| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: uses its teeth, with equal case picking fleas out of its fur or
crunching thick bones. Tikhon with equal accuracy would split logs
with blows at arm's length, or holding the head of the ax would cut
thin little pegs or carve spoons. In Denisov's party he held a
peculiar and exceptional position. When anything particularly
difficult or nasty had to be done- to push a cart out of the mud
with one's shoulders, pull a horse out of a swamp by its tail, skin
it, slink in among the French, or walk more than thirty miles in a
day- everybody pointed laughingly at Tikhon.
"It won't hurt that devil- he's as strong as a horse!" they said
of him.
War and Peace |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: of getting out of that sleepy gulf as quickly as possible.
I believe he told the second mate, who relieved him,
that it was a great want of judgment. The other only yawned.
That intolerable cub shuffled about so sleepily and lolled
against the rails in such a slack, improper fashion that I
came down on him sharply.
"Aren't you properly awake yet?"
"Yes, sir! I am awake."
"Well, then, be good enough to hold yourself as if you were.
And keep a lookout. If there's any current we'll be closing
with some islands before daylight."
The Secret Sharer |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Master Key by L. Frank Baum: The fat chief sprang to his feet and came to the rescue. He reached
up, caught Rob by the heels, and pulled him down to the ground, away
from the fire. But the next moment, as he clung to the boy's feet,
they both soared into the air again, and, although now far enough from
the fire to escape its heat, the savage, finding himself lifted from
the earth, uttered a scream of horror and let go of Rob, to fall head
over heels upon the ground.
The other blacks had by this time regained their feet, and now they
crowded around their chief and set him upright again.
Rob continued to float in the air, just above their heads, and now
abandoned all thoughts of escaping by means of his wrecked traveling
The Master Key |
