HOW DO WE GET ACQUAINTED WITH THINGS? 7 



How Do We Form Habits ? A habit is said to be an 

 act or attitude which is learned through practice. Habits 

 are of many kinds. Some are concerned with our way of 

 looking at life. We may be habitually happy or grouchy, 

 kind or cross, scatter-brained or able to concentrate, 

 depending on the habits we form when young. 



A good many rules have been made to aid us in habit 

 formation. Here are some worth remembering : 



1. Know what habits you want to form and then act 

 on every opportunity. 



2. Make a strong start. No half-hearted effort was 

 ever successful in forming new habits. 



3. Allow no exceptions. Habits are only established 

 by keeping right at it. One misstep means we start all 

 over again. 



4. In place of bad habits establish good ones. Habits 

 always have opposites. 



5. Use every effort of will. Never say, "I can't," and 

 you will one day wake up to the fact that you have estab- 

 lished your new habit. Straight thinking is really a habit 

 of mind. If we can only get the habit of making our 

 decisions on evidence which is real and not on hearsay, we 

 would be saved much trouble in later life. 



The Scientist's Method of Thinking in Everyday Life. 

 You can see from what has just been said that the scientist 

 looks at things fairly and squarely, and that he always 

 tries to find out the truth by means of the evidence ob- 

 tained from asking questions of nature. He is not satisfied 

 with anything but the truth. How much it would mean 

 to each one of us in daily life if we could take the scientist's 

 method of thinking and refuse to be satisfied with propa- 

 ganda or newspaper stories which tell half truths. We 

 would be less likely to believe many of the superstitions 

 which many people have faith in. What evidence have 

 you that bad luck is associated with number 13? What 



