2 . I am a big laugher. I’ve been told that even in a room of a thousand people, you can always hear me laughing over the crowd. For me, laughter is the ultimate form of embodied joy. And by “embodied”, I mean that my whole body is involved when I laugh. On the inside, it’s like a bubbling fountain of joy spilling out all over the place.

But what is joy, anyway?

Life can be terrible, but if you decide to follow the sound of the joy-fountain, you will find joy showing up in all kinds of places: pets playfully bouncing around, kindness, or even in nothingness.

How can joy be found? A friend moved into a new apartment and needed some help, so I helped him. Afterwards, he was obviously so much happier and at ease. I noticed that playing even a small part in his happiness brought me great joy, and I took a moment to let this feeling of embodied joy in. We can practice letting joy in by noticing how it feels to smile. Where does your body light up when you smile? When I smile, it makes me want to take a deep breath, and I notice my shoulders and belly relaxing. When I embody caring and loving, it feels great!

Sadly, many of us are unaware of joy, or suspicious of it. Maybe you are afraid to open up to joy, or maybe you are so unfamiliar with what joy feels like that you ignore or resist it when it comes knocking. No one, other than you, owns your happiness, but you might unknowingly block feelings or experiences that help you embody joy. The fact is that when you can’t embody joy, you miss out on one of life’s essential vitamins.

Want more joy? Don’t be afraid to look silly. Silliness helps us take things less personally. It helps us see the world the way a kiddoes. When we can find more joy in the smalls of everyday life, we can embody happiness, rather than just pursuing it.

5 . On a cold morning in May, I received a fascinating email from a high school friend. inviting me to a 10-day all-female surfing adventure in Portugal. The offer was irresistible, and I instantly knew my answer was yes.

The trip seemed simple enough. Ten women, ranging from 30 to 45 years old, all strangers, will gather on the Portuguese coast to embrace the challenge of surfing the Atlantic waves.

As a travel enthusiast, I quickly sought permission from my boss for this once-in-a- lifetime journey.

Through my 33 years, I’ve observed a common adult tendency: we often limit ourselves to refining skills we already possess. There’s a certain pride in improving our expertise, becoming increasingly knowledgeable in our chosen fields, yet unintentionally, this focus often leaves other skills undeveloped and leads to neglecting other areas of potential growth.

Two days later, I arrived in Ericeira, a charming surf town, where I met my surfing group. Despite our different personalities and backgrounds, we were all united in a persistent desire to challenge ourselves, learn, tackle and grow.

The shores at Ericeira, where the beginners learn to surf, are shallow and covered with slippery rocks. They make for softer waves but are difficult to navigate (驾驭).

Guided by our amazing coaches, together, we faced the waves. Sometimes, it poured with rain, and the waves crashed around us, but we were still out there. And with every slip and fall, words of encouragement filled the air.

Honestly, I probably spent most of my days frozen to the bone, but that didn’t matter because a new level of genuine joy and personal achievement had been unlocked.

Learning a new skill taught me the humbleness that can come from doing badly at something new, and the pride that develops when you finally manage to grasp something you’ve been working on.

While surfing might not be my calling, trying it out inspired me to take more risks in life, to step outside of my comfort zone and to never stop believing in myself. You never know what you’re capable of if you don’t go out there and try.

What on earth does happiness mean? I can’t give you its exact definition, but I’m sure if you love and help others you’ll get it.

I’ll never forget an old lady. She lives in    1    small house alone. It is said that her husband and her son    2    (die) in a road accident years ago. Her life is bitter, but she often helps others     3    a smile. Whenever it snows, she is always the first    4    (clean) the paths. She looks after several children living nearby. I am one of them. I often remember the stories she told us and her kind smile. Perhaps she is unlucky, but I think she is a happy person. Her life is full of    5       (laugh) and love.

But I’m sad to see some people getting their happiness in bad ways. They talk    6    (noisy) in cinemas and meeting rooms; they destroy trees to enjoy themselves and they laugh at others shortcomings. Perhaps they feel happy at that time,    7     they will never get true happiness because they    8    (lose) their personality already.

Now I know what happiness is.    9    means kindness, love and unselfishness. Above all, I have come to understand that    10    (bring) happiness to others is getting ourselves happiness.

8 . Snow had just melted off the ground that April day at our house in Regina Beach. My husband, Carl, had just cleaned up the pool in preparation for selling our _______. The year before, Carl had lost his job, and our economic situation was _______, so we had finally put our home on the _______. The thought of losing our beautiful home was almost more than I could bear.

Deep in despair(绝望), I sat _______ a job application letter for Carl. Out of the corner of my eye I could see our thirteen-month-old son, Forrest, playing near our two beloved dogs, Nana and Sasa. I hadn’t typed more than two sentences when Nana, began _______ violently at the pool and running back and forth.

I _______ to see what was happening. Suddenly, I realized Forrest was nowhere to be seen. Then to my _______, my eyes _______ Forrest’s yellow sleeper in the pool. Sasa was _______ doing her best to keep him afloat by holding on to his sleeper with her mouth. I realized that Forrest had somehow fallen into the ________.

In a split second, I dove in, lifted my precious baby out and carried him inside. But when I realized Forrest wasn’t breathing, I began to go into shock. ________, Carl, who was trained in CPR, arrived and then took over. I stood by with my heart in my ________, and after about three minutes, Forrest began to ________ again.

Things in our lives are much better now. Most importantly, almost losing Forrest —and then ________ — erased any despair I might have had about losing our home.

A house can always be replaced, but knowing we have each other is the greatest ________ of all.

9 . When it came to weather, I was always complaining about wind or rain. Although it was _________ unusual for the arrival of wind or rain, it caused _________ for me to go out, and sometimes it even created an awful atmosphere, so I _________ it strongly.

On a rainy day, I met a meteorologist（气象学家）, who was very _________ at my great anger caused by rain that made a little inconvenience for me. He asked, “Have you ever seen typhoon? Do you know what would happen to the world if there were no typhoon?” I _________ my head.

“Well, let me tell you,” the meteorologist said. “Without it the _________ of freshwater will be more serious, for it is a great source of water supply on the earth. Without it, there would be a greater _________ in the distribution（分布）of warmth. The equatorial （赤道的）area that receives the most sunshine on the earth _________ on typhoon to disperse（驱散）heat. Without typhoon, the tropics would be even hotter, while the frigid zones much _________. As a result, the temperate（温带的）zones would __________ from the world.”

Ignorance made me __________. I disliked wind only because it ruffled（吹乱）my hair. I hated rain only because I had to carry an umbrella. But I had no idea at that typhoon—something a thousand times more violent and disturbing than wind or rain—was a __________ to the existence of mankind.

It __________ to my mind that hard as it is for people to guard against typhoon, it is advisable for a man to stop to think for a moment before he complains. “What if typhoon disappeared altogether? What would the world become then?” The __________ will keep him calm and lead him closer to the truth—he will be better __________ of the world he lives in.