| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: their severest afflictions: but is not active employment the best
remedy for overwhelming sorrow - the surest antidote for despair?
It may be a rough comforter: it may seem hard to be harassed with
the cares of life when we have no relish for its enjoyments; to be
goaded to labour when the heart is ready to break, and the vexed
spirit implores for rest only to weep in silence: but is not
labour better than the rest we covet? and are not those petty,
tormenting cares less hurtful than a continual brooding over the
great affliction that oppresses us? Besides, we cannot have cares,
and anxieties, and toil, without hope - if it be but the hope of
fulfilling our joyless task, accomplishing some needful project, or
Agnes Grey |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: aware of it.
I had to shake him for a solid minute, but when at last he opened his eyes
it was in the full possession of his senses, with an inquiring look.
"All's well so far," I whispered. "Now you must vanish into the bathroom."
He did so, as noiseless as a ghost, and then I rang for the steward,
and facing him boldly, directed him to tidy up my stateroom while I was
having my bath--"and be quick about it." As my tone admitted of no excuses,
he said, "Yes, sir," and ran off to fetch his dustpan and brushes.
I took a bath and did most of my dressing, splashing, and whistling
softly for the steward's edification, while the secret sharer of my life
stood drawn up bolt upright in that little space, his face looking
The Secret Sharer |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart: again, and as for Gertrude, the hand that lay in mine was burning
with fever.
"And--after that," Mr. Jamieson went on, "you went directly to
bed?"
Gertrude hesitated.
"No," she said finally. "I--I am not nervous, and after I had
extinguished the light, I remembered something I had left in
the billiard-room, and I felt my way back there through the
darkness."
"Will you tell me what it was you had forgotten?"
"I can not tell you," she said slowly. "I--I did not leave the
The Circular Staircase |
