Poise: How to Attain It by D. Starke
page 46 of 127 (36%)
page 46 of 127 (36%)
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alternatives carefully and only makes his decisions on well-thought-out
grounds, after sufficient reasoned reflection to make sure that he will have no cause for future regret. We have already remarked that such forms of irresolution constituted a martyrdom. The word is by no means too strong. They are never-ending occasions for physical and moral torture. They are to be met with in the most trivial details of every-day life. The mere crossing of a street becomes, for the nervous man, an ever-recurring source of torment. He is afraid to go forward at the proper moment, takes one step ahead and another back, looks despairingly at the line of vehicles that bars his way, and, when a momentary opening in this confronts him, takes so long to make up his mind that the opportunity of crossing is past before he has seized it. Or again he may suddenly rush forward, without any regard for the danger to which he is exposed, hesitating suddenly when in the way of the vehicles that threaten him, and quite incapable of slipping past them, or of any quick or dexterous movement by which he may avoid them. This little picture, despite its commonplace nature, is nevertheless a symbol. In the crossings of life, as well as those of the streets, the man who is timid is at an immense disadvantage when compared with the man of poise. |
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