Signs of Sanity And the Principles of Mental Hygiene

but to life in this day and generation. In the sound body the functions of the organs concerned in producing, distributing, storing up or discharging energy all pull together; in other words, are well coordinated. The sound body is not necessarily one possessing great muscular strength, but it does have well adjusted machinery for utilizing to the best advantage the muscular strength available, and needed, for living in this twentieth century. Often it is not a speedy machine nor a record-breaking hill climber, but it runs, without unnecessary friction, quietly along life's highway, often surprising us with its success in meeting difficulties when speeders and higher-powered machines either break down entirely, or are stalled. The sound body, in addition to being a well organized, smoothly-running machine, is also a productive organism. The energy manufactured is expended in constructive effort; soundness of body is essential for productive labor. Man, we have already been reminded, must either produce or perish. The capacity of the body for constructive action is the basis for constructive thinking. There is an extraordinarily close connection between what we do and what we think. I am walking briskly along on a cold, snappy day and suddenly become conscious of the fact that I am humming the "Marseillaise." A change in thebarometer and a slowing up of the drive to action would doubtless lead me to whistle quite a different tune. Once we understand the ...