Peace Of Mind


 

 

Impure Air.

     191. The effects produced by living in close, ill-ventilated rooms are these: The system becomes weakened, the circulation is depressed, the blood moves sluggishly through the system, because it is not purified and vitalized by the pure, invigorating air of heaven. The mind becomes depressed and gloomy, while the whole system is enervated. 

A Disturbed Mind.

     192. Doubt, perplexity, and excessive grief often sap the vital forces and induce nervous diseases of a most debilitating and distressing character.    

Errors in Diet.

     193. Unhealthful habits of eating are injuring thousands and tens of thousands. Food should be thoroughly cooked, neatly prepared, and appetizing.

Cold Food.

     194. I do not approve of eating much cold food, for the reason that the vitality must be drawn from the system to warm the food until it becomes of the same temperature as the stomach, before the work of digestion can be carried on.

     195. They eat improperly, and this calls their nervous energies to the stomach, and they have no vitality to expend in other directions.

Children.

     196. Children are permitted to indulge their tastes freely, to eat at all hours. . . . The digestive organs, like a mill which is continually kept running, become enfeebled, vital force is called from the brain to aid the stomach in its overwork, and thus the mental powers are weakened. The unnatural stimulation and wear of the vital forces make the children nervous, impatient of restraint, self-willed, and irritable.

Students.

     197. They closely apply their minds to books, and eat the allowance of the laboring man. Under such habits some grow corpulent, because the system is clogged. Others become lean, feeble, and weak, because their vital powers are exhausted in throwing off the excess of food.

     198. This is the way you treat the stomach. It is thoroughly exhausted, but instead of letting it rest, you give it more food, and then call the vitality from other parts of the system to the stomach to assist in the work of digestion.

Overworked Stomachs.

     199. The poor tired stomach may complain of weariness in vain. More food is forced upon it, which sets the digestive organs in motion, again to perform the same round of labor through the sleeping hours. In the morning there is a sense of languor and loss of appetite; a lack of energy is felt through the entire system.

     200. And what influence does overeating have upon the stomach?--It becomes debilitated, the digestive organs are weakened, and disease, with all its train of evils, is brought on as the result. If persons were diseased before, they thus increase the difficulties upon them, and lessen their vitality every day they live. They call their vital powers into unnecessary action to take care of the food that they place in their stomachs.   

     201. Those who are excited, anxious, or in a great hurry would do well not to eat until they have found rest or relief, for the vital powers, already severely taxed, cannot supply the necessary gastric juice.

Improper Clothing.

     202. She should not call vitality unnecessarily to the surface to supply the want of sufficient clothing.  

Rearing Children.

     203. Everywhere you may look you will see pale, sickly, care-worn, broken-down, dispirited, discouraged women. They are generally overworked, and their vital energies exhausted by frequent child-bearing.  

     204. Children who are robbed of that vitality which they should have inherited from their parents should have the utmost care.

Vice.

     205. Secret indulgence is, in many cases, the only real cause of the numerous complaints of the young. This vice is laying waste the vital forces, and debilitating the system.  

Drugs

     206. Sick people who take these drug poisons do appear to get well.  With some there is sufficient life force for nature to draw upon, so far to expel the poison from the system that the sick, having a period of rest, recover.

Unsocial Surroundings.

     207. Some preserve a cold, chilling reserve, an iron dignity, that repels those who are brought within their influence.  This spirit is contagious, . . . it chokes the natural current of human sympathy, cordiality, and love; and under its influence people become constrained, and their social and generous attributes are destroyed for want of exercise. Not only is the spiritual health affected, but the physical health suffers by this unnatural depression.

     208. The burden of sin, with its unrest and unsatisfied desires, lies at the very foundation of a large share of the maladies the sinner suffers.. 

HL 48-51