“The majority of illnesses have their predisposing causes in the weakness of the spirit, which, because of its depression and discouragement, doesn’t transmit to the body the vitality that comes from energy. 
Joy is expansive. It revitalizes the circulation, warms the body, animates and fortifies the organism, maintains health and makes life longer. 
Sadness, on the contrary, is contractive; it slows the circulation, grows cold, draws heat out of the body, weakens the organism, destroys health and makes life shorter.
But, since extremes meet and every excess is bad, if depressing sadness is pernicious for our existence, then joy, when excessive, is not less destructive; it can even kill instantaneously.”
 
The sentences above were written, some years ago, by the Brazilian doctor and college teacher António Pinheiro Guedes.
 
Great truths can be said in a simple way — truths that we feel as such, regardless of their logical scientific explanation. We know it is so. Besides, researchers demonstrate it. Curiously, however, we sometimes forget these truths and don’t apply them in our daily lives. We know that the more motivated we are to achieve a certain goal, the easier we will reach it. We also know that when we face difficulties, if we lose courage, we will deviate from the path to success; if we stop believing or if we concentrate our thought on defeat, it will naturally happen.
 
We recognize that the Man who can face reality with a bit of optimism and a calm smile on his face is a winner. Statistics show that his life expectancy is longer.
 
We know that  the pessimist becomes a complainer, and the the person who complains becomes pessimistic. Defeat is then close and sickness is even closer. Psychosomatic illnesses can prove this. Today, in this area, we see many pathologies of the digestive, vascular and breathing systems, of the skin, etc.. And there are still depressions, hysteria, and several neuroses.
 
We know all this, but here and there we forget. Or we think that this just happens to others.
We know that the continual search for balance, for intelligent, rational and harmonious solutions, in a realistic, calm and well-disposed scenario, leads us to a healthy life — one that is relatively successful in material and spiritual terms.
 
We also know this is a valuable way and, therefore, difficult to achieve. Difficult but possible. Definitely possible, and only, if we develop by ourselves the necessary efforts. Getting ourselves motivated again and cheered, always keeping a positive perspective about everything around us.
 

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