Are you resentful of life? Then, just for the fun of it, examine yourself. Do these thoughts turn about in your mind?:

"It is not logical to expect a merry life; I am truly in the world of maturity now, and I must strip all fancy from my view of what surrounds me."

"This situation is enough for me; I feel thankful for what I have, and I would accept no substitute for my lot, among loving friends and family."

If such feelings stir within you, then you are normal, the possessor of a mature mind that has leapt past the stage of childhood... though you sometimes allow yourself to drift with the current of dreams, imagining abundant money and wide fame and a distinguished position — but all these are foam floating on the surface of the deep ocean of your soul, without troubling the solid philosophy beneath.

And yet, despite the psychological sermons and the deep view of living, you sometimes feel cheated; and though you do not ask for perfection, your intuition pictures for you a happiness that can be won even within this situation — but where is the way?

Here is a plan for you to follow over the course of a week; it will raise the level of your spirits and help your optimism along:

Monday: Review your tasks, and consider whether you can cut down the tasks you loathe. Here is a wife consulting the psychiatrist one last time before deciding on divorce: "I truly love him, but I cannot face the thought of being tied to housework all my life."

The doctor asked her which of those tasks she hated, and she answered: "All of them — except tidying and cleaning the house, for it pleases me to see it bright and cheerful."

Here he seized the moment of her confiding, drew out

her opinion, and discovered that she loathed cooking and washing dishes; and he advised her to lighten these two tasks, however impossible that seemed at first.

Go back over your daily list honestly, and try to lighten what you hate; and the smallness of these annoyances that have stood as a stumbling block in your path will become plain to you.

Tuesday: Examine your tools, whether at the office or in the kitchen; for these, without your knowing it, wear on your nerves and