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“How
to Develop Self-Confidence
In Speech and Manner” eBook Online Version
"We are living now in eternity and the time to be glad is to-day. How often must we remind ourselves that heaven is within us and that cheerfulness is a habit of the soul? Phillips Brooks somewhere says that no man is content to live a half life when he knows of the higher half life that is his. To be truly glad of life we must come into conscious recognition of our rich inheritance. On every side there is so much to inspire gladness of life: the love of men, the beauties of nature, the sweetness of friendship, the joy of service. Every day is the dawn of golden opportunity and every night a purple benediction of rest and peace. We should go forward with blithesome heart song, happy in the consciousness of living here and now.
We are not to be glad of life simply because it gives us riches and houses and books and worldly possessions, but because it gives us the chance to love the true and beautiful and good everywhere. Because it enables us to develop all that is best in us and to raise ourselves to empyrean heights. Because it reveals the divinity within us and the glorious destiny just beyond.
Several years ago a successful man retired from business, wishing to live a life of ease and comfort. He entered society, and with little to do became a slave to drink. Gradually he grew more unhappy, until illness and discouragement took possession of him. One day he determined again to engage in business, and as a result he is to-day as well and happy as ever.
The worst misfortune that can befall a man in this world is enforced idleness. To have nothing to do, no set purpose, no ambition, is as dangerous as it is disintegrating. The record of many rich men's sons living in luxury and ease is a startling testimony to the insidious power of indolence. The will to labor is a greater thing than genius. Perseverance and determination have been the distinguishing marks of all great men. Who can forget Carlyle's heroic will to work when the accident befell his manuscript of the first volume of the "French Revolution"? He had lent the precious document to a literary friend, John Stuart Mill, who left it lying carelessly in his room. 'When he wished to return it Mill could not find it. It was then discovered that the maid, seeing it on the floor, had thrown it into the fire. Carlyle's anguish can easily be conceived, for much of his valuable data had been cast aside or destroyed. "With iron courage he set diligently to work and reproduced the manuscript. He it was who said: "Blest is the man who has found his work."
The work we aim to do is an index of our mind. When Leonardo chose the Last Supper for his theme he forthwith proclaimed the quality of his spirit. Not every one is born a genius, but if your work be good and right, what matter if it be great or small? It is the spirit in which we labor that determines the value of what we do. We may learn to sing with Mrs. Browning:
Beloved, let us love so well our work shall still be better for our love, and still our love be sweeter for our work!
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