| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: marshes and lagoons. The scene by the dimmed light of the
moon was most desolate. A few fireflies flitted by us; and
the solitary snipe, as it rose, uttered its plaintive cry. The
distant and sullen roar of the sea scarcely broke the stillness
of the night.
April 9th. -- We left our miserable sleeping-place before
sunrise. The road passed through a narrow sandy plain,
lying between the sea and the interior salt lagoons. The
number of beautiful fishing birds, such as egrets and cranes,
and the succulent plants assuming most fantastical forms,
gave to the scene an interest which it would not otherwise
The Voyage of the Beagle |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Menexenus by Plato: wish, and as such we now offer ourselves, neither lamenting overmuch, nor
fearing overmuch, if we are to die at this time. And we entreat our
fathers and mothers to retain these feelings throughout their future life,
and to be assured that they will not please us by sorrowing and lamenting
over us. But, if the dead have any knowledge of the living, they will
displease us most by making themselves miserable and by taking their
misfortunes too much to heart, and they will please us best if they bear
their loss lightly and temperately. For our life will have the noblest end
which is vouchsafed to man, and should be glorified rather than lamented.
And if they will direct their minds to the care and nurture of our wives
and children, they will soonest forget their misfortunes, and live in a
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: no doubt, our subdued excitement as our normal condition. Ages
afterward I learned that he thought my face almost tragic that
night, and that he supposed from the way I glared across the
table, that I had quarreled with my husband!
"I am afraid you are not well," he said at last, noticing my food
untouched on my plate. "We should not have come, any of us."
"I am perfectly well,:" I replied feverishly. "I am never ill.
I--I ate a late luncheon."
He glanced at me keenly. "Don't let them stay and play bridge
tonight," he urged. "Miss Caruthers can be an excuse, can she
not? And you are really fagged. You look it."
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