Make a Wish List

Most of us know of New Year’s Resolutions, where one sets intentions for the year ahead. But too often, people make their resolutions     1     — “I will no longer eat biscuits left at my desk”— and then feel unhappy. In the cold month of January, the last thing you need is to     2     your energy further by setting up a series of battles with yourself. And if you break a resolution, you feel     3    , which is a rubbish way to start the year. What you need instead are things to look forward to.

So instead, try a wish list. This involves writing down 100 things you would like to do in the year ahead. The items can be enormous or tiny, ranging from “Climb Everest” to “buy a new pencil sharper”. The main thing is that at some point it has     4     to you as something that you would like to do.

The key here is — write it down.

Do you feel any resistance to the ideas? If so, ask yourself why. What is wrong with     5     what you would like to do? Try not to say to yourself: “I can’t I don’t have the money/time/energy/skills.” Just write it down.

It helps to be     6    , so rather than “Get outdoors”,     7     a place you would like to visit. And take your time when creating it — a wish list is not built in a day. Think about it, polish it and     8     it.

Finally, you have your list. And what a work of beauty it is. Here are all the things that you would like to do. Remember to     9     them up where you can see them; let yourself consider how they can be accomplished. You’ll be amazed that so many of your dreams can be realized though the simple trick of writing them down and     10     to them.

Happiness is not natural.It is a here human construct. A state of contentment(let alone happiness) is     1     by our genetic design because it would lower our guard against possible threats to our survival.

Chasing happiness is like chasing an elusive ghost, but the positive thinking industry claims to know its secrets.Self-help was popularized by Norman Vincent Peale, a colorful American pastor,       2    by several Republican presidents, including Richard Nixon and Donald Trump. He invented “positive thinking'", a concept now deeply embedded in our culture and steadily growing in influence.The global personal development industry was valued at S38.28 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a rate of 5.1%.

Popular films and books are full of     3     inspirational statements about how all you need to do is believe in yourself and then you'll be able to achieve anything in life. This is simply, and obviously, not true. I don't think there is a need to explain that many obstacles and misfortunes in life are inevitable, or unsurmountable. Our ancestors knew this, and many philosophical and religious traditions are based on the     4     that being alive is a very challenging task,which comes with significant amounts of suffering. It goes without saying that we should do all we can to maximize our sense of well-being and minimize our suffering, but the end result cannot be a state of     5     happiness.We are not designed that way.

The self-help genre is not a homegeneous beast, however. It is,in fact, ironie how self-help books on happiness and those on how to make it big in life are lumped together in the same bookshop shelves, given that many of the former tell us that caring too much about the latter is the main     6     to happiness.

The inevitable clash between mandatory     7     and the realities of our existence comes with a heavy psychological price. It could be argued that positive psychology blames those who are suffering for their     8     ,as it is based on the misconception that unhappiness is entirely avoidable.It follows therefore that an unhappy person must be inadequate and incompetent.Positive psychology encourages people who are struggling with a particular goal to persevere in the face of unfavorable odds, which is much more     9     psychologically in the long run than accepting defeat.

I believe that coming to     10    with life as it is,and not the happiness industry tells us it could be, will make us happier, and we will feel more at peace with ourselves and with the world. Unfortunately, the devil always has the best tunes.

Although literally hundreds of traps can open a gateway to team disaster, the following traps are among the most common ones that need to be discussed.

Some managers, in their sincere efforts to be good team leaders, make a serious mistake: they withdraw from their group and     1     avoid interacting with team members. They wrongly assume that the best way they can help the team become more self-directed is by personally becoming less     2    .

A team can become so focused on achieving its own goals that it does not consider the     3     its actions may have on other groups or organizations. Outsiders see the team as arrogant and cruel. Insiders see the team as effective and misunderstood. Overall, the team’s belief in its own     4     has a damaging effect on the performance of the organization as a whole.

In this trap, a team may regularly make decision on which no following action is ever taken. Members are then frustrated by the collective     5     of responsibility. In instances where action is taken and the execution is poor or a mistake is made, no one takes responsibility. It is rarely clear who is responsible for     6     action items, and when an action item is regarded as the responsibility of the entire team, nothing happens.

Failure to see the “big picture” can lead a team to     7     strategies that help improve its own performance but leave the rest of the organization in a mess. Not having the information that allows seeing the forest rather than the trees can lead to suspect plans and poorly reasoned decision.

Teams that have a tendency to repeatedly postpone difficult decisions will find that their options become increasingly     8    . Ironically, by hesitating, the team finally makes a decision—by default rather than by informed choices.

Tricks to increase employee involvement and participation—like suggestion boxes—can actually have the     9     effect. When individuals are rewarded for contributing suggestions through cash, there is little incentive (激励) for team members to work together to     10     problems and implement solutions.

