1 . Have you ever had times questioning yourself and feeling bad? If you answer yes, what you’ve experienced is negative self-talk.     1    . You say to yourself untrue things like, “I’m not good enough. I’m a disappointment.” These wrong ideas stop us in our way. So, how do you stop the bad self-talk?

●    2    

Know you’re special. You are “One of a Kind”! There is no other person that thinks exactly like you. When you begin to sincerely believe how special you are, it’s easier to fight the bad self-talk.

●Change your environment

Your bad self-talk comes from your environment. You didn’t just accidentally wake up one day thinking of bad things about yourself. It may be because someone, somewhere in your life has told you bad things about you and whether you accept it or not, you believe them. However, if you let the right people surround you, they will build you up, give you confidence and make you feel better.     3    .

●Change your dialogue

Read and say all the wonderful things about yourself at least 5 times per day. Look at yourself in the mirror and say, “I am amazing!”     4    , and you’ll believe you are very pretty soon.

Of course, there are other things to stop bad self-talk.     5    , but if you decide to think positively in every situation, that will bring a good change in your life.

2 . How to calm your teen

A major source of teen stress is school exams, and test anxiety is not uncommon. When you recognize your teen is under stress, how can you help your teen stay calm before an exam?

Be involved. Parents need to be involved in their teen’s study.     1     What he looks for is your presence — to talk, to cry, or simply to sit with him quietly. Communicate openly with your teen. Encourage your teen to express his worries and fears, but don’t let him focus on those fears.

Help him get organized.     2     Together, you and your teen can work out a timetable in which he can study for what he knows will be on the test.

Provide a calm setting. Help your teen set up a quiet place to study and protect his privacy.

Give him a nutritious diet. It’s important for your teen to eat a healthy, balanced diet during exam time to focus and do his best.     3     If this happens, encourage your teen to eat light meals or sandwiches. A healthy diet, rather than junk food, is best for reducing stress.

    4     Persuade your teen to get some sleep or do something active when he needs a real break from studying. Making time for relaxation, fun, and exercise is important in reducing stress. Help your teen balance his time so that he will feel comfortable taking time out from studying to spend time with friends or rest.

Show a positive attitude.     5     Your panic, anxiety and blame contribute to your teen’s pressure. Make your teen feel accepted and valued for his efforts. Most importantly, reassure (使安心) your teen that things will be all right, no matter what the results are.

A man came home from work late, tired and unhappy, to find his 5—year—old son waiting for him at the door. How the boy wished to have fun with his father at home even for a short time.

“Daddy, may I ask you a question?”

“Yeah sure. what is it?” replied the man.

“Daddy, how much do you make an hour?”

“That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?” the man said angrily.

“I just want to know. Please tell me. How much do you make an hour?” pleaded the little boy.

“If you must know, I make $20 an hour.”

“Oh,” the little boy replied with the head down.

Looking up, he said. “Daddy, may I please borrow $10?

The father was angry. “If the only reason you asked that is that you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work hard every day for such childish behavior.”