Routledge Revivals
UNDERSTANDING YOURSELF
UNDERSTANDING YOURSELF
The Mental Hygiene of Personality
by
ERNEST R. GROVES
Author of Personality and Social Adjustment, Marriage, Introduction to Mental Hygiene ( with Phyllis Blanchard), etc., etc.
First published in 1935 by George Allen & Unwin Ltd.
This edition first published in 2018 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
1935 Taylor & Francis
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Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.
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A Library of Congress record exists under ISBN: 35027292
ISBN 13: 978-1-138-55315-6 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-138-56641-5 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-315-12361-5 (ebk)
UNDERSTANDING YOURSELF
By ALFRED ADLER
UNDERSTANDING HUMAN NATURE
Cheap Edition (Third Impression)
La. Cr. 8vo.7s. 6d. net
The hardest thing for human beings to do is to know themselves and change themselves. This is a volume written from a deep knowledge of human nature, for those who aim to acquire true knowledge of the human soul.
We recommend it to the careful and critical attention of parents, teachers, and priests in particular.Church Times
UNDERSTANDING YOURSELF
The Mental Hygiene of Personality
by
ERNEST R. GROVES
Author of Personality and Social Adjustment, Marriage, Introduction to Mental Hygiene (with Phyllis Blanchard), etc., etc.
FIRST PUBLISHED IN GREAT BRITAIN IN 1935
(All rights reserved)
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
BY KIMBLE & BRADFORD, LONDON, W.L
To
WILLIAM A. WHITE, M.D.
SCIENTIST, AUTHOR, TEACHER, ADMINISTRATOR,
WHO HAS MADE ST. ELIZABETHS AN
INTERNATIONAL SYNONYM FOR
PSYCHIATRIC LEADERSHIP
T HIS book has a practical purpose. It seeks to help the reader to understand himself and his problems, that he may increase his successes and his satisfactions. The discussion centers about the conditions that shape personality, but the attempt of the book is not to rehearse the findings and theories of science but to provide the means by which the reader can come to a better understanding of himself.
Problems of personality did not begin with modern civilization. They have perplexed men and women for centuries. Our modern way of living has increased these problems and made nearly everyone conscious of them. It also has developed resources for dealing with them. Mental hygiene, an art of living, rooted in science, has replaced the precepts of those who in the past because of their reputation for understanding human need have been sought for counsel by people in trouble.
The essence of wholesome personality has not changed through the years. It is, as it always has been, learning to live with ones self and to make good use of all one has for adjustment to the environment. Wise living has always demanded an inner and an outer strategy but the first has now become more difficult as the emotions have grown in importance and have become so largely concerned with the self-feelings of the personality.
It was never more difficult, as most of us are willing to confess, to live vigorously and with judgment. Exhortations prove futile if they do not bring added insight. We cannot do well with ourselves merely by wishing or even by building high motives. Knowledge of our resources and of our problems is also required. The principles of mental hygiene have to be carried into our practices and this, we all find, means putting to use in a day-by-day consistency all the help we can gather from the various scientists that are exploring human nature.
As its title suggests, the book seeks to apply the information now available which has been gathered by those who have been studying human nature. I realize the importance of early childhood and family atmosphere as they influence character, and in previous books have dealt with the problems of parents, teachers, and others who face the obligations that go with power over growing life. This book is written for those who are seeking an understanding of their own personal problems.
It is not enough for us as adults to discover how much has been done to us during childhood by the attitudes and habits of others that helps or hinders us as we deal with our present problems; we need also the insight and practical counsel that will enable us to make the most of ourselves as we now are.
The book ranges over a large territory, and I am indebted to a host of thinkers and writers who have busied themselves with various phases of human nature. In no field of investigation does science meet greater difficulties than in its study of human personality, and nowhere are its conquests of greater value to the welfare of us all. The effort has been made to present material gathered from many sources, in direct language free from the technicalities that necessarily characterize the writings of the specialist. In the appendix the reader will find a discussion of the literature from which I have drawn information and inspiration.
In the pages that follow the business of living is not presented from a superior elevation, for they are written by one who shares the common problems of the men and women who try in the ordinary routine of their lives to practice the principles of mental hygiene to increase their own satisfactions and to add to the happiness of others.
The greater part of Chapter XIV was published in The Forum and Century and is reprinted here through the generous permission of the editor of that magazine.
ERNEST R. GROVES
Chapel Hill, N. C
O NE of the oldest of our eastern cities is blessed by a hotel which offers to its guests unusual food and comfort. Its reputation among traveling men is such that the veterans of the road, whenever in the course of their business they get within twenty miles of it, always seek it for a nights lodging, if possible. One of its pleasant features is extraordinarily large plate glass windows, fronting the lobby, that are snug up against the sidewalk. Many times have I sat in the large chairs with upholstering as thick as pillows, facing the street, and watched the people pass. One gets so intimate a glimpse of the faces of the men, women, and children who hurry by as to have the impression of an endless film of life always unwinding. Never have I sat there looking out without sooner or later noticing how few faces seemed happy. Rarely has anyone who has left adolescence behind passed with the appearance of being even contented. Of course, the face under such circumstances cannot be accepted as a perfect interpreter, but without doubt most of the individual passersby, if questioned, would admit that they are no more contented with life or closer to happiness than the countenance of each suggests.
