【推荐1】The workplace can be a perfect breeding-ground for “Misergonia”,also called desk rage (愤怒). It's a condition in which a series of noises and disorders cause people distress.

Sounds are often the trigger for Misergonia. The routine fire-alarm test is a case in point.“Attention please, attention please,” shouts a voice that is impossible to ignore.    1    For example, every office has its share of keyboard thumpers-people whose goal seems to be not producing a document but destroying the equipment.

    2    “This is a point that has already been made,” is how weirdly large numbers of people start to make a point. Why not just say "I don't value your time?"

Small IT failures are a fact of office life, but they can still be soul-destroying. The printer just doesn’t work.    3    Your cursor(光标)is just there, but when you move your mouse towards it, nothing happens.“Either your cursor is in a coma or the battery has run out,” offers up a colleague helpfully. Someone else fills the gap.“This is a point that has already been made.”they begin.

    4    It starts innocently enough, with someone asking for help with a problem. In come one or two replies, and then suddenly, a shower, as if nothing else mattered other than answering this one question. There are replies to replies, and replies to replies to replies. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves hugely, but there is always a silent, suffering group.

Individual workers have their own triggers. There is no cure for Misergonia. The workplace is a collection of people keeping in touch in different ways. Their habits and noises turn into something familiar for some colleagues but annoying for others.    5    

【推荐3】Job interviews, exams, medical tests—we’ve all waited and worried over the results. Some lucky people can wait without much worrying. Many of us, however, get anxious awaiting the outcome.

Kate Sweeny, a professor of psychology at University of California Riverside, studies these differences in waiting behavior. In her latest study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, she and a colleague studied 50 law school graduates waiting for the results of the California Bar Exam (律师资格考试). They took detailed surveys about the participants' self-esteem, how well they managed uncertainty, and whether they were more optimistic or pessimistic (悲观的). They also looked at how participants managed expectations and handled stress.

Not surprisingly, they found that an optimistic outlook and being more comfortable with   uncertainty made waiting less stressful. It didn't matter whether the participants reported high self-esteem or not. What mattered most was whether they expected the best.

“I was surprised,” says Sweeny.

Also interesting was that people changed as they got closer to learning the results. At first,it was harder for all of the participants to distract themselves, and all of them—even optimists—became more pessimistic as time went on.

Expecting bad news and preparing for failure may not relieve anxiety while waiting, but later on, it gives people a sense of control over their futures.

Similarly, it’s important that people don’t attach to much of themselves to the result. “If you convince yourself the bar exam is... just a silly exam you have to take and doesn’t reflect on your or your abilities, that... might help you .. if the news is bad,” she says.

Worriers can take comfort, however. Sweeny found that participants who suffered more stress were better at receiving even bad news. Indeed, those who had more anxiety while waiting for their bar exam results were more likely to turn around and start studying again if they failed.

Sweeny is recently studying the effects of mindfulness meditation (正念冥想) for those who are absorbed in results, as it helps people control their thoughts and emotions. The technique is perfect for this situation, she says. Waiting will never be easy, but having something under your control could make it more acceptable.

【推荐1】Just two days into the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, Tropical Storm Cristobal was stirring up in the Gulf of Mexico.

It was the third Atlantic storm powerful enough to get a name this season; no other year on record has seen three named Atlantic storms so early. On average, the third storm forms around August 13, according to Accu Weather Storms like Cristobal are increasingly likely to become major hurricanes The chance of any tropical cyclone (气旋) becoming a major hurricane is increasing as human activity warms the globe.

A study from researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that each new decade over the last 40 years has brought an 8 percent increase in the chance that a storm turns into a major hurricane.

“We have a significantly building body of evidence that these storms have already changed in very substantial (大量的) ways, and all of them are dangerous, ” said James Kossin, an atmospheric scientist a NOAA and the study’s lead author.

The findings, published in May, were based on 40 years of satellite data. Hurricanes are getting stronger and wetter because climate change is causing ocean and air temperatures to climb - 2019 was the second-hottest year on record, and it closed the hottest decade eve recorded Hurricanes feed on warm water.

What's more, higher water temperatures lead to sea. level rise, which increases the risk of flooding during high tides and storms surges. Warmer air also holds more atmospheric waster vapour, which enables tropical storms to strengthen and release more water.

“Almost all of the damage and death caused by hurricanes is done by major hurricanes, ” Kossin told CNN, “Increasing the likelihood of haying major hurricane will certainly increase this risk.”

【推荐2】Psychologists, theologians and preschool teachers alike have long supported a simple but powerful idea — giving to others is good for the world, but it also makes us feel good. In fact, social psychologist Elizabeth Dunn’s research has shown that giving to charity has the same impact on happiness as earning twice as much income.

Dunn has learned that not all generosity is created equal. The less abstract (抽象) an act of charity or kindness is, she says, the greater its happiness-bringing benefits are for the giver. She cites an experience she had in her home community in Canada, where she and a group of neighbors worked together to resettle a Syrian refugee family in 2019. The joy, gratitude and satisfaction she felt doing that work was different from any charitable donations she had given in the past. Her research supports her own experience. “You need to imagine how your dollars are going to make a difference,” she said, in reference to a study that showed people feel happier after donating to support a specific action (purchasing mosquito nets for a malaria-stricken part of the world) than they did after donating to a general social service charity.

“All of us are capable of finding joy in giving,” Dunn said, “But we shouldn’t expect this to happen automatically… It matters how we do it.” She added, “Let’s stop thinking about giving as a moral obligation (义务) and start thinking of it as a source of pleasure.”

This proposal, that we re-frame giving and generosity as fuel for our happiness, is powerful. It has the potential to deepen and broaden the ways in which we practice generosity in our lives and communities. And that, in turn, promotes the positivity and kindness that make the world a better place, day by day, moment by moment.