Excerpt from "How to sleep without pills"

Mrs. D., normally an optimistic girl, was married to an ambitious young man who owned a small ice cream and confectionery shop which he was determined to build into something substantial. Long hours in the store, however, yielded only dribs and drabs of money. There always seemed to be the question of whether they could hold out or whether they would lose the store.

After six years of scrimping, with three children now to take care of, Mrs. D. found that thoughts of money seemed to color her whole life. The slightest financial setback was enough to make her lie awake contemplating their bad luck.

These incidents were trivial, as Mrs. D. would be the first to admit, but each one seemed the last straw. A library book fell in a mud puddle and she had to pay for it; that night she lay awake translating the money she had paid for the book into shoes and food for the children. A glove got lost, a storekeeper overcharged her a nickel, the gas bill arrived; these were enough to send her into sloughs of despondency resulting in sleepless nights.

SOLUTION

Worrying over money has probably kept more people awake than any other single cause. People who have money worry over losing it; people who have no money worry about acquiring it.

The millionaire who loses half his fortune probably suffers as acutely as the father of six children who loses his job. Perhaps he suffers more. During the stock market crash, it was the millionaires who jumped from tall office buildings when they were wiped out. Yet, bankrupt though they were, they were no poorer than the average working man without savings who laughs at the idea of suicide.

The whole idea of wealth is relative. It is an old adage that no matter how badly off you are, there are people who aspire to your position. Millions of people in Europe and Asia would trade places with the poorest American citizen. I told this to Mrs. D., and pointed out that in India, where they gather the starved dead from the streets as a routine task each morning, there would be riots for the privilege of getting the contents of her garbage can. I told her also that a Hungarian woman might envy Mrs. D. her peace of mind at not having to worry about her husband's being removed some night by the secret police.

Being poor, even in America, is a serious thing, and we should all make strenuous and intelligent efforts to gain security. But worrying will only impair those efforts and sleeplessness will make success far more difficult to achieve.

When I explained these truths to Mrs. D., she was more angry than impressed. "Look, I know there are people worse off than I am," she said, "but that doesn't put food on my table or put me to sleep at night. Should I go around all day singing because I don't have enough money?" she added belligerently.

In a sense, I answered her, that is exactly what she should do. Go around singing! Why not? Going around sorrowing was only driving her toward a nervous breakdown.

But before Mrs. D. could go around singing she had to be taught the habit of positive thinking. To do this I had her make a list of the assets and liabilities of her life. The assets were as follows: Her children were normal and healthy. Her husband was healthy. She was healthy. Her husband loved her. Her husband was well liked. She was well liked. She had many friends. Her children were smart in school. Her husband was still a young man.

Against these assets was the liability of being poor. Being poor was their only liability. If they had money, Mrs. D. said