One sister was carried by her husband from chair to bed, and from room to room, because she thought that she was too feeble to walk. But as the case was afterward presented to me, she could have walked as well as myself if she had thought so. Had an accident occurred,—had the house taken fire, or one of her children been in imminent danger of losing life by a fall,—this woman would have been aroused by the force of circumstances, and would have walked quite readily and briskly. She could walk, so far as physical strength was concerned; but diseased imagination led her to conclude that she could not, and she did not arouse the power of the will to resist this deception. The imagination said: You cannot walk, and you had better not try. Sit still; your limbs are so weak that you cannot stand. Had this sister exerted her will power and aroused her benumbed and dormant energies, this deception would have been exposed. In consequence of yielding to the imagination, she probably thinks, to this day, that when she was so helpless she was so of necessity; but this was purely a freak of the imagination, which sometimes plays strange tricks upon diseased mortals. (2T 523.1) MC VC

Some are so afraid of air that they will muffle up their heads and bodies until they look like mummies. They sit in the house, generally inactive, fearing they shall weary themselves and get sick if they exercise either indoors or out in the open air. They could take habitual exercise in the open air every pleasant day, if they only thought so. Continued inactivity is one of the greatest causes of debility of body and feebleness of mind. Many are sick who ought to be in very good health and thus in possession of one of the richest blessings they could enjoy. (2T 523.2) MC VC