【推荐1】You are given many opportunities in life to choose to be a victim or creator. When you choose to be a victim, the world is a cold and difficult place. “They” did things to you which caused all of your pain and suffering. “They” are wrong and bad, and life is terrible as long as “they” are around. Or you may blame yourself for all your problems, thus internalizing (内化) your victimization (受害). The truth is, your life is likely to stay that way as long as you feel a need to blame yourself or others.

Those who choose to be creators look at life quite differently. They know there are individuals who might like to control their lives, but they don’t let this get in the way. They know they have their weaknesses, yet they don’t blame themselves when they fail. Whatever happens, they have choice in the matter. They believe their dance with each sacred (神圣的) moment of life is a gift and that storms are a natural part of life which can bring the rain needed for emotional and spiritual growth.

Victims and creators live in the same physical world and deal with many of the same physical realities, yet their experience of life is worlds apart. Victims relish (沉溺) in anger, guilt, and other emotions that cause others—and even themselves—to feel like victims, too. Creators consciously choose love, inspiration, and other qualities which inspire not only themselves, but all around them. Both victims and creators always have choice to determine the direction of their lives.

In reality, all of us play the victim or the creator at various points in our lives. One person, on losing a job or a special relationship, may feel as if it is the end of the world and sink into terrible suffering for months, years, or even a lifetime. Another with the same experience may choose to first experience the grief, then accept the loss and soon move on to be a powerful creative force in his life.

In every moment and every circumstance, you can choose to have a fuller, richer life by setting a clear intention to transform the victim within, and by inviting into your life the powerful creator that you are.

【推荐2】The need of plus-size consumers has long been the elephant in the room of the fashion industry until body positivity and fat acceptance movements promoted that large-bodied people are not those who are left behind. This trend has become so popular that it is influencing mainstream culture. As a result, fashion brands have finally decided to expand their size ranges. In 2022, the plus-size market grew twice as fast as the standard size market in both North America and the UK.

Yet, many consumers say fashion brands broadening their ranges are not truly inclusive (包容的). “Inclusive sizing means that all bodies are included in fashion, not just the ones who fit in standard sizes,” says Marie North, a UK-based journalist who covers body-image issues. “However, what many designers do right now is pick a number that they think is big enough to include plus sizes and stop. This is even more disrespectful.”

Researchers also criticize (批评) that some brands are just taking advantage of the trend. “Brands that used to promote so-called perfect bodies in their advertisements are now trying to get in on the trend by adding a few sizes. It doesn’t feel like they really care about plus-size people,” says Michael Burgess, analyst in fashion industry. “If brands cared about large-bodied consumers, then it wouldn’t have taken until now to acknowledge that they exist,” he says. “It gives the impression that companies are just trying to gain a share of the market without a real devotion to the community.”

The fashion industry must go beyond merely producing clothing in a range of sizes if they hope to succeed with a body-diverse world. The whole industry has to connect on a personal level with consumers. That involves showing shoppers that they are seen, understood and important to brands. “Consumers care about values, and so they want to buy from brands that reflect the values they believe in. Everyone should enjoy the same range of fashion choices,” says Ludovica Ospina, professor of marketing at the College of Business.

【推荐2】People speak English in different parts of the world. The same words can be used in different ways, depending on where you live. People can also have completely different ways of saying the same thing.

The Oxford English Dictionary(OED) is asking the public to help it add new words. Editors want to find the regional differences in English around the world. They want to expand its record of the language.

Last year, the OED, BBC Radio and the Forward Arts Foundation teamed up to find local words in the United Kingdom. It resulted in more than 100 regional words and phrases being added to the dictionary. One was “cuddy wifter”, which means a left-handed person.

Now, the OED is widening its search to English speakers around the world. Eleanor Maier, an editor at OED, said the response has been great. Editors are listing a bunch of suggestions to include in the dictionary.

These include Hawaii’s “hammajang”, which means “in a disorderly state”. Another is the word for a swimming costume, “dookers” or “duckers”. It is used in Scotland.

The OED also might include the word “frog-drowner”, which Americans might use to describe a downpour of rain. Another possibility is “brick”. It means “very cold” to people in New Jersey and New York City.

The dictionary has already found that, depending on location, a picture hanging off center might be described as “agley”. It might also be called “catawampous” or “ahoo”.

“The OED aims to cover all types of English,” Maier said. That includes scientific words, slang and regional language. Maier also said that it can be difficult for the OED’s editors to identify regional words. The terms are more often spoken than written down.

The appeal is called Words Where You Are. It is looking for more suggestions. “We were surprised and pleased by the number of regional words we were able to include,” said Maier.

【推荐3】Time and how we experience it have always puzzled us. Physicists have created fascinating theories, but their time is measured by a pendulum (钟摆) and is not psychological time, which leaps with little regard to the clock or calendar. As someone who understood the distinction observed, ''When you sit with a nice girl for two hours it seems like a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove, a minute seems like two hours. ''

Psychologists have long noticed that larger units of time, such as months and years, fly on swifter wings as we age. They also note that the more time is structured with schedules and appointments, the more rapidly it seems to pass. For example, a day at the office flies compared with a day at the beach.

Expectation and familiarity also make time seem to flow more rapidly. Almost all of us have had the experience of driving somewhere we've never been before. Surrounded by unfamiliar scenery, with no real idea of when we’ll arrive, we experience the trip as lasing a long time. But the return trip, although exactly as long, seems to take far less time. The novelty of the outward journey has become routine.

When days become as identical as beads (小珠子)on a string, they mix together, and even months become a single day. To counter this, try to find ways to interrupt the structure of your day-- to stop time, so to speak.

Learning something new is one of the ways to slow the passage of time. One of the reasons the days of our youth seems to be full and long is that these are the days of learning and discovery. For many of us, learning ends when we leave school, but this doesn't have to be.