Page:The Art of Helping People Out of Trouble (1924).pdf/236

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devised. There is no better place to look for the fabric of a purpose than at the very heart of an individual's difficulties.

What gave additional strength to the ordinary powers of this dynamic was its genesis in Mrs. Quinn's affection for her children. That she was devoted to them made her purpose to regain them the greater, while the struggle to bring them back to her increased her love for them. They were the principle medium through which her emotional life expressed itself.

Emotional expression when it has, as here, a satisfactory channel can be one of the most steadying and inspiring of influences. It finds its outlets variously, through appreciation of nature and of art, and through every phase of human association, acquaintanceship, friendship, courtship, marriage, parenthood, family life. It isin human association that it reaches its highest values, for here there is the element of response, the possibility of that reciprocity of affection that can bring security and satisfaction. Such emotional expression is not a thing to be sought. It is suspicious of invitations and it comes unbidden. It is a mutual experience, a harmony of free and understanding personalities.

One can introduce the lonely individual to