And because his thinking can always be led by his feeling;
because he has never learned to force it to go elsewhere, he has his
drink. Appealing to his emotions did not and cannot save him unless that
appeal is followed at the right moment by awakened reason, which will
look at the whole proposition when the mind is at its normal best, and
choose to follow where rational feeling directs. Nor will reason save
unless volition comes to its support and strongly backs it up and
enforces what it advises.
THE ATTENTION OF REASON AND WILL
So the good nurse will not consider her work done when she has diverted
mental processes into channels of co-operation. When the patient, who is
capable of reasoning, knows the why of his treatment, and realizes that
he can only keep well as he himself takes over the job and puts his mind
on things outside of his feelings, and carries out the doctor's
instructions for the sake of securing a certain end--then he has been
under a good nurse. This wise helper never "preaches," but makes the
healthy goal very desirable, stirs up an ambition to attain it, and
prods the will to keep on after it despite anything feeling may say.
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