Relax, Madam

Beauty care sometimes appears to the busy woman who is trying to keep her beauty as a kind of hardship and exhaustion, and she does not know which to choose. Is it the first exercise or the second? And must she eat this food and that, even if she loathes it?

Yet I shall say to this lady, contrary to my habit: "Beware of doing anything at all." Some objector may say: but is that possible? For beauty, like all other things sought after, requires effort. And that is true — though it is true as well that there is one side of beauty care that rises up and says to you: "Enough strain, madam; lie down on your back and rest."

Rest may seem a simple thing, especially after the six grueling years of war in which woman grew used to being always on the alert. And we are still sunk in hard days, a series of world "crises" that trouble us and wrap us in an atmosphere of great tension, wearing upon our nerves. In the midst of all this, we must also preserve our moral and bodily strength to face the future's new, unseen dangers. In short, we have been afflicted with tension of the nerves and stamped with nervous habits, which, like all ugly habits, are easy to acquire and hard to give up. And we have had to tighten our nerves to a degree at which shocks would not affect us.

But nerves stretched to extreme tension are like the strings of an oud tightened to excess: the notes that come from them are not true, and they do not usually change as circumstances change. Beyond that, they may snap, and affect our point of view, so that ordinary things look to us strange, unfamiliar, or unreasonable. Or, to put it more plainly: you have worn yourself out with your nervous strain — so what are you going to do to treat your condition?

My first advice is that you exert your utmost mental effort to see things as they really are. Second: that you admit you cannot load upon your nerves more than they can bear. Third: that you accustom yourself to doing nothing — a saying that may seem one of the contradictions, but it is in truth the secret of keeping to a middle path in your daily life, and it teaches you to profit from the current of life rather than be carried away with it. The seasoned athlete who means to win the javelin contest does not begin the run at his utmost speed, hoping to keep that speed to the end. For he knows that human effort toward a fixed goal requires a considered plan, and that he must first keep his nerves calm and spend his strength with good sense. That is why, whenever we analyze an athletic victory, we shall always find proof that it is the result of the mental and the bodily efforts joined together.

And this applies to you, madam. If you drive a horse on with whips, it may work miracles for a short while, and then it stumbles and falls to the ground. And that is exactly what will happen to you, madam, if you do not rest from time to time. The beauty you have built with grueling exercises and with massage will

soon wither all at once, and weariness and fatigue will show upon it. Remember that your body is the most delicate and intricate of machines, and that, like all machines, it needs rest from time to time.

Mental and bodily effort alike tense the nerves and wear them out, and this exhaustion shows in one's general health, as it shows in one's face. Tension of the nerves means tension of the muscles too, and from that comes a scowling face.

You may test this for yourself. If you feel anxiety or vexation, look into your mirror, feel your face with your fingers, and make certain whether the muscles of your body tell you they are free and loose, or tense. I know there are hours in which we cannot help feeling irritation and vexation, but let me remind you that this vexation does no good — or does good only to the other person. So if you feel a nervous agitation or any emotional upset, you can head it off by lying down and resting, if only for five minutes. Lie flat on your back in complete ease, and give your body and your mind complete rest — in other words, give them a holiday of five minutes.

I have spoken of "body and mind" deliberately, for that is important. And the advice I offer you is simple: "Stop thinking!" You may answer, in this nervous state of yours, saying, "That is nonsense — how could I do such a thing?" But that is only your own opinion; have you ever tried to break off thinking? If you have not tried, then try it, and your error will become plain to you. Here you may say, "And how do I begin?" Lie on your back and let your body rest; close your eyes and imagine that you are lying on a soft bed of black velvet in pitch darkness. Try it and judge it for yourself, for by this experiment you are testing the truth of the theory of self-persuasion; and if you agree with this view, then carry it out.

And what will you discover? If you carry out that method correctly, you will find that your nerves will grow calm and rest, your mind will be at ease, your nerves will revive, and the blood will return to its natural circulation.

But beware of confining these exercises of relaxation and rest to your hours of vexation and irritation; do these exercises at every opportunity that offers. Take, for example, a soft armchair and sit in it reclining; let your arms hang over its sides, close your eyes, and let your whole body rest. Strive to feel that you are sinking, body and chair together, into a comfortable bed of darkness. Yes — complete rest for you, madam.