The-Conquest-of-Happiness-by-Bertrand-Russell

amusement or work, or what not. Now every kind
of fears grows worse by not being looked at. The
effort of turning away one’s thoughts is a tribute to
the horribleness of the spectre from which one is
averting one’s gaze; the proper course with every
kind of fear is to think about it rationally and
calmly, but with great concentration, until it has
become completely familiar. In the end familiarity
will blunt its terrors; the whole subject will
become boring, and our thoughts will turn away
from it, not, as formerly, by an effort of will, but
through mere lack of interest in the topic. When
you find yourself inclined to brood on anything, no
matter what, the best plan always is to think about
it even more than you naturally would, until at last
its morbid fascination is worn off.
One of the matters in which modern morality is
most defective is this question of fear. It is true that
physical courage, especially in war, is expected of
men, but other forms of courage are not expected of
them, and no form of courage is expected of
women. A woman who is courageous has to