this did not come by practice but is the accent of our environment. Once we change our surround-ings, we find ourselves searching for an accent agreeable to the new ears, and there we are, teaching ourselves all over again. Smoking and taking sleeping pills are among the easiest of habits, since they create a quick, momentary satisfaction; but there are habits that take a long time to form — among them playing the piano or the violin — and the reason is not the length of time the learning takes, but the absence of the right method to it, which the learner may perhaps discover for himself.

Here is a lady who used to spend freely before her marriage and was obliged to economize after it; she is forever complaining of the misery of her life and of her want — and this is her sole solution for her ill luck — so it has become a habit with her. One researcher affirms that the key to overcoming habits is a person's understanding of himself, for many habits are outlets through which we solve problems we cannot face. Here is an example that makes this clear: the case of a young man we shall call Farid, who writes to his family only rarely and visits them seldom, while they write to him every two weeks and he answers only after months have passed. He has strong reasons that keep him from writing, and his being an only child gives us reason enough. He knew that the cutting off of his letters caused his parents bitter pain, and that to obtain their inheritance he ought to treat them kindly; but none of that convinced him — indeed he forever avoided asking himself: why do I not write?

One day a friend visited him and made it clear to him that his refusal to write had a cause which, once he knew it, would open the way before him with ease, and directed him to the first question: 'Why do I do this?' He pressed him, and carried him back to his past, to the days of his childhood: his father had treated him with biting mockery — for instance, he would scoff at

his clothes, believing they were leading him into extravagance. The pressure rose, the idea boiled in his head, and he exploded — and that shocked the parents. Then there is another cause: his parents used to decide all his affairs, accepting invitations to parties on his behalf without consulting him; so he finally resolved to put a stop to it by refusing a visit of which he had had no knowledge... And Farid married — which made bad matters worse — and the young wife was treated with the utmost roughness. He did not notice it for several weeks; then he walked in to find her weeping in her room, and the shock was so strong that he could not bear to remain in the house, and he left it, never to return, in spite of his wife's entreaties.

This is revenge itself. And what did knowledge of self do for him? It helped him to order his conduct on realistic foundations. When we review this story, several questions are drawn before us, and the choice of answering them remains ours. There is a friend of mine who was obliged to give up his hobby of mountain climbing, after practicing it for thirty years, and who grew used to the new life

with contentment; and in that is proof that we can form our habits and our lives in step with a new program, for we were not created to remain as we were. Recognizing the problem is not enough to solve it; and we cannot rid ourselves of habits by breaking them, but by organizing them anew.

Salma is afraid of dust and dirt, and this fear is like a millstone hung about her neck, robbing her of sleep and rest. Cleanliness — that is all she cares about; psychologists call this domination, or obsession: the idea clings to her like her shadow — and it led her to understand her situation. Her case goes back to childhood, when her mother would scold her harshly for letting her dress get dirty; and other causes grew and developed until they brought her to this (compulsion) — had she been left alone, she could never have discov-ered herself. Many habits diminish normal people's enjoyment of life, so that they face difficulties they could well do without. And every one of us has habits he can root out by understanding his own deeper self; for a habit was formed for a purpose — if we do not serve that purpose, shall we not change the direction from which it sets out?

JUNGLE

Take care... and make sure..

that the killer 'JUNGLE' exterminates all insects!