p. 15 | Fits of Temper by Will H. Spicer

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Dec 1, 1914

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 47.

Fits of Temper

By Will H. Spicer

Their Disastrous Effects—How to Control Them

By WILL H. SPICER

A PHYSICIAN writing on the “Hygienics of Temper,” in the Mother’s Magazine, cites Hippocrates’s definition of it. Here it is: “A state of mental disorder in which self-control is absent; largely due either to imperfect habits of eating, or lack of exercise, or failure to use the mind as it should be controlled.”

The doctor further states that in his practise of thirty years, he has known of more than that number of cases of serious illness, including not less than fifteen fatalities, due to this cause. This failure of the will and reason to maintain control, he says, works more harm in women, because of their tenser nervous organization, and, perhaps for the same reason, tends to be more common among them.

His belief is, that a large percentage of divorces and of the disruption of families is due to this cause. A loss of temper on the part of a mother affects her children as well as herself.

In closing, he gives some suggestions on how to promote good temper: Have as much fresh air as possible in your home. Avoid sleeping in rooms with closed windows. Eat the plainest, simplest, most nourishing foods, cooked in the simplest manner.

Bathe the body regularly and frequently, and give the skin vigorous treatment by hand and towel massage after the bath.

Constantly try to maintain self-control, to hold back the angry word, and avoid the disposition to brood over mistakes.

“Impulses of this kind, carried into action, make it possible for a mother to be self-controlled—the master of her own nerves—and in that mastery to transmit to her own children the newer and better self-control for themselves.

“A mother who can see the value of practising these rules is more of a scientist of the nerves than those who bear the titles of doctors and surgeons.”

Rules alone can not solve the problem, however, nor can self-discipline and education alone do it. Its foundation is selfishness. Good health gives nervous strength, and tends to keep one from taking a petty view of life; but the savage, with his splendid animal nature, often exhibits ungovernable—or, rather, ungoverned—temper. Even the best educated may be so centered on one object, little or great, that the thought of a momentary interference with their selfish pursuit of it, is sufficient to arouse a paroxysm of destructive impulses, which react on the nervous system, and at once weaken it and the character.

It was said of Christ, “He shall not cry, . . . nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.” Yet, He accomplished more in less time than any other leader.

This gentle spirit, and the love that is not easily provoked, He exemplified. This love His grace can and will reproduce in the heart of those who will accept it. The sources of ill temper are dried up when the love that suffers long and is kind is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit. It is stronger to destroy ill temper than even the best rules.