【推荐1】The air we breathe is so freely available that we take it for granted. Yet without it we could not survive more than a few minutes. For the most part, the same air is available to everyone, and everyone needs it Some people use the air to live on while they sit around and fed sorry for themselves. Others breathe in the air and use the energy it provides to make a magnificent Jife for themselves.

Opportunity is the same way. It is everywhere. Opportunity is so freely available that we take it for granted. Yet opportunity alone is not enough to create success. Opportunity must be seized and acted upon in order to have value. So many people are so anxious to “get in” on a “ground floor opportunity”, as if the opportunity will do all the work. That is impossible.

Just as you need air to breathe, you need opportunity to make it. It takes more than just breathing in the fresh air of opportunity, however. You must make use of that opportunity. That is not up to the opportunity. That is up to you. It doesn’t matter what “floor” the opportunity is on. What matters is what you do with it.

【推荐3】What makes a person a giver or a taker? The idea of "give vs. take" takes shape in all interactions (互动)and relationships of our lives. We're either giving advice, making time for people, or we're on the receiving end. We keep changing between the two based on different situations on a daily basis, if not an hourly one.

According to Adam Grant, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, most people are matchers. They make careful observations on takers and make it a point for them to pay something back. They hate to see people who act so generously towards others not receive any rewards. Actually, most matchers will try hard to improve and support givers so that they can get the good they deserve.

Is there a gender factor (性别因素) that plays a part in this?

A study led by Hannah Riley Bowles, a professor at Harvard University, focused on this question. She asked 200 senior managers to sit down in pairs where one person would act as the boss and the other as an employee to discuss salary rise. Male "employees" asked for an average salary of $146 k while the females asked for only $141 k. But why did they not bargain as hard as the men? Simply because they were more likely to be givers.

As a woman, I do enjoy the act of giving up my time, my knowledge, and my care and attention to others. I expect anything in return, but I do tend to pull myself away when I feel like I'm being taken for granted(被认为当然). I also tend to get upset when I see a loved one's continuous actions of kindness go unnoticed. So, it's safe to say I'm 50% giver, 35% matcher and 15% taker.

I do know someone, however, who is 99% giver. They're continually devoting their time, sharing valuable insights (见解) and going out of their way for everyone who crosses their path. Although they've changed the lives of many people, they hardly see any of it returned. But the universe is slowly repaying them; they're now extremely successful, well known for what they do.

【推荐1】When Tara Wood brought her daughter to a grocery store to buy the four-year-old some cupcakes, she had no idea that would be a life-changing experience. 

As Tara pushed her daughter Norah around the store last month, she passed an old man who was by himself. The old man looked cold, until Norah shouted to him, “Hi! It’s my birthday today!” The man stopped and his demeanor changed from distant and serious to warm and friendly. “How old are you today?” the man asked. After some time talking together, Norah asked her mom to take a picture of her with her new friend “Mr Dan”, Dan Peterson, 82. They hugged and after ten minutes went their separate ways. That could have been the end of the story. But it is actually the beginning of a special relationship.

Tara posted the picture of her daughter and Mr. Dan on Facebook and someone who recognized him reached out to her with his contact information. It turned out that Mr. Dan’s wife died in March and he had been suffering from depression and anxiety ever since. The person on Facebook told Tara that it was the first time they had seen Mr. Dan smile since the death of his wife. Knowing that, Tara contacted Mr. Dan, and ever since Norah and the 82-year-old have developed a friendship unlike any other. “She has shown me a depth of love, a depth that I didn’t know existed,” Mr. Dan told the reporter. 

Mr. Dan told Tara that before meeting Norah, he hadn’t had one night of uninterrupted sleep. Anxiety kept him up at all hours and made him restless. After meeting Norah, he said he now sleeps soundly. For Mr. Dan’s 82nd birthday on October 20, the mother and the daughter brought balloons and presents—and, of course, cupcakes. Mr. Dan will also spend a day around Thanksgiving with Norah and her family. “If you don’t take the time to notice people, you will never know how you can positively impact a life,” Tara Wood said.

【推荐2】I was driving home from my laughter club when I passed a patrol policeman going in the opposite direction. I looked in my rear-view mirror(后视镜)and saw him make a quick Ilium. I looked down at my speedometer(速度计)and saw that I was going at the speed of 65 mph. He got behind me and started flashing those pretty red and blue lights. I could feel my heart pounding.

I am a Laughter Yoga Teacher. I teach people that laughter is the best medicine for stressful situations, so I decided to practice what I teach. I started laughing, not because it was funny, but because I know that laughter can reduce blood pressure and make people happy. The police officer walked to my car. When I rolled down my window I was giggling (笑)to myself.

''Did you know you were going at 75 mph in a 55 mph zone? '' he shouted. I tried to keep laughing and said ''No'' with a smile, I looked clown and saw that I was going at 65 mph. He responded, ''That is still breaking the law. The speed limit is 55. ''

I was thinking about the laughing. ''Ha ha ha, I made a mistake and I will learn a lesson from it Please forgive me''. I kept giggling to myself while he asked about my driving record. Then I laughed out loud when I explained to him, ''I used to get letters in the mail stating if I got one more ticket my license would be revoked'', I went on to say, ''when I was a teenager and in my early twenties. I haven’t had a ticket in at least 10 years. ''

He took away my license and went back to his police car. I could see him writing through my rear-view mirror. Soon he came back to my car, handed me back my license, smiled and said, ''Slow down, and have a nice day. ''

I believe that the laughter and smile changed him.

【推荐3】Born in Detroit, Michigan, on January 10th,1928, Philip Levine was formally educated in the Detroit public school system. After graduation from university, Levine worked a number of industrial jobs, including the night work in factories, reading and writing poems in his off hours. In 1953, he studied at the University of Lowa. There, Levine met Robert Lowell and John Berryman, whom Levine called his “one great guide.”

About writing poems, Levine wrote: I believed even then that if I could change my experience into poems, I would give it the value and honor that it did not begin to have on its own. I thought too that if I could write about it, I could come to understand it; I believed that if I could understand my life - or at least the part my work played in it - I could write it with some degree of joy, something obviously missing from my life.

Levine published his first collection of poems, On the Edge in 1961, followed by Not This Pig in 1968. Throughout his life Levine published many books of poems, winning many prizes. A review said, “Levine writes poems about the bravery of men, physical labor, simple pleasures and strong feelings, often set in working-class Detroit or in central California, where he worked or lived.”

He taught for many years at California State University, Fresno and served as Distinguished Poet in Residence for the Creative Writing Program at New York University. After retiring from teaching, Levine divided his time between Brooklyn, New York, and Fresno, California, until his death on February 14th, 2015. His final poem collection, The Last Shift, as well as a collection of essays and other writings, My Lost Poets: A Life in Poetry, were published in 2016.