【推荐2】Spending time in the great outdoors is a full-on sensory experience with nature’s views, endless skies, grand forests, the sounds of the wind and wildlife, and the warm feeling of sun-beams (阳光) resting on your face.

In fact, a recent study, published in the journal Ambio, found that nature doesn’t just smell good, and its fragrances make people feel good as well. The researchers from the University of Kent in the UK sent 194 participants to woodlands throughout the four seasons. The participants reported feeling relaxed and refreshed when they smelled what they described as “fresh air” or “earthy smells”. According to Earth. com, these smells awakened pleasant memories from their childhoods.

While it is well known that being in nature makes people feel good, this study was the first to focus on the olfactory (嗅觉的) aspect of the outdoors. The results showed that there may be more to smell than people give it credit for. The researchers wrote in the study, “We found smells affected multiple aspects of well-being with physical well-being discussed most frequently.”

The same study uncovered the relaxing effect of lack of smells, according to CBS News. People feel more settled in a smell-free zone, with this result possibly linked to the absence of bad-smelling urban smells, like pollution, that interfere (干扰、阻碍) with well-being. The study found that even the absence of pollution and unwanted smells that are associated with urban life was noticed by the participants to improve their physical well-being.

Dr Jessica Fisher, study co-author and postdoctoral research associate at Kent’s Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, said, “The study provides findings that can inform the work of practitioners, public health specialists, policy-makers and landscape planners looking to improve well-being outcomes through nature. Small interventions (干预) could lead to public health benefits. So, when it comes to enjoying a hike in the woods, a pienic under the open skies, or a day at the beach, it pays to keep one’s eyes and ears, but also one’s nose, open.”

【推荐3】After decades of exploring the moon, a dramatic vision is finally becoming reality. The Guardian recently reported that a project called Lunar Codex is planning to send and store over 30,000 works on the moon from artists, writers, filmmakers, and musicians from over 150 countries and regions. The goods to be stored range from novels and paintings to music, films，and even soil from Earth.

According to Artnet, the only rule for acceptance for these works is that they must have been pre-curated (预先策划) by a professional known to Samuel Peralta, the leader of the project.

Speaking with The New York Times, Peralta said that the aim of the project is to create “a message in the bottle for the fixture”，showing that “during this time of war, pandemic and economic crisis, people still found time to create beauty.”

In fact, this is not the first time that people have tried sending human legacies (遗产) to outer space. In 1969, the Apollo 12 mission carried a ceramic piece with drawings. In 1971, the Apollo 15 staff left a sculpture to honor those who had died in space exploration. What’s more famous is the Golden Record carried by spacecraft Voyager 1 and 2 from NASA in 1977, which contains human language, music and images. For example, a piece of Chinese guqin music, called Flowing Streams was included in it.

Although we don’t know who determines which symbols of human legacy get sent out to space in most projects, it’s obvious that the criteria keep changing. In the past，space heritage products only focused on space-related works; but gradually, more human-related contemporary goods which held great importance in their respective eras have been added to the list. In the Lunar Codex, films, diverse art and literary works produced by women, disabled artists, and even AI have been collected for the first time to be sent to the moon.

These changing criteria also leave space for ordinary people to imagine and think. Many people are now trying to store their DNA information digitally. Will people be able to find even more surprising and inventive ways to preserve their legacy in the future? Only time can tell.

【推荐2】Most of us assume those hyper-achievers who are always able to squeeze in their workout, eat healthy foods and pick their kids up on time must have superhuman self-control. But science points to a different answer:    1     The only catch is that building good habits takes effort and insight. Thankfully, here are a few research-backed steps that can set you on the path to where you want to be.

The way you define the goal you hope to turn into a habit does matter. Goals like “meditate regularly” are too abstract, research has shown.     2    Don’t say “I’ll meditate regularly. “ Say, “I’ll meditate for 15 minutes each day. “This is actually key to habit formation, making the task easy to carry out, but it’s often overlooked.

    3    Scientists have proven that you’ll make more progress toward your goal if you decide not just what you’ll do, but when and where you’ll be cued to do it. Making this kind of plan reduces the chances you’ll forget to follow through because the when and where in your plan will serve as cues to action.

A plan like “I’ll study Spanish for 30 minutes every weekday” is OK. But a detailed, cue-based plan like “Every workday after my last meeting, I’ll spend 30 minutes studying Spanish in my office” is more likely to stick as a habit.

We’re strongly influenced by the behaviors of the people around us, evidence shows. Want to start running regularly? You’re probably better off joining an established running club than asking a few friends who aren’t yet in the habit of jogging to get in shape with you.

However, it’s important not to get too crazy - if you try to train with marathoners when you’re just hoping to work up to a 5K, it can be discouraging.

Research has shown you’ll persist longer and ultimately achieve more if you focus on finding ways to make goal pursuit fun. One excellent way is to try “temptation bundling”. Research shows that temptation bundling improves follow-through; it transforms goal pursuit into a source of pleasure, not pain.     5    

【推荐3】People who possess high self-esteem are able to commit better and produce a greater bond in relationships with others. Dr. Douglas feels that most people do not value themselves, but with love and self-respect anyone can be above normality and grasp success with the family, the office, or others.

We have become too reliant on intelligence, beauty, and money for our own self-esteem. The loss of esteem reduces the will and ability to set and reach goals. In a series of readings Douglas teaches how to avoid negative statements, how to change them into self-facing behavior, and how to take charge of your mental attitude. Where other motivational and self-help works stop with the theoretical plan for success, Douglas takes everyday examples and puts them into his books. From raising children who believe in themselves to using self-esteem to help bridge the gap in the workplace, he gives readers concrete solutions to the problems that might ruin their interpersonal relations.

Self-esteem building comes from filling your thoughts with positive affirmations (肯定) and learning to react to failures with motivation instead of self-destruction. These lessons are valuable for anyone who feels that life is even slightly out of control. People who feel they have adequate esteem can learn to use it to make their success grander, faster, and more beneficial for others. Douglas approaches this process of self-development as a means of more than creating good things for the individual but also for setting up keys for influencing good things for others.

For more than thirty years, Dr. Douglas has addressed more than two million people on topics from time management to speaking effectively to raising drug-free children. He is the author of fifteen books, including How to Make a Habit of Succeeding.