12. The mind must never permit itself to go down into any of the depressed states of feeling, as such a tendency invariably leads to mental ill health. To overcome this tendency, a sunny disposition should be cultivated, and the habit of fixing attention on the larger, the better, the superior, and the ideal in all things should be made a permanent factor in all lines of thinking. The fact that cheerfulness and ascending attitudes of mind add a great deal of power both to mind and body, is important; and it is well to remember in this connection that a cheerful, optimistic, ascending state of mind can be made so strong that no experience we may encounter can possibly make us depressed or discouraged. In connection with this phase of the study we shall find it profitable to refer to what was stated on mental tendencies in a previous lesson.

13. The importance of avoiding the downward tendency of the mind will be realized when we understand that all depressing conditions invariably take the mind down nearer to that point where clear thinking becomes impossible; and, conversely, that all ascending or elevating attitudes of mind invariably cause the mind to act in those higher and clearer realms of thinking where all thinking functions, so to speak, in a world of mental light. In other words, the higher the mind ascends in conscious action the