| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig. He noted
the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon a million
blades of grass. The humming of the gnats that danced above
the eddies of the stream, the beating of the dragon flies'
wings, the strokes of the water spiders' legs, like oars
which had lifted their boat -- all these made audible
music. A fish slid along beneath his eyes and he heard the
rush of its body parting the water.
He had come to the surface facing down the stream; in a
moment the visible world seemed to wheel slowly round,
himself the pivotal point, and he saw the bridge, the fort,
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain: of time she had gone out of his heart like a casual
stranger whose visit is done.
He worshipped this new angel with furtive eye, till
he saw that she had discovered him; then he pre-
tended he did not know she was present, and began
to "show off" in all sorts of absurd boyish ways, in
order to win her admiration. He kept up this grotesque
foolishness for some time; but by-and-by, while he was
in the midst of some dangerous gymnastic performances,
he glanced aside and saw that the little girl was wending
her way toward the house. Tom came up to the
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe: was swelled with rage and disdain; to be dragged along with
three keepers of Newgate, and put on board like a convict,
when he had not so much as been brought to a trial. He made
loud complaints of it by his friends, for it seems he had some
interest; but his friends got some check in their application,
and were told he had had favour enough, and that they had
received such an account of him, since the last grant of his
transportation, that he ought to think himself very well treated
that he was not prosecuted anew. This answer quieted him at
once, for he knew too much what might have happened, and
what he had room to expect; and now he saw the goodness of
Moll Flanders |
