Talks to Teachers on Psychology: Act As If

In a talk to students called ‘The Gospel of Relaxation’, James used his own theory of emotions to give some surprisingly practical advice.

“According to this theory, our emotions come mainly from the changes in our body that a situation causes.One enthusiast has even said that we feel sorry because we cry, and afraid because we run away, and not the other way round.Whatever the exaggeration, the main point is true: giving way to tears or to an outburst of anger makes the grief or anger inside us more strongly felt.

Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by controlling the action, which the will can reach directly, we can indirectly control the feeling, which it cannot.So if you have lost your cheerfulness, the best path back is to sit up cheerfully, look around cheerfully, and act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there.To feel brave, act as if you were brave, and courage will very likely take the place of fear.To fight a bad feeling only fixes our attention on it; but if we act as if from a better feeling, the old bad feeling soon quietly slips away.

We Americans worry too much; we are too careful, too tense, too afraid of failure.Just as a bicycle chain may be too tight, our carefulness may be so tense that it stops the mind from running.If you really want to do your best in an examination, throw the book away the day before and say to yourself, ‘I won’t waste another minute on this, and I don’t care whether I succeed or not.’Say this sincerely, then go out and play, or go to bed and sleep, and I am sure the results the next day will encourage you.Worry always blocks the flow of our ideas and takes away our power to act.”