For me, sitting still can be a struggle.

"Relax", is a small booklet that I picked up in a Wisconsin second hand store a number of years ago. I’ve often gone and re-read it whenever I felt on edge—carrying too much stress and worry.

I’d always wanted to reprint the booklet, so that it could be read by more people. The original goal was to slowly transcribe each chapter from the booklet with new illustrations. One chapter a month. The first chapter was posted on willdinski.com in January 2019. I live for big projects that I can slowly chip away at. 

However, with more time that I would normally like to sit in front of my computer, and to put my mind on calmer things—I turned to completing the project a few months early.

With pervasive uncertainty, we are all carrying a lot of tension in our bodies. I hope that being aware of how you feel and the ways you can reduce that tension will keep us healthy.

Go here to read “Relax” written by Leonard M. Leonard, from 1952.

Is there a “suggestion box” in your shop or office? If it’s peace and quiet you want, a form of “suggestion box” is what you may need in your home too.

The “suggestions” are to be given to you by the walls, doors, pictures you see; even by the sounds you hear. And the only suggestions they will make are Peace, Quiet, Repose. You can get these suggestions so often that they will work on you; they will help calm your mind when you feel upset; they will give a feeling of quiet assurance to your whole being.

There is no hocus-pocus about it. You know that looking at something restful make you feel restful. And you know, too, that looking at something exciting tends to excite you. So when you want to relax, it isn’t much of a help to be confronted by the portrait of a nude burlesque queen, an exciting horse race scene, or a wall full of battle pictures. 

Why not deposit that art work at the club house, or remove it to the rumpus room in the basement? And in your living quarters — especially the bedroom — where you want to escape from the turmoil and bring rest to your mind and body put restful sights on the walls. 

Nobody can tell you what a restful scene is; the description must be your own. But finding pictures for your wall which give you a sense of quiet can be more important to you and to your family than finding genuine masterpieces. 

The Psalmist had the perfect idea when he sand of “green pastures” and “still waters.” There is something especially soothing about pastoral scenes and views of tranquil water. Many nervous people find it soothing to look at an aquarium with tropical fish swimming about in it. The newest of these is a fish bowl which hangs on the wall like a picture.

There you have two ideas, but it’s a personal matter. Maybe watching fish will make you hungry, and a water scene may stir up memories of the time you nearly drowned! You must choose your own decorations, but try to choose the most restful you can find.

We are on safer ground with color. Green and blue-green are generally the most soothing colors. They are a good choice for the tense person unless they involve a dispute with other members of the family. Blue also is s sedative color, but too much can go too far. We speak of being “blue” for good reason; the color tends to be depressing.

Red is all right, but for the game room where you want to get up a lot of steam. It’s for stimulation, not sedation. As for yellow and orange, they can cheer you up. But they aren’t very likely to calm you down.

Don’t over look the effect of words. If you doubt the effect that word can have upon you, just look back to the letter which gave you bad news. And to another which raised your spirits sky-high! Just words, but they gave you thoughts.

With wall mottoes and slogans, suggest psychologist Ernest Dichter, you can keep imparting relaxing thoughts to your mind. So whenever you come across a quotation or message which give you reassurance and seems to make you feel more at ease all around, jot it down. The muster all the artist you can name make a sign of it. Place it where you will see it often, for example, on the saving mirror of your bathroom, or even the footboard of your bed.

Gladstone of England, who had a stormy life, brought repose into his bedroom. To help himself relax and get to sleep, he inscribed this Biblical message on his footboard: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is tased on Thee.

Look to the Bible for the most reassuring messages you are likely to find anywhere. Don’t try to convince yourself, and don’t trouble to question. William James credits a few simple Bible quotations with saving his sanity during a period of great fear and tension. They were words that worked, never mind how.

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale tells of a harassed and jittery business man who was virtually on the verge of hysteria when he chanced to open a Bible in his hotel room. He came upon the Twenty-Third Psalm and when he finally closed the book, his tension had vanished and he was completely at ease. 

These are just a few of the relaxing and comforting messages in the Bible:

“… God hat not given us the sprit of fear; but of power, and of love, and a sound mind …” (II Timothy 1:7)

“Let not your heart be troubled.” (John 14:1)

“Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; fret no they self …” (Psalm 37:8)

“I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for thou, Lord, only makes me dwell in safety …” (Psalms)

“In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength …” (Isaiah 30:15)

But of course there are lots of enduring words outside the Bible, too. It would be surprising if you couldn’t find dozens of saying with a certain magic in them for you. Dr. Dichter says he can calm himself down with two simple words: “So what?” They have a way of taking the bigness out of problems and cutting worries down to size.

