At a playground there are the usual swings, slide, sandbox and jungle gym. Kids of assorted ages are enjoying the park, the younger ones attended by a handful of parents. There are four kids, regulars here, playing in the sandbox.

One of them sits apart from the others, quietly pouring sand through her fingers. Periodically her dad gets up from the bench and lifts her to where the other children are playing together. But each time he looks up from his newspaper, she has moved away from the little group. She should be more sociable, he thinks, and puts down the newspaper to talk to her.

A boy in a green shirt has taken the little girl's plastic cup and is using it for his own project. When one of the other children picks up the toy he has put down in favor of the plastic cup, the boy in green screams, grabs the toy, and goes back to digging with the plastic cup. When his mother tells him to be nice to his friend and makes him give the cup back to its rightful owner, he cries loudly.

A third child is being scolded for having given away his potato chips. When his mom resumes conversation with another adult, she explains, "It worries me that he doesn't stand up for himself. It doesn't seem to occur to him that his things are his own."

While all the children are relating to their playmates in the most natural way to each of them, in each case the parent is asking the offspring to conform to some other standard. We've all been exposed to various versions of The Right Way to relate to others. Is there a Right Way?

According to information in the hands, there is a behavior pattern that is emotionally appropriate to each of us. The uppermost of the three major lines of the palm, known traditionally as the 'heart line,' can be interpreted to tell you (1) what is The Right Way For You and (2) whether you are faithful to your own way.

There are only two simple elements that dictate what is emotionally appropriate for each of us. Combining these elements, there are only four basic emotional types, although we may adopt more than one of these four. One of the criteria that determines the type appears in the hand as a curved (emotionally expressive) or a straight (emotionally reserved) line. The other guideline is found in the terminus of the line. The heart line begins somewhere toward the outer edge of the palm, under the little finger, moving toward the thumb side of the hand. If the line terminates under the index finger, even its inside edge, it is natural for your feelings to revolve around those of others. If the heart line ends anywhere under the middle finger, even under its inside edge, it is natural for you to focus more on your own emotional process.

Self-focus, others focused; expressive, reserved: four variables - none of them right or wrong; each clearly visible in the hands. Follow your archetype and things go well or poorly -- that's life. However if a person somehow behaves (in the main) outside his or her archetype, relationships suffer and often the entire life path is one long frustrating detour. Watching the children at the park, I wonder just how much the parental engineers understand their child's own inner architecture.