【推荐2】After a terrible accident， Colleen was in severe pain and convinced she would never walk again. She faced dozens of surgeries and weeks in a hospital.     1    . She describes the life lessons she learned during her recovery.

Give yourself goals

In the early stages of her recovery， Colleen started to give herself goals for each day.     2     ，includingthe day she started to walk again. “I was ready. I took just a few steps， but that was my goal that day.”

Help others

The doctor suggested that Colleen visit other patients searching for help. She visited a musician who had been paralyzed（瘫痪） in a car accident. She listened to his music and realized that meant so much to him.“     3     .”

Practice gratitude（感谢）

One afternoon a complete stranger called out to Colleen， “What I want you to know is that your life still has a purpose.     4     .” So many people tried their best to keep her alive. She could never pay them back， but she was grateful to be alive even with pain.Her pain was a constant reminder that she was still alive.

    5    

Fear can return at any moment.One day， Colleen saw a truck parked just ahead of her. It was with the same company that the truck that hit i her was from.Colleen was angry， but the driver offered to let her do what she wanted to do. She spent time looking at and touching the truck. By doing this， she faced what she feared the most.

【推荐3】I stood behind the curtain, my hands shaking. As I listened to the crowd laugh at the host’s jokes, I just thought why I believed I could do that. Two months earlier, I had signed up for improv(即兴表演) classes at a local theater, along with four other graduate students.

When I first heard about the improv classes, I was torn. I feared getting on stage and performing in front of strangers. However, I knew I wanted to work as a science communicator after finishing my Ph.D., so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to improve my communication ability and gain confidence.

During our first class, we learned the key concept of improv: “yes, and”. If someone says monkeys are librarians, for example, then monkeys are librarians. We don’t question the logic; we say “yes” and continue with the scene as if nothing is wrong. To do this well, we have to avoid second-guessing ourselves. Sometimes scenes go in unexpected directions. The best improv happens when performers stay open to different possibilities. Over time, I started to enjoy our classes. I also became better at listening and communicating clearly in the moment.

That training was put to good use when I was giving a lecture about my science. An audience member surprised me with a question that didn’t grow out of the information I’d presented. Instead of getting confused, I used the “yes, and” method, and it helped me find proper answers. Last year, I came across confusing data. Instead of getting discouraged, I kept exploring the data and ended up discovering a new type of cell—one that wasn’t behaving as expected. If I hadn’t stayed open to the possibility that the results were real, I would have missed out on the most exciting finding of my Ph.D. so far.

【推荐2】Volunteer Day

What better way is there to enjoy your own hobbies while helping others at the same time? Come to Volunteer Day and choose an activity you’d like to join for the day. See below for a schedule of events on Volunteer Day.

Volunteer Day Schedule:

■7:30 a.m.: Meet at the Community Center for juice and bagels.

■8；00-8：30 a.m.: Choose which activity you’d like to help with for the day.

■8:30 a.m.: Board the bus to your activity site.

■9:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.: Work as a volunteer.

■3:30 p.m.: Board the bus that will take you back to the Community Center.

See below for a list of volunteer opportunities for Volunteer Day so you can begin thinking about which activity you might want to join.

A list of volunteer activities:

Paint Houses: Happy Homes is a local organization that provides home painting. For elderly or physically disabled people who cannot do repairs to their homes. Happy Homes provides volunteer painters to repair old houses.

Plant flowers: Help plant flowers and bushes in city parks, help lay paths at Cave Springs Park, or help pick up rubbish around the river banks.

Read to children: Love and Learning is an organization that provides volunteers to help children with learning disabilities. Read books out loud to groups of children four to six years old, or read one-on-one with struggling readers seven to eight years old.

Play with animals: Lovely Friends is an organization that visits local animal shelters and provides volunteers to spend time with the animals while their cages are being cleaned.

【推荐3】In April 2015, UK journalist Rebecca Atkinson, along with other parents of children with disabilities started the campaign(活动) Toy Likeme to solve the lack of various toys for children with disabilities. They created a Facebook page where everyone was able to post ideas and pictures about what toys for children with disabilities should look like.

Even though the campaign attracted a lot of attention, these parents couldn't rest until their ideas actually became real. Luckily, only 2 weeks after the campaign started, the people who started the campaign got in touch with a company in the UK that designs toys through 3D printing, and the company agreed to create a new series of dolls. That's when the first toys with disabilities were produced.

There are around 150 million children with disabilities, and even though the toy industry is worth over S2.9 billion, it has completely failed to create toys that are fitter for them. Until recently, that is. Thanks to this campaign that has taken the Internet by storm, many toy companies have answered this calling and have made toys specifically for children with disabilities.

Soon enough, the Toylikeme campaign on Facebook and Twitter finally reached the big companies like Lego, and now there is an entire series of toys with disabilities that have been sold worldwide.

Even after all the success this campaign has had, Toy Likeme gets on with its task. The organization has followers in over 45 countries and has received to continuously influence the global toy industry and hopefully make kids with disabilities all around the world feel accepted and appreciated.