1 . In Stressful Times, Make Stress Work for You

These are stressful times. Fortunately, we can actually use that stress to improve our health and well-being. Over a decade of research suggests that it’s not the type or amount of stress that determines its impact.     1    

Step 1: Acknowledge Your Stress

Labeling your stress consciously and deliberately moves neural activity from the amygdala — the center of emotion and fear — to the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for executive control and planning. In other words, when we take a moment to acknowledge our stress, it moves us from operating from a fearful, reactive place to a position where we can be thoughtful and deliberate.     2    

Step 2: Own Your Stress

The next step is to welcome, or “own” your stress. We only stress about things that we care about.     3     Try completing this sentence about whatever was specifically stressing you out in step one: “I’m stressed about…because I deeply care about…”

Step 3: Use Your Stress

Connecting to the core values behind your stress sets you up for the third and most essential step: using or leveraging stress to achieve your goals and connect more deeply with the things that matter most.

Ask yourself: Are your typical responses in alignment with the values behind your stress?     4    

There’s so much happening right now that we can’t control.     5     Some psychologists argue that true transformative change can occur only during stress or crises. The trick is to channel your coronavirus stress as energy to make the most of this time.

4 . Walking has been considered as one kind of rewarding exercise. For many people, daily walking offers massive and long-term physical and mental benefits.     1     A Stanford University study found that participants were more creative when walking as opposed to sitting.

    2     You’ve probably heard the phrase “exercise your creativity”. Our creative mindset is stirred up by physical movement, which is exactly why walking with your dog, a friend, or alone feeds creative thinking.

But the scenery is almost as important as the sweat. Just by going outside, you are stepping out of your habitual surroundings and your comfort zone, which is necessary if you want to open your mind to new possibilities. You can walk through a tree-filled neighborhood.     3     Even when you walk down a busy street, you can’t help but get distracted by the sweet smells from a food cart or the child pointing to a building you haven’t even noticed before.

Walking outside develops our ability to collect new ideas and take in new sights, sounds, smells, and flavors. Shinrin-yoku, a common form of relaxation in Japan, suggests that being in the forest and walking among the trees there can lower your stress levels.     4     Research has shown that

So instead of setting a fitness goal, why not set a creativity goal that starts with walking outdoors?     5     For example, you can turn off your phone and give yourself the chance to be present in the world, to hear conversations and natural sounds, and to notice the way people move and the way the sun reflects in a lake.

Walk not just for exercise. Walk for wonder.

5 . Simple Steps to Manage Your Money

Your money and how you manage it are some of the most important things in your life. They influence almost everything you do.    1     Here are some steps you can take.

    2    The first thing you need to do is know where your money is going. See what you are actually spending your money on. There will likely be a few surprises when you see the results of your     tracking. You are probably spending more in some areas than you think.

Set up a budget (预算).    3    To manage your money properly and get ahead without money troubles, you need to spend less than you earn. You also need to record where your money comes from and when you receive it. Then, you are able to decide how much of your income(收入) is spent on bills and necessities. Plan how you will spend or save any remaining money.

Keep your budget on track. After tracking your spending for a month, you may see some areas where you can cut your spending.    4    

Remember to save some money for unexpected expenses(花费). Now that you know where your money is going and you’re spending less, you can start saving. To get ahead, you need to save a percentage of your money.    5    Once you get used to it, you may increase it to 20 percent or more.

Once you start managing your money, you will find out that it makes other parts of your life easier as well.

7 . Rick Guidotti put aside his career as a fashion photographer to turn his lens (镜头) to people living with genetic, physical and behavioral differences.

He says what changed his perception (看法) of beauty was a chance encounter with an albino (患白化病的) girl. “I was just tired of people telling me who was beautiful. Every season that face would change but I was always told who was beautiful. As an artist, I don’t see beauty just on covers of magazines. I see it everywhere. So that was my original intention — that opened my eyes a little wider and wider.”

Guidotti has created Positive Exposure, a not-for-profit organization that uses photography and video to transform public perceptions and promote a world where differences are celebrated. Guidotti and Positive Exposure are featured in a new documentary called On Beauty.

One of the women featured in the film is Jayne Waithera. “I never thought I was beautiful because nobody said that to me, but meeting him was my profound moment. I remember that particular day. He took my picture and I felt so good like I felt there’s somebody who, like, really loves me and sees me for who I am and who sees me more than my condition.”

Guidotti is travelling from city to city to promote On Beauty. He says his tour is not about money; it’s about the message. “As I travel from community to community, I’m taking photographs and I’m empowering (给某人……的权力) individuals with a positive sense of who they are. They’re seeing beauty in their reflection but I’m also empowering their families and they in turn are empowering their communities as well. All is based on the philosophy of change — how you see, how you change.”

8 . Landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom has designed a new green roof on the Rangsit Campus of Thammasat University, about 25 miles north of central Bangkok, Thailand. Her imaginative work challenges the common thinking that urbanization has a negative impact on the planet, whether flooding, excess(过度的)energy use, disrupted biodiversity or the heat island effect.

The 236,806-square-foot structure, which opened in December 2019, includes a flood water management system and Asia’s largest rooftop organic farm. It combines modern landscape architecture with traditional agricultural knowledge, creating a green and friendly environment.

The green roof, containing an H-shaped landscape, looks like a futuristic hill with a brick building beneath it. The hill features a complex pattern of zigzagging terraces(之字形梯田)of planted beds, leading all the way down to the bottom. When rainwater hits the roof, it flows down the zigzags while being absorbed by the soil in the beds. The excess water is directed into four storage ponds—with a capacity of up to 3 million gallons. The process slows down the flow speed of rainwater runoff compared to a normal concrete rooftop. This keeps the area from flooding during heavy rains.

The roof’s terraces are filled with organically grow n crops, including a drought tolerant variety of rice, many local vegetables and herbs. The farm can supply the canteens on campus with a large amount of rice, herbs and vegetables a year. The food waste is composted(把……制成堆肥)to make the soil of the farm richer, and water from the storage ponds is used to water plants, creating an entirely localized and circular system.

The farm serves as an outdoor classroom and a source of local jobs, too. Farmers offer workshops on sustainable agriculture and nutrition as part of the university’s sustainability course. “Students and community members are invited to participate in seasonal seeding, harvesting, and soon,” says Voraakhom. “The urban farm is training a new generation of organic farmers with real-world skills. It also promotes a sense of community.”

9 .     1     You probably think you will never be a top student. This is not necessarily so, however. Anyone can become a better student if he or she wants to. Here’s how:

Plan your time carefully. When planning your work, you should make a list of things that you have to do. After making this list, you should make a schedule of your time. First your time for eating, sleeping, dressing, etc. Then decide a good, regular time for studying.     2     A weekly schedule may not solve all your problems, but it will force you to realize what is happening to your time.

Find a good place to study. Look around the house for an area suitable for study. Keep this space, which may be a desk or simply a corner of your room, free of everything but study materials. No games, radios, or television. When you sit down to study, concentrate on the subject.

Make good use of your time in class.     3     Listening carefully in class means less work later. Taking notes will help you remember what the teacher says.

Study regularly. When you get home from school, go over your notes, review the important points that your teacher is going to discuss the next day, and read that material.     4     If you do these things regularly, the material will become more meaningful, and you’ll remember it longer.

Develop a good attitude towards tests. The purpose of a test is to show what you have learned about a subject. This helps you remember your new knowledge. The world won’t end if you don’t pass a test, so don’t be over worried.

    5     You will probably discover many others after you have tried these.