How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
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have clarified their insight into the dynamics of human conduct. The more completely we understand life the greater our courage to go on with the task of living. We come, finally, to the discussion of those practical devices and techniques which may help the reader over temporary difficulties, once he has understood the grand strategy of living fully and completely, and devoted his energies to the pursuit of the good life. These practical suggestions cannot, in and of themselves, make any one happy, but they may help in the solution of a number of problems, once you have understood that most problems can be solved. In the first chapter, in which I stated certain psychological laws that govern all human beings in their conduct, I pointed out that the way to happiness must, of necessity, lie along the channels of twro great movements : the art of living with other people and the art of living with oneself. Social adjustment itself is not enough for the good life, because there are periods in everyone’s life when isolation may be arbitrarily enforced, when human contacts are practically precluded. It is in these periods that each of us must be able to make good company of himself, in order that life may be rich and tolerable, and in order that we may prepare the foundations of future bonds with our fellow-men, once our social contacts have been re-established. It is apparent that the first and most important device in the art of living with other people is the art of making friends. Unfortunately, the men and women who need friends most are the least schooled in the business of making acquaintances, or, if they can make casual contacts with more or less ease, they have not learned the art of holding their friends. The “ follow through ” of social contacts is the most difficult part of this art because it assumes the ability to identify yourself with your friends, to fit yourself into their patterns, and aid them on their way. This quality or faculty of emphasizing, or identifying ourselves, must be learned, and can be learned. Socially well-adjusted individuals do it as a matter of course, but to those who are not socially well-adjusted.