Applied Psychology for Nurses | Page 4

pine-tree, and a towhee singing
in the distance.

A whistling wind bending the pines.
A desire to throw work aside and go for a long tramp.
A patient moving about overhead (she is supposed to be out for her
walk, and I'm wondering why she is not).
The face and voice of an old friend whom I was just now called from
my work to see.
The plan and details of my writing.
The face and gestures of my old psychology professor and the
assembled class engaged in a tangling metaphysic discussion.
A cramped position.
Some loose hair about my face distracting me.
An engagement at 7.30.
A sharp resolve to stop wool-gathering and finish this chapter.
And yet, until I stopped to examine my consciousness, I was keenly
aware only of the thoughts on psychology I was trying to put on paper.
But how shall we classify these various contents?
Some are emotion, i. e., feelings; others are intellect, i. e., thoughts; still
others represent determination, i. e., volition or will.
There is nothing in this varied consciousness that will not be included
in one or another of these headings. Let us group the contents for
ourselves.
The nurses for whom I am writing:
A result of memory and of imagination (both intellect). A sense of
kinship and interest in them (emotion). A determination that they must

have my best (will, volition).
And so of the hospitals:
My memory of hospitals I have known, and my mental picture of yours
made up from piecing together the memories of various ones, the
recollection of the feelings I had in them, etc. (intellect).
What you already know.
Speculation (intellect), the speculation based on my knowledge of other
schools (memory which is intellect). A desire (emotion) that all nurses
should know psychology.
Child calling on street.
Recognition of sound (intellect) and pleasant perception of his voice
(emotion).
Desire to throw work aside and go for a tramp on this gorgeous day.
Emotion, restrained by stronger emotion of interest in work at hand,
and intellect, which tells me that this is a work hour--and will, which
orders me to pay attention to duties at hand.
So all the phenomena of mental life are included in feelings, thoughts,
and volitions which accompany every minute of my waking life, and
probably invade secretly every second of my sleeping life.
The conditions of mental life--what are they?
1. In man and the higher animals the central nervous system, which,
anatomy teaches us, consists of the brain and spinal cord. (In the lowest
forms of animal life, a diffused nervous system located throughout the
protoplasm.)
2. An external world.
3. A peripheral nervous system connecting the central nervous system

with the outside world.
4. The sympathetic nervous system, provided to assure automatic
workings of the vital functions of the body. These organs of the mind
will be discussed in a later chapter.
CHAPTER II
CONSCIOUSNESS
We took a glimpse at random into the mental life of an adult
consciousness, and found it very complicated, constantly changing. We
found it packed with shifting material, which, on the surface, seemed to
bear very little relation. We found reason, feeling, and will all
interacting. We found nothing to indicate that a consciousness as
simple as mere awareness might exist. We believe there might be such
in the newborn babe, perhaps even in the baby a month old; but can we
prove it? Let us look within again and see if there are not times of mere,
bare consciousness in our own experience that give us the proof we
need.
I have slept deeply all night. It is my usual waking time. Something
from within or from without forces an impression upon my mind, and I
stir, and slowly open my eyes. As yet I have really not seen anything.
With my eyes open my mind still sleeps--but in a few seconds comes a
possessing sense of well-being. Obeying some stimulus, not recognized
by the senses as yet, I begin to stretch and yawn, then close my eyes
and settle down into my pillows as for another nap. I am not aware that
I am I, that I am awake, that I have yawned and stretched. I have a
pleasant, half-dreamy feeling, but could not give it a name. For those
few seconds this is all my world--a pleasant drowsiness, a being
possessed by comfort. My consciousness is mere awareness--a pleasant
awareness of uncomplicated existence. In another moment or two it is a
consciousness of a day's work or pleasure ahead, the necessity of rising,
dressing, planning the day, the alert reaction of pleasure or displeasure
to what it is to bring, the effort to recall the dreams of sleep--the
complicated consciousness of the mature man or woman. But I started

the day with a