In the same vein, Abraham Lincoln, who was a melancholy man, comforted himself with the saying, “This, too, shall pass away.” He needed to be reminded that even sadness isn’t permanent. 

Time out, please. Your worries have vanished, little annoyances don’t get your goat any more, you feel quite, you look better, you’re nicer to live with, you’re making more progress. Not yet? It will come.

Anyway, you may still be making extra work for yourself. You may still be less lazy than you should be.

Now don’t let anyone kid you about laziness. It pays! But you’ve got to be lazy in the right way. That is, never too lazy to do what you should, but always too lazy to do what you shouldn’t.

The best proof is the greatest body of laws ever written. Only two of the Ten Commandments tell you to do something. Eight others tell you what not to do. And you had better now, either, if you want to avoid tension.

As it happens, the bad thing — morally, mentally, physically — is always the unnecessary, the undesirable thing. It has no place in the scheme of intelligent laziness. Yet let’s try a sampling of how much tense effort you may waste every day. If you know how to be lazy, you can answer “no” to each of these questions:

• Do you press down so hard that you frequently break off the points of pencils as you write? If so, you are entirely too tense and are working too hard. Learn to write with the minimum of pressure.

• Do you find yourself standing or pacing about when you could just as well be sitting? It’s easier to sit than to stand. Be lazy and sit down when you can.

• Do you talk or argue more than you listen? See how many things you can safely leave unsaid. Besides saving your voice and energy, it can keep you friends.

• Do you put off doing disagreeable tasks? Be too lazy to carry them in your mind any longer than you must. Do them first and get them over with. You’ll be surprised to find how much tension you’ll avoid.

• Do you try to hide your mistakes? It takes more time and effort than frankly admitting them as soon as you can. Don’t add a heavy conscience and jumpy nerves to your burdens. Own up and see how relaxed it makes you feel.

• Do you always write out your name and address on packages, letters and postcards? Discover the rubber stamp or treat yourself to printed letterheads or labels. Save work.

• Do you try to dodge creditors? It’s more fun to play tag with the children, probably a good deal less strenuous and certainly very much easier on your nerves. Tell your creditors the truth and see what happens.

• Do you strain your mind to remember things, and get all worked up when you can’t? Ge the habit of jotting down memos, and spare your mind. As one profound philosopher has noted, “A short pencil is better than a long memory.”

• Do you keep imaginary pets called “grudges”? Try a different kind of pet for a change. Even a wildcat can do more good. Ask your enemy what all the fuss is about and clear the atmosphere. You’ll feel easier.

On the positive side, here are some questions to which your answer should be “yes”:

• Have you discovered the effort-saving utility of marketing carts for you shopping, or wheel trays, toy wagons and baskets for carrying things around the house?

• Are you a work-planner? Before starting to work on a job, are you careful to see that you have on hand all the tools and materials you will need, to avoid losing time and temper in looking for them later?

• Are you a step-saver? Do you organize your activities to avoid needless trips, especially up and down stairs? Do you keep ladders, tools, ash-trays, lamp bulbs, searchlights, etc., always ready where you are most likely to need them?

• Are you a stock-taker? Do you avoid household scenes and flurries of excitement by keeping a simple inventory of necessary items such as toothpaste, shaving cream, razor blades, and so forth so that you never run out of them?

Life can be easier and lazier in lots of little ways that total big relaxation. Try them and see.

Written by Leonard M. Leonard
Designed + Illustrated by Will Dinski
Original Copyright 1952

You know that when you want to cut cord, you you make it taut and more resistant to the knife? The limp string is always harder to snip in tow. And there is a lesson for you. If you don’t bend, you may break.

Ben Franklin quotes a piece of advice he received in his youth: “You are young and have the world before you; stoop as you go through it and you will miss many hard thumps.” The point was to be humble, but it might just as well have been to relax, to yield.

Here is an interesting fact and a valuable tip to go with it: if you are stiff, tense and nervous, you are likely to be much more sensitive to pain than a relaxed, calm person. Therefore, teach yourself to “let go” when facing a painful ordeal.

