【推荐1】It was always very cold on that lake shore in the night, but we had plenty of blankets and were warm enough. We never moved a muscle all night, but waked at early dawn in the original positions, and got up at once, thoroughly refreshed. There is no end of medicine in such an experience. That morning we could have defeated ten such people as we were the day before—sick ones at any rate. But the world is slow, and people will go to “water cures” and “movement cures” and to foreign lands for health. Three months of camp life on Lake Tahoe would bring back Egyptian mummy to life, and give him a healthy appetite. I do not mean the oldest and driest mummies, of course, but fresher ones. The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine. And why shouldn’t it be? —it is the same the angels breathe. I think that hardly any amount of tiredness can be gathered together that a man cannot sleep off in one night on the sand by its side. Not under a roof, but under the sky; it seldom or never rains there in the summertime. I know a man who went there to die. But he made a failure of it. He was a skeleton (骨瘦如柴的人) when he came, and could barely stand. He had no appetite, and did nothing but read tracts (小册子) and reflect on the future. Three months later he was sleeping out of doors regularly, eating all he could hold, three times a day, and hunting game over the mountains three thousand feet high for fun. And he was a skeleton no longer, but weighed part of a ton. This is no fancy sketch, but the truth. His disease was consumption. I confidently recommend his experience to other skeletons.

—Mark Twain

【推荐2】“The pursuit of perfection is the tenet (信条) of my. life.” Magee rushed home crying after seeing that she’d received an A-minus on her grade report. Growing up she had learned that the way to receive confirmation and love from family members and teachers was to be a high achiever. So to Magee, that A-minus felt like a failure. “I was shattered,” she said. “In that moment, I felt like my self-worth as a human had fallen far below what it would have been if I’d gotten an A or an A-plus.”

Magee’s turning a good grade into a cause of her inferiority (自卑) is a textbook example in recent years. Perfectionism is a universal cultural phenomenon. High levels of perfectionism were linked with depression, anxiety, and deliberate self-harm. The constant stress of competitiveness and comparison can also leave people stressed and suffering from headaches and insomnia.

If a person is only rewarded for high achievement, over time they learn that their value as a person depends on being perfect. Instagram, Facebook and other social media platforms also fuel unhealthy comparisons. “It’s a real problem — those social media images end up serving as yardsticks that people can compare themselves to and a perfectionist is always trying to keep up with the Joneses,” Sherry, a clinical psychologist, said. And it’s never been harder to keep up with the Joneses, because today we are constantly bombed with seemingly perfect images of other peoples’ lives.

Eventually Magee learned that she had to let go a little and allow herself to show up with all her imperfections. She eventually learned to trust that she could show up, not being perfect, and still feel valued. “I can be imperfect and everything can be fine!”

【推荐3】One day I went to a store to get some needed items for my family.

I gathered up my goodies and headed for the checkout counter, only to be blocked in the narrow aisle (通道) by a young man who appeared to be about sixteen years old. I wasn’t in a hurry, so I patiently waited for the boy to realize that I was there. It was obvious now, he was mentally challenged and a little shocked as he turned and saw me standing so close to him, waiting to squeeze by. I said, "Hey Buddy, what's your name?"

“My name is Denny and I’m shopping with my Mommy,” he responded proudly.

"Wow.” I said, “that's a cool name; I wish my name was Denny, but my name is Steve. How old are you Denny?

“How old am I now, Mommy?” he asked his mother as she slowly came over from the next aisle. “You're fifteen years old, Denny”. Then he headed toward the toy section.

Denny’s mom thanked me for taking the time to talk with her son. She told me that most people wouldn’t even look at him, much less talk to him.

I told her that it was my pleasure and that there are plenty of red, yellow, and pink roses in God’s Garden; however, “Blue Roses” are very rare and should be appreciated for their beauty and distinctiveness.

You see. Denny is a Blue Rose and if someone doesn't stop and smell that rose with their heart and touch that rose with their kindness, then they’ve missed a blessing from God. So, the next time you see a BLUE ROSE, don’t turn your head and walk off. Take the time to smile and say Hello.

【推荐3】English is full of colorful phrases to describe shyness. Someone shy might be called shrinking violet or a wallflower, while for especially nervous types we have the curious expression: they wouldn’t say boo to a goose.

None of these are traditionally seen as positive descriptions, even if you like geese. In a culture of go-getting, high achievers, shy people don’t come first. Or that’s what the self-help industry would have you believe. Bookshops are filled with vital tomes(巨著) that promise to help beat social fears and find success in life, love and business. That is why one book, Shrinking Violets: A Field Guide to Shyness, bucks the trend. It became a sudden success across English-language media recently for its new take-on shyness.

Author Joe Moran says that despite struggling with shyness and longing for loneliness all his life, being shy can also be "a gift". Freed from the constant urge to participate and compete in social situations, people are liberated to look at the world in new ways, and gain fresh insights.

Indeed, many of the world’s great thinkers and artists are introverts(内向的人). Scientists Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein preferred their own company; actress Keira Knightley often finds herself tongue-tied at parties; and Harry Potter author JK Rowling claims she used to be too nervous to even borrow a pen.

Moran told BBC Future: "I think shyness probably does turn you into an amateur anthropologist(人类学家), really-you are more likely to be an observer."

So, while extroverts make all the noise, they don’t necessarily have the best ideas.

If you’re shy, you’ve probably known this for a long time. You just don’t shout about it.

【推荐1】Scientists and researchers have long sought to understand why people cry when experiencing joy or happiness.     1     Over the decades, scientists and researchers have thought up theories to explain why happy crying occurs.

