It sometimes feels difficult for some people to find out a proper way to express gratitude in daily life.
Write a letter. Think of someone in your life who you have not had the chance to thank, says Costa. “Why are you grateful for that person? Think of a specific example when they helped you. Then send them a letter, an email.
If you’re having trouble finding someone to thank, think small. “The smaller you start, the more you will start seeing things you’re grateful for.” says Costa. Say “
There’s a difference between saying “thanks to” and “thanks for.” “Make sure you are giving thanks to something and not for something.” says Moore.
| A．Start a gratitude journal. |
| B．Use your phone to record gratitude. |
| C．But experts say it doesn’t have to be so hard. |
| D．Or even better, deliver the letter in person and read it to them. |
| E．A bus driver stopped to make way for children to cross the road. |
| F．Being grateful “for” something can be a little vague (模糊的) or general. |
| G．A bus driver picks you up and he’s really nice or waits for a minute for you. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Ways To Manage Stress Creatively
Stress is a huge problem for us all. Here’s what I’ve learned and applied to manage stress using my creativity.
1.
Putting my creativity and my work first, I often neglected to eat, exercise, even stand up from my desk. I now realize that how I feel physically (and mentally) is more important than the work I create. Taking care of myself includes all natural remedies(疗法). I’m learning how to say no to social pressures, in favor of my own well being.
2. Don’t worry about what other people think of you.
This is easier said than done, but I promise it does come with age.
3. Don’t compare.
4. Your intentions matter.
| A．Stop judging |
| B．Each moment is UNIQUE |
| C．We have to work in order to live |
| D．Take care of yourself--Mind AND Body |
| E．Stress is often caused by comparison to others |
| F．It’s important to remember why you started doing something |
| G．No one cares about what you’re doing unless what you’re doing affects them |
【推荐2】Laurie Horam never thought of himself as musical. At home, his dad never listened to music, while one of his boarding school teachers labelled him tone deaf. But last month he started to play the harmonica (口琴)on the streets of Bradford. People clapped, danced and threw coins into his case for the local food bank. Horam caught himself thinking. “How, at the age of 79, do I come to be playing music to people on the streets?”
The question preoccupied him, because, some years ago at a family gathering, Gavin, his eldest son, said: “You know what, Dad? It can’t be coincidental. We must have got our musical abilities from you.” Horam has three sons and they cover a range of instruments. He was surprised. “There can’t be music in me, because I can’t play! ”he said.
Eight years ago, Horam, a retired civil servant, was on his way back from a trip with his family. Gavin stopped at a music shop. He walked out and said: “Here you are. I bought this for you, Dad. It’s a harmonica. I’ll try to show you how to play a bit.”
They went to a session at their local pub. Gavin played the guitar and Horam sat in the corner with his harmonica, trying to make a sound that no one would hear. After six months, he was invited into the group. He discovered a talent for improvisation(即兴表演),responding to a note within a millisecond without batting an eyelid. “I don’t play by ear. I play by heart.” Actually, Horam says: “My harmonica plays me-how I feel, what I am, what I’ve been.”
Music has enriched life with friendship and made Horam feel “part of something much bigger” than himself. “At a time when the circle of life might be shrinking, mine is expanding,” he says. “Maybe we never know completely who we are or what we can do.”
1. Why did Horam play the harmonica on the streets of Bradford?| A．To recall the good old days. |
| B．To beg food from passers-by. |
| C．To live his childhood dream. |
| D．To collect money for charity. |
| A．Positive. |
| B．Disapproving. |
| C．Doubtful. |
| D．Unclear. |
| A．Enjoy the quiet. |
| B．Listen to his heart. |
| C．Express himself. |
| D．Sharpen his hearing. |
| A．A lost soul. |
| B．A comfortable life. |
| C．A broader circle of life. |
| D．A new perception of family. |
【推荐3】Who's in control of your life? Who's pulling your strings?
So when people tell us how wonderful we are, it makes us feel good. We long for this good feeling like a drug一we are addicted to it and seek it out wherever we can.
But just as with any drug, there is a price to pay. The price of the approval drug is freedom-the freedom to be ourselves. The truth is that we cannot control what other people think. People have their own schedule and they come with their own baggage and, in the end, they're more interested in themselves than in you.
So how can we take back control?
| A．I's the inner self born in our mind that is keeping us under control. |
| B．Furthermore, if we try to live by the opinions of others, we will build our life on sinking sand. |
| C．As a matter of fact, people sometimes fail to understand who they are and where they are going. |
| D．For the most of us, it's other people-society, colleagues, friends, family or our community. |
| E．I think there's only one way-make a conscious decision to stop caring what other people think. |
| F．Therefore, we are so eager for the approval of others that we live unhappy and limited lives, failing to do the things we really want to. |
【推荐1】Balconies (阳台) are probably not suitable places to grow things. They might be hot, windy, totally shady or with sunlight glaring off the concrete.
