| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Poor and Proud by Oliver Optic: world, were also "laying up treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt." Want had taught them its hard
lessons, and they had come out of the fiery furnace of affliction
the wiser and the better for the severe ordeal. The mother's
foolish pride had been rebuked, the daughter's true pride had
been encouraged. They had learned that faith and patience are
real supports in the hour of trial. The perilous life in the
streets which Katy had led for a time, exposed her to a thousand
temptations; and she and her mother thanked God that they had
made her stronger and truer, as temptation resisted always makes
the soul. That year of experience had given Katy a character; it
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Extracts From Adam's Diary by Mark Twain: the forbidden fruit was not apples, it was chestnuts. I said I
was innocent, then, for I had not eaten any chestnuts. She said
the Serpent informed her that "chestnut" was a figurative term
meaning an aged and mouldy joke. I turned pale at that, for I
have made many jokes to pass the weary time, and some of them could
have been of that sort, though I had honestly supposed that they
were new when I made them. She asked me if I had made one just
at the time of the catastrophe. I was obliged to admit that I had
made one to myself, though not aloud. It was this. I was thinking
about the Falls, and I said to myself, "How wonderful it is to see
that vast body of water tumble down there!" Then in an instant a
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Dust by Mr. And Mrs. Haldeman-Julius: exactly how her boy or girl really would look. How much easier
that would make it to hold fast to the consciousness that she was
not merely in pain, but was laboring to bring forth a warm
flesh-and-blood child. There was the rub--in spite of her
eagerness, the little one, so priceless, wasn't as yet quite
definite, real. She recalled the rosy-checked, curly-haired
youngster her fancy had created a moment ago. She would cling to
that picture; yes, even if her pain mounted to agony, it should
be of the body only; she would not let it get into her mind, not
into her soul, not into the welcoming mother-heart of her.
Meanwhile, as she armored her spirit, she built a fire, put on
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