Page:Fielding - Sex and the Love Life.pdf/149

your sense of humor. It is an infallible shock-absorber. And by sense of humor, I do not mean a preference for the funny strips, but the ability to see the humor in personal situations that concern oneself. Do not take yourself so seriously that all sense of proportion is lost. If you have learned to laugh at yourself, instead of getting angry at the world in general and the individual nearest to you in particular, when things do not go just right, you have made a conquest that is not to be under-rated. If you have learned to laugh at yourself, as well as at others, you have made considerable progress on the road to self-mastery.

Jealousy is a destructive force which holds a large place in the rôle of the human emotions. It can blast love irretrievably and more quickly than almost any other factor. It is important to realize this because it shows that jealousy invariably defeats its own ends. The jealous person, of course, is actuated by a blind desire to retain the love and affection of the loved one. Jealousy is always irrational, and often insane, as we witness from its results that are reported constantly in the newspapers, or which may come under our own observation.

Not only does jealousy make life miserable for the one whom it is about, but it is a source of torment to the individual who experiences the jealousy. While essentially a psychological experience, its emotional reactions affect the functions of the whole body, upset the internal chemistry, digestion, heart-action, injures health, prevents sleep and is a curse generally.

The background of jealousy, as of many destructive emotions, such as worry, for instance, is fear; fear of losing the