THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RELAXATION 603 



is seen. The friction sometimes exhibited among its members, in some 

 cases taking the extreme form of nagging, wrangling and quarreling, is 

 no doubt due in large part to the fatigue of the higher brain centers. In 

 such cases it will often be found that participation in some simple game, 

 particularly an outdoor game, such as golf, tennis or even quoits, will 

 completely relieve the situation, bringing sympathy, harmony and 

 peace. In society, the larger family, the same effect must follow upon 

 the larger participation in healthful sports. It is sometimes a matter 

 of surprise to us in periods of national prosperity when wages are good 

 and work obtainable, that unrest increases, together with crime 

 and insanity. It may be because the high tension with its consequent 

 fatigue is not relieved. What is needed is less work and worry and more 

 healthful relaxation. Worry is a good example of the high-tension life 

 that is a part of our civilization. Worry is only an excessive form of 

 prevision. It is well enough for preachers to tell us not to worry, 

 but worry is precisely that form of behavior upon which civiliza- 

 tion depends, namely, solicitude and care for the future. As a nation 

 we are just beginning to worry, for instance, about the depletion of our 

 forests and soil, and it is well that we are doing so. But sometimes we 

 become excessively solicitous about the future, whether it be about the 

 rent or the winter's supply of coal or our future health or the health 

 and morality of our children, and this is what is usually spoken of as 

 worry. It is very wearing, for the reason that it brings constant strain 

 upon delicate and recently developed brain centers and makes relaxa- 

 tion imperative. 



If we have correctly described the theory of play and the psychology 

 of relaxation and their relations to the conditions of our modern life, it 

 will be evident at once that the need will not be supplied merely by pro- 

 viding more playgrounds for children and more holidays and sports for 

 grown-ups, vital as these are. The difficulty goes deeper and calls for em- 

 phasis of still other forms of relaxation than play and sport. There are 

 many of these, such, for instance, as music, which is one of the best, and 

 rhythmic dancing, which, being very ancient racially, is a form of relaxa- 

 tion of unsurpassed value. An ever-ready and convenient form of relaxa- 

 tion is the modern novel, in which the attention is sustained objectively 

 as in the chase or the drama, but its value as relaxation is greatly less 

 than in the old and social story telling. Society in all its forms is a 

 healthful means of relaxation. All valuable games and sports are 

 social and the mere mingling with our fellows lowers the mental 

 stress and tension. Primitive man was wholly social and survived only 

 in cooperative groups. The reversionary character of crowd behavior 

 has been made well known to us. 



Eeligion may be mentioned finally as a mode of relaxation of the 

 highest value. Eeligion is a letting go the stress and tension of the in- 