Things I’ve Learned From My First Year Of High School

I just finished my first year of high school, and it has been     1     different from middle school. High school has brought me so many different experiences. Some I am grateful for, yet some have not been beneficial. However, all of them have taught me so many different things, and I would not have been able to     2     my first year of high school without them. The things I have learned have been so helpful to me and can also     3     to things outside of school.

1. You’re expected to demonstrate maturity and responsibility

High school teachers won’t     4     “hold your hand” as much as middle school teachers did. Your teachers may move faster through lessons. When you have questions or meet with     5     challenges, it’s important to speak up. If speaking up makes you nervous at first, you can start by using email to build your     6     level and confidence.

High school teachers enforce higher standards, and most don’t tolerate some of the behaviors that were acceptable in middle school. Again, the goal is to prepare you for college and real life. Even if the     7     seems tough at first, remember that you’re learning helpful and important life skills.

2. Find out who your true friends are

Genuine friends are friends that you can tell everything to and they will not tell anyone else without your permission. They are also there whenever you need them, whether that is to rant or you just need a shoulder to cry on. When you find your true friends, stick with them. The thing about friends is: quality over     8    .

To be honest, high school is not easy at first, but with time, you will get to appreciate and     9     everything around your experiences. The memory will never     10    , because it is the most memorable journey. I have learned so much during my first year of high school, and I am sure that I am going to learn a lot more.

The business of beauty is shining everywhere. Women are spending much of their time and money on buying beauty products in order to get     1    from others. Even in the third world countries, women living below the poverty line, buy cheap wig and substandard beauty products, which do more harm to their skin than good.

Youthful beauty     2     with time, but, with cultivation, inner beauty grows rich. The good news is that it’s never too late or too soon to lay much     3     on your inner beauty. A good place to start is to     4     self-awareness by locating your passions and using them     5    . Then your dinner beauty will grow and radiate to your outer self.

Believe that you have an inner self to explore and that you are willing to let yourself develop your innate talents and gifts. Here are a few quotes about     6     ideas to consider carefully.

“Go     7     into the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. As you     8     your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler!”--Henry David Thoreau.

“Often people    9     to live their lives backward: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the     10    . You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.”--Manager Young.

The Blooms of the Blood Thorns

The master said You must write what you see.

But what I see does not move me.

The master answered Change what you see.

—Louise Gluck

The rosebush of life is inevitably threaded with far more thorns (荆棘) than it ever is of blooms. In order to grasp one of those blossoms we come upon on occasion in life, we have to     1     the pain of the pricks (刺伤).

Life is full of pricks. From the loss of loved ones, to the pain of one-sided love, to the hopes we held for our lives that ran up against the cold steel walls of     2    , these pricks have the power to draw oozing (慢慢渗出的) blood from our souls. But the story of our lives is actually not the way in which we suffered pain and injury — but rather how we have found strength to rise up stronger.

The newly-crowned Nobel-winning American poet-laureate (桂冠诗人) Louise Gluck realized, when she was young, the redemptive (救赎的) power that     3     pain can bring. She experienced the “absence” of a sister, whose death before Gluck was born     4     theme of grief and loss in much of the poet’s work. Her teenager years were dominated by a struggle with a severe eating disorder. She later suffered the painful loss of her father, and, after her literary success, saw her marriage fall apart.

The poet, however, used these experiences as a(n) base for her poems. She filled books with the painful lessons her traumas (创伤) taught her. She squeezed the blood drawn by these experiences into her inkwell. She exorcized (驱除) the everyday traumas of her life — loss, desire, sadness and isolation — with the steady scratch of her pen on the page.

The themes of loss are     5     to the human condition. They have shaped us, for better or worse, and made us the fully human beings we are today. While her poems     6     readers to the nerves of a traumatized soul, they are also a tribute to the strength of their creator. They reveal that even in the depths of the greatest suffering, she has found a way to rob the rosebush of its     7    . By doing so, she has drawn us a map by which we may plan our own journey through the thorny pricks of life. Let’s learn from her experiences so that her hard-fought life lessons will not be in waste. As she wrote in her famous poetry collection, The Wild Iris, “At the end of my suffering there was a door.”

Why do Olympic athletes push themselves to the limits? One of the Olympic triathletes personifies the phrase herself.

To get to the top, she has made an endless list of sacrifices and it     1     this: she was born with an enormous amount of drive and determination. From a small girl, she would stay in at lunchtime just to     2     on class work; she would ride on the bus on her own at ten years old and go to swim 100 length is of the pool. This was time she could have spent with friends, playing and engaging in other pursuits. Later,     3     achieve glory in professional, she had undergone much physical and mental intensity. However, inspired by another stellar triathlete, she was always willing to do an extra little bit during her every workout, which gradually     4     from the other competitors.

Having been through fears and tears, she never regrets. To reach the winner's platform, athletes should     5     their sport. It is hard to live a life in a normal and balanced way, but these words are not used for the athletes who     6    .