Choose the right plants. Choose plants that either love heat, sun and more heat or those that can grow healthy in shade. As many exposed (无遮蔽的) sunny balconies are also very windy, which should be taken into consideration too, avoid the taller plants for those balconies where strong winds are a regular feature.
Keep them moist (湿润的), potted plants dry out much faster, even rain doesn’t wet the soil in most pots much.
Feed them well. Well fed plants are healthier.
| A．Clean the leaves. |
| B．Water the whole plant. |
| C．They will be blown down in their pots. |
| D．Plants just weren’t created to live on balconies. |
| E．The leaves tend to direct the rainwater out of the pot. |
| F．So how do some people manage to plant them in balconies? |
| G．They can survive heat, cold and drought better with big healthy roots. |
【推荐2】NEED A GOOD ADVENTURE
Adventures expand our world by allowing us to engage with (与……互动) ourselves and others in a new way. Ready for your adventure?
Start small
Pick a manageable activity you can do soon—this weekend—close to your home. This will break your inactivity and help you buildup to bigger adventures.
Change how you view anxiety
Research from Harvard University shows that people who interpreted their nervousness about activities such as karaoke singing and public speaking as excitement enjoyed the experiences more and performed better than those who tried to press down their anxiety.
Use your imagination
You may picture the worst-case scene: Say you want to go on a hike but are worried you’ll become lost, hurt or too exhausted to get home. Next, you should imagine the best-case scene: The beautiful view, the fun you’ll have, and your sense of accomplishment afterward.
Think of it as an uplift talk. Start by addressing your fear, “I know you’re nervous. This is normal because you’re leaving your comfort zone.” Then write about the skills you have and the past experiences that went well. The point is to ensure your feelings and remind yourself that even though you feel nervous, you can handle this.
Relax about the result
If you could do this whole thing perfectly, it would not be the adventure you’re looking for. Remember: Whatever happens, it should make a good story.
| A．Here’s some advice |
| B．Write yourself a letter |
| C．Don’t blame other people |
| D．Your cultural backgrounds may give you a spirit of adventure |
| E．This changed their fear into an opportunity mindset (思维模式) |
| F．Imagining how fun it will be to tell your friends about your adventurous story later |
| G．Taking gradual steps teaches your brain that the experience is not as bad as you expected |
【推荐3】Be it sugar or social media, the response in our brain is the same: It produces a “feel-good” chemical called dopamine. It first brings about pleasure, but it doesn’t last very long. It is then followed by pain so that we have to search for the pleasurable things again.
“This cycle of pleasure and pain made sense in the time of early humans when we had to constantly search for our basic needs-food, water, shelter,” says Dr. Anna Lembke, a Stanford Medical School researcher. “But our brains weren’t adjusted to put out the ‘fire of dopamine’ caused by pleasurable things that are so easily available in modern life.”
In addition, when we’re repeatedly exposed to pleasure-producing things, we’re not able to take joy in the same rewards. Instead, we need stronger and stronger stimulus (刺激) just to feel good. Otherwise, the cycle will lead us to anxiety, depression and many other problems.
“This is a universal problem—not one limited to those struggling with the disease of addiction. If we want to stay mentally healthy, we must rethink how to break the cycle in a dopamine-overloaded world,” says Lembke.
Her suggestions for the addicts?
Take a 30-day break from anything that we rely on for pleasure. This doesn’t mean going cold turkey forever. But this first month is key to breaking the pleasure-pain cycle and it’s a lot easier to cut out an addictive behavior entirely at first. Then re-introduce the pleasurable things little by little, like just a few bites of ice cream at a time or just one hour online a night.
Another strategy is to create physical distance between us and our addiction. That could mean just removing the addictive thing from our personal space. For someone who’s addicted to video games, that could mean a separate laptop for work and one for play.
“In a time of abundance, we have to strike a pleasure-pain balance, which means intentionally avoiding pleasure and seeking the kind of purposeful pain that keeps us healthy, such as exercise,” Lembke says. “By doing so, we will reset reward pathways and eventually be a lot happier. It’s not easy, but it’s well worth doing in the long term.”
1. What can we learn about dopamine from the text?| A．It has always been harmful to humans. |
| B．It gives us less joy for the same rewards. |
| C．It can be caused by anything available. |
| D．It can lead to a lasting good feeling. |
| A．Abandoning. | B．Waiting. | C．Cooking. | D．Repeating. |
| A．Avoid pleasure in life. |
| B．Set a strict limit on pleasurable things. |
| C．Change reward pathways. |
| D．Expose ourselves to repeated rewards. |
| A．Ways to Live With Dopamine in Peace |
| B．Tips on Getting Rid of Social Media Addiction |
| C．Strategies for Making Most of the Modern Life |
| D．The Need to Strike a Pleasure-pain Balance |
