1 . My phone was an extension of myself. I couldn’t go anywhere _________ it. I scrolled through my friends’ _________ into late night and turned my phone on before my eyes were fully open. I enjoyed having it until that day when I realized that what had started as a useful tool had turned into a(n) _________. So, I made a _________ decision to turn off that smartphone and _________ my old dumb phone out of hiding.

When I was watching TV shows or movies and there was a boring part, I _________ picking up the phone and checking out “what everyone else was doing.” Now I had to pay attention or find a way to _________ myself with my thoughts instead. When I visited New York City, I had to write out _________ and ask people where an intersection (十字路口) was _________ pulling out my phone.

I have welcomed silence into my life with open arms and am enjoying the increased __________ from not constantly having to fight with the __________ to check my phone while I’m trying to get something done. I am allowing my thoughts to speak to me instead of my phone. I am connecting with others in a __________ way that isn’t all about me. Instead of always posting about what’s going on in my __________ perfect life, I am connecting with my friends one-on-one, talking about the reality of our lives and being there for them from a place of __________.

As much as having a smartphone was __________, not having one is freeing on a much bigger level.

4 . One day, I found myself faced with a traffic jam leading up to a lane closure about a mile ahead. The left lane of traffic was almost at a standstill as the right one crept (缓慢移动) steadily ahead, filtering (汇入) into the left at the last possible moment. At first, I stayed in the moving lane. I crept guiltily past a few cars but, afraid of running out of space,   moved back into the left lane with plenty of room to spare.

“That's you all over,” said my friend, “you're always afraid of running out.”

His throwaway (脱口而出的) comment hit one of those sore spots I'd rather not acknowledge. So many of my self-defeating actions are typical of my deep, underlying fear of not having enough.

You can see me give up moving to the front of a traffic queue because I'm afraid that I'll run out of room before I can change lanes. Observe a fridge full of leftovers where I've put a little of each dish away for later. Watch me getting ready to go out and you'll see that I pack too much food, and too many clothes, “just in case”. Receiving an invitation from a friend, I'll often turn them down or cut the occasion short because I sense a lack of time...

Somehow, though, saving something for later doesn't help. It just serves to prevent you getting the best out of life. The poverty mentality doesn't just increase your awareness of lack; it creates new absences that feed the fear and make it grow. Take a moment to picture the worst-case scenario: you'll have to wait a few moments for a gap in the traffic. So what? Not exactly life-threatening!

This can only be broken by wholehearted enjoyment of what you have, by taking risks and using everything in your possession for its intended purpose: food to be eaten, time and friends to be enjoyed.

6 . Once there was a little girl who had many misfortunes in life and was struggling with problems. One day she felt so upset that she couldn’t help ________ to her father why her life was so ________.

Sensing her ________, her father, a chef, took her to their ________. He asked her to just ________ till he finished everything. He filled three small pots with water and placed each on a burner. Once the water began to ________, he placed a potato, an egg, and some ground coffee beans in each pot. Curious, though, she kept ________ as her father instructed her to do so.

About twenty minutes later, he turned off the ________. The chef turned towards his daughter and said, “See, the potato went in strong and hard but in boiling water, it became soft and weak. The egg was ________, but now the egg became hard. ________, the ground coffee beans were unique. After being ________ the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.”

Seeing the little girl was still confused, he then ________, “The potato, the egg and coffee beans had each faced the same ________-the boiling water. However, each reacted ________. When hardships come your way, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean?” Hearing these words, the girl made her choice inside-she would be the ________, which could not only change the whole situation but also change in its own way. After all, life is 10% what happens to you and 90%how you react to it.

7 . So far, with the knowledge in clinical specialty, I’ve worked in a few addiction clinics. In this insight article, I want to share my experiences of a more or less the same situation that different people responded differently.

The first clinic I started to work in a winter, lay in the remote forest. The location of the clinic was about 15 minutes walk from the nearest bus stop. The temperature could reach minus 13 degrees and the snow was often very thick during the winter. As a result, there were even traffic signs saying that drivers had to use special tire chains to avoid getting stuck in the heavy snow. Although the scenery in this area was very beautiful, it wasn’t easy to walk 15 minutes or more in freezing temperatures.

Sometimes, on my way to work, I met a young man or two coming out of the woods who walked around half an hour or even longer to make a living. Although living in such a harsh and unfriendly natural atmosphere, they still faced such cold winter bravely.

At another clinic, I had a conversation with Peter who was developing an addiction due to the same condition. He lived in a very remote area. Finding a job and going to work were not easy to do. In desperation, he fled into the arms of alcohol.

Two similar situations with two different outcomes. Certainly, I don’t need to explain which action and attitude are better. What I want to emphasize here is the matter of choice. The possibilities and approaches that each person has, are different. However, if everyone has the same opportunities and accesses, will the choices and responses given be the same?

Life is a choice, you better choose the things that make you better.

9 . I generally write practical posts about the business of art. I love to give tips that might help artists and galleries become just a little more ________. Today though, I want to step back from the business and share my ________ for art itself. Being in the business, I sometimes find myself thinking of ________ only in terms of money. It’s good to pause now and again to ________ what it’s all about.

I love art. I could probably say, “I ________ art.” I spend every day of my life thinking about art and working with art.

Growing up with a painter father, my earliest ________ is not a sight or a sound, it’s a ________ — the smell of oil paint. I remember watching my dad hard at work in the studio and I was ________ to see how he transformed a canvas (画布) and ________ it into a window on the world.

As a teenager, I went to work at Legacy Gallery where my father was showing his work. There, I started to ________ the art business. In the beginning, I was working in the ________ doing the shipping and receiving, cleaning and installing (安装) artwork, but what a(n) ________ experience it was to see art coming into the gallery and then see collectors fall in love with it and ________ it.

Since then I have got to spend my days surrounded (围绕) by ________ artworks and come into ________ with some of the most influential artists in the world. Art is amazing!

10 . When I was a boy, I lived across the road from a camp. For nine months out of a year, the camp was mostly empty, so it was my own personal playground. I would ride my bike up and down the quiet road. I would shoot basketballs alone at the court no matter how many times I missed. I would even explore the woodlands near the camp to look for buried treasures in my imagination.

In summer when the camp opened, I would swim every day at the pool. Then I would sneak into (溜进去) the camp’s kitchen to get a treasure of my own. My smiling grandma worked there and would hand me a hot roll and some coins from her pocket. I would take my treasure down to the vending (售卖) machine and buy myself a sweet can of Coca Cola to quench my thirst and lighten my heart.

Those memories are over 40 years old now, yet they still live in my mind like it was yesterday. Sometimes I wish I could go back to the old days and talk to that little boy. I would tell him to enjoy and cherish each day he had there. I would tell him that every moment is a gift of life. I would tell him to be here now and try not to blink (眨眼睛) because the years were flying silently. Most of all, I would tell him to stop and hug his grandma every chance he got.

Life seems so short at times. The longest life still seems too brief to learn all we have to learn, to do all we want to do, and to share the love we need to share. What we should do properly is to see the preciousness of each and every second, and live it like it was our last. May we all do so.