget your own. Happiness is a
coin that we keep only when we give it away.
Tenth.
Keep busy. That is the sovereign remedy
for unhappiness. Hard work is a panacea for
trouble. You never saw a very busy person who
was unhappy.
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