I am going to sandwich you in between the food calories and my fat
friends, and maybe you can absorb some of them. In the first chapter,
you remember, I said I was not particularly interested in you, but I
have changed my mind, and I will treat you tenderly and carefully. I
will have to preach a little bit first, but I don't mind that; I love to
reform people--Yes, you need reforming!

The first thing many of you have to do is to learn to accept the trivial
annoyances and small misfits of life as a matter of course, for to give
them attention _beyond their deserts_ is to wear the web of your life to
the warp.

Elbert Hubbard never said anything better than that. Have that
reproduced in motto form and put it on your bureau, and repeat it fifty
times daily.

[Sidenote: _Good Philosophy_]

Adopt my philosophy. If I have a trivial annoyance I analyze it
carefully. Was I to blame? Yes? All right, I am glad, because then I can
see that it will not happen again, so I stop worrying. If I am not to
blame, if I could not help it in the least, well, then I don't worry
about it, for that will not help it any, and I wasn't to blame! If it
bobs up in my mind again, I say: "Now, look here, you annoyance, I have
given you all the attention you deserve; avaunt, depart, get out!"

[Sidenote: _Simple_]

Now, how is this philosophy going to help you gain?