Having your teeth filled is anything but a painful ordeal these days, yet many “he-men” dread the thought of going to the dentist. You are afraid of being hurt, and are already anticipating the suffering from the drill as you sit in the waiting room. By now, you know why – you are resisting the operation. Well, next time, try giving yourself this mental anesthetic:

When your turn comes in the chair, note the tenseness throughout your body. Probably all your nerves will be taut and alert, as though prepared for battle instead of a filling. Let them go limp. Instead of fairly rising out of the chair, let yourself sink into it as the work proceeds.

The minute you are willing to be hurt, something happens. Your never and muscles relax. They are, in a sense, too limp to flash pain messages to your head. You may not enjoy sitting in the dental chair, but you’ll find that it isn’t nearly so bad as you had expected.

Are you Working Too Hard Without Knowing It?

Fine! You are a busy person, and you want to get ahead. Hard work doesn’t scare you. You aren’t a bit lazy. This is all well and good – but are you doing needless work, wearing yourself out by using power you don’t need and which gets you nowhere?

Tense people are like that. Literally, they overpower themselves. And at the end of a day, they are “done in” – tired out, not by their regular work, but by the excess energy they have wasted in doing it.

Right now you are reading, and nothing seems simpler than that. You are using only the muscles of your eyes. But wait a minute! Does your throat feel a bit taut? Are your lips moving faintly? Possibly you are trying to “say” the words to yourself as you read, calling into action nerves and muscles which aren’t needed. Going a step or two further, you may be holding this booklet in a manner which calls for excess muscular exertion. You may be standing when you could sit. You may be reading in a poor light, with causes extra effort for your eyes. And then again, you may  be fidgeting, tapping with your fingers or feed, toying with a cigarette or key chain. 

Now these are all little things. Still, they put nerves and muscles to work which ought to be at rest. And they are multiplied by the hundred during the course of the day.

Tension? It is simply the contraction of a muscle, motivated by a nerve. Over-tension? It is simply too many muscle contractions, caused by over-active nerves. A tense, nervous or high-strung person? They are simply one who needlessly works their nerves and muscles. 

The calm person conserves power. They employ no more than they need to perform efficiently in any activity. They practice economy in the management of their body, and of their mind.

The mental side of the picture counts most in relaxing. For the capitol of your body is in your head. Here your private government sits and controls your affairs. From you brain come the orders to your nerves and muscles. A jittery mental government flashing jittery orders makes for jittery nerves – and a jittery person.

You may be lying down, presumably in a state of complete bodily rest. But still you may be tense, drawn tight by the contraction of muscles which were stirred up in you mind. 

Dr. Edmund Jacobson of the University of Chicago has made some remarkable tests. By connecting electrical instruments to the muscles of patients who were lying down with their eyes closed, he was able to measure the activity of their muscles caused by the mere process of thinking or imagining! 

If they were told to visualize an object, such as a building, tension was noted in the muscles of their eyes, as though they were actually viewing the structure. If they were told to imagine that they were counting or reciting, tension was noted in the tongue, lips and throat, as though they were actually talking aloud. If they imaged that they were lifting a weight, the muscles of their arms became tense with the effort, and so on. 

So you see that you can do needless work by thinking unnecessary thoughts and imagining unnecessary activities.

Economize. Don’t waste your power, don’t waste your thoughts! This is the essence of relaxing. 

What are waste thoughts? Mark them down as worrisome thoughts, hateful thoughts, suspicious thoughts, envious thoughts, jealous thoughts. And see what they do to you.

Let’s suppose that you are lazily wretched out in the hammock at home, resting up from a hard week’s work. Relaxing – that’s word.

“Don’t disturb him,” says your wife. “He’s all tired out, poor guy. Leave him alone!”

The trouble is you aren’t leaving yourself alone and might be better off if someone else disturbed you. For in the theatre of your mind, you may be staging mighty dreams: a love story, scenes of infidelity and revenge; a tragedy, in which you lose your job and go hungry; a melodrama, compete with an H-bomb; a short story subject called “An Encounter With The Boss”; a newsreel showing the funeral of a rival you envy. 

Sure, it’s all mental. You are just thinking, worrying, suspecting, imagining. All mental. Or is it?

Not quite. The words you imagine you are saying, the fights you imagine you are waging, the blows you imagine you are giving and receiving – all these thoughts are tensing up the nerves and muscles of your body. To be sure, these activities are not actually happening. Yet on a small scale, your body is enacting them. Your mental workout is a physical workout too. 

It is all effort. It is al futile. And right here we reach the whole secret of relaxing: stop giving yourself need-less work. 

Spare your body and your mind. Be good to yourself. That is what it means to relax.