Bertrand Russell's Method

In his book The Conquest of Happiness, Bertrand Rus­sell says, "I was not born happy. As a child, my favorite hymn was: 'Weary of earth and laden with sin.' . . . In adolescence, I hated life and was continually on the verge of suicide, from which, however, I was restrained by the desire to know more mathematics. Now, on the contrary, I enjoy life; I might almost say that with every year that passes I enjoy it more . . . very largely it is due to diminishing preoccupation with myself. Like others who had a Puritan education, I had a habit of meditating on my sins, follies, and shortcomings. I seemed to myself— no doubt justly—a miserable specimen. Gradually I learned to be indifferent to myself and my deficiencies; I came to center my attention upon external objects: the state of the world, various branches of knowledge, indi­viduals for whom I felt affection." (Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness, New York, Liveright Publish­ing Corporation.)
In the same book, he describes his method for changing automatic reaction patterns based upon false beliefs. "It is quite possible to overcome infantile suggestions of the unconscious, and even to change the contents of the un­conscious, by employing the right kind of technique. Whenever you begin to feel remorse for an act which your reason tells you is not wicked, examine the causes of your feeling of remorse, and convince yourself in detail of their absurdity. Let your conscious beliefs be so vivid and em­phatic that they make an impression upon your uncon­scious strong enough to cope with the impressions made by your nurse or your mother when you were an infant. Do not be content with an alteration between moments of rationality and moments of irrationality. Look into the irrationality closely with a determination not to respect it and not to let it dominate you. When it thrusts foolish thoughts or feelings into your consciousness, pull them up by the roots, examine them, and reject them. Do not allow yourself to remain a vacillating creature, swayed half by reason and half by infantile folly... .
"But if the rebellion is to be successful in bringing indi­vidual happiness and in enabling a man to live consistently by one standard, not to vacillate between two, it is neces­sary that he should think and feel deeply about what his reason tells him. Most men, when they have thrown o f f superficially the superstitions of their childhood, think that there is no more to be done. They do not realize that these superstitions are still lurking underground. When a rational conviction has been arrived at, it is necessary to dwell upon it, to follow out its consequences, to search out in oneself whatever beliefs inconsistent with the new conviction might otherwise survive. . . . What I suggest is that a man should make up his mind with emphasis as to what he rationally believes, and should never allow con­trary irrational beliefs to pass unchallenged or obtain a hold over him, however brief This is a question of reason­ing with himself in those moments in which he is tempted to become infantile, but the reasoning, if it is sufficiently emphatic, may be very brief"