| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: clings so tightly to his heart that the King has not the power to
take it away with him. When the body is left without the heart
it cannot possibly live on. For such a marvel was never seen as
the body alive without the heart. Yet this marvel now came
about: for he kept his body without the heart, which was wont to
be enclosed in it, but which would not follow the body now. The
heart has a good abiding-place, while the body, hoping for a safe
return to its heart, in strange fashion takes a new heart of
hope, which is so often deceitful and treacherous. He will never
know in advance, I think, the hour when this hope will play him
false, for if he overstays by single day the term which he has
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from House of Mirth by Edith Wharton: were like atoms whirling away from each other in some wild
centrifugal dance: her first glimpse of the continuity of life
had come to her that evening in Nettie Struther's kitchen.
The poor little working-girl who had found strength to gather up
the fragments of her life, and build herself a shelter with them,
seemed to Lily to have reached the central truth of existence. It
was a meagre enough life, on the grim edge of poverty, with scant
margin for possibilities of sickness or mischance, but it had the
frail audacious permanence of a bird's nest built on the edge of
a cliff--a mere wisp of leaves and straw, yet so put together
that the lives entrusted to it may hang safely over the abyss.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Octopus by Frank Norris: shall never see you again, but you will always be a help to me."
"I do not understand," she answered, "but I know you mean to be
very, very kind to me. Yes, I hope when you come back--if you
ever do--you will still be that. I do not know why you should
want to be so kind, unless--yes, of course--you were my husband's
dearest friend."
They talked a little longer, and at length Presley rose.
"I cannot bring myself to see Mrs. Derrick again," he said. "It
would only serve to make her very unhappy. Will you explain that
to her? I think she will understand."
"Yes," answered Hilma. "Yes, I will."
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