The mind, too, gets saturated with a sense of fatigue until the
fatigue seems normal, and to feel well rested would--at first--seem
abnormal. This being a fact, it is a logical result that an
habitually tired and strained mind will indignantly refuse the idea
that it can do more work and do it better without the strain.
There is a sharp corner to be turned to learn to work without
strain, when one has had the habit of working with it. After the
corner is turned, it requires steady, careful study to understand
the new normal habit of working restfully, and to get the new habit
established.
When once it is established, this normal habit of work develops its
own requirements, and the working without strain becomes to us an
essential part of the work itself.
For taken as a whole, more work is done and the work is done better
when we avoid strain than when we do not. What is required to find
this out is common sense and strength of character.
Character grows with practice; it builds and builds on itself when
once it has a fair start, and a very little intelligence is needed
if once the will is used to direct the body and mind in the lines of
common sense.
Intelligence grows, too, as we use it. Everything good in the soul
grows with use; everything bad, destroys.
Let us make a distinction to begin with between "rest while you
work" and "working restfully."
"Rest while you work" might imply laziness.
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