    2    An early theory suggested that happy crying happened because people bottled up their feelings. This meant that people who cried when experiencing something joyous had feelings of sadness they hadn’t addressed. Many researchers have contradicted the theory over the years, but it appears to be one of the earliest attempts to understand why we cry when we are happy.

Crying may regulate your body. Tears contain enzymes, lipids and metabolites. But emotional tears might also include other proteins and hormones. It is hypothesized that release of stress hormones may help control the body’s physical and emotional homeostasis(动态平衡).    3    

It fosters vulnerability and social connection. Crying in any situation could also be our way of showing vulnerability as human beings.    4    This happens when we cry because of a happy or sad event. Scientists believe that crying is a way of establishing a social connection with other people.

You feel powerless over your emotions. Yet other scientists suggest that all types of crying are results of perceived feelings of frustration, helplessness, and surrender. Crying almost feels unavoidable when people experience a strong emotion, whether it’s joy, frustration, or anger.

Though you might not always allow your tears free fall, you often feel them coming on. Some research suggests that this is because crying can help you manage strong emotions.    5    

Therefore, while you might be experiencing a happy or joyous occasion, you might find the emotion overwhelming. Crying helps you release some of this emotion.

When I went off to college in the fall of 1991, I was an 18-year-old man whose favorite letters were the ones on the sports sweater. Four years later, I was crazy about the letters of the poet Keats, but one author’s penned letters stood out above the rest. You see, my father wrote me one letter per week from the time I left home.

In an age before email, these letters seemed too ordinary. But they arrived. Each week. One after another. Again and again. In snowstorms. On holidays. From foreign countries. They detailed what Dad referred to as “the week that was”—a day-by-day description of my father’s life.

In 1995, I graduated from college, like many 22-year olds, with plenty of uncertainty. Some of my questions were pretty typical: What was I going to do? Where was I going to live? When was I going to apply for graduate school? But one question was more vital than any other thing. What would happen to the weekly letters? Would they continue? To my surprise, the letters kept coming, more heartfelt and emotional than before and always on time. I mean the guy never missed.

As much as I enjoyed my father’s weekly letters, I didn’t fully appreciate them all those years when they arrived like clockwork. And I never fully understood why my dad would always ask if I’d received the letter when we spoke.

But now, as I pen my first official letters to my own sons Jackson and Cassius, it all seems clear. Although our boys have yet to leave for college, I have to accept that day will soon come. Just the idea of their leaving from our home makes me ache with sadness only a parent can know.

I am writing about “the week that was” with my daily details. With a box of over 500 of Dad’s letters nearby and his pen in hand, I write a letter, fighting back the tears I make it to the end and sign it just as he did. All my love, Dad.

【推荐3】When I think of meditation（冥想）, my mind automatically pictures someone sitting by the beach, cross-legged and humming. “Boring,” I used to say, dismissing the ancient art and its promises of inner peace.     1     Or perhaps I should say I don’t believe in my ability to find peace of mind by sitting quietly. I’d rather sleep, to be honest.

Still, a friend persuaded me to give meditation a shot. Unwilling but curious, I tried a session offered by a meditation app, right in the middle of my workday.     2    

For starters, the app didn’t ask me to sit cross-legged－that’s one thing to be thankful for. It only asked me to sit in my chair in whatever position I found most comfortable.     3     You are with your body every second of every day, but you rarely feel it.     4     The woman’s comforting voice was directing my attention to each part of my body. It was like all of my senses were suddenly activated and strengthened.

When I opened my eyes after the 10-minute session, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the world seemed brand new, but my body felt more awake, like it had been in hibernation（冬眠）all long.     5    

【推荐2】A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps. One should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men.

A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It always receives us with the same kindness; amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting us in age.

Men often discover their similarity to each other by the common love they have for a book just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both entertain for a third. There is an old proverb, “Love me, love my dog.” But there is more wisdom in this: “Love my, love my book.” The book is a truer and higher bond(纽带) of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he in them.

A good book is often the best container of a life preserving the best that life could think out; for the world of a man’s life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which become our steady companions and comforters.

Books are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay(腐朽), but good books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author’s minds, ages ago.

The great and good do not die, even in this world. Preserved in books, their spirits walked abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect(智者) to which one still listens.

【推荐3】We were told for years that positive thinking was the key to achieving our goals. Now more and more evidence suggests exactly the opposite: that spending a lot of time thinking about your hopes and dreams may make you less likely to put in the work required to actually achieve those dreams. So if positivity is out, what should we replace it with?

New York University psychologist Gabriele Oettingen talked about a four-step plan she’s come up with from her years of research. Oettigen explained the plan as WOOP.

Wish: First, define your goal. “Think about a wish that is dear to you,” Oettingen said. “What is it you really want? This could be running a marathon or losing a certain amount of weight.” Your wish doesn’t have to be huge; it just has to be real, something you truly want.

Outcome: Keeping your goal in mind, ask yourself: If this wish of mine is realized, what is the best possible outcome? “Very often, it is a feeling,” Oettingen said, “You define that outcome, and you imagine that outcome.”

Obstacles (障碍): After you’re let yourself daydream for a little while about what it will feel like when your goal is accomplished, bring your mind back down to reality. “Then you sat, ‘What is it in me that holds me back from experiencing that wish, that outcome?’” Oettinger said. “Very often it’s an emotion, it’s those same old habits. And you imagine that obstacle.”

Plan: “Once you’re imagined that obstacle,” Oettingen said, “you’ll understand what you need to do to overcome it.” If this obstacle pops up, then you’ll do something to get over it and keep going after your goal.

Oettingen’s research has shown that this method has helped people eat more fruits and vegetables; it’s also helped students achieve better grades in school, and it has even helped people act less insecure in their romantic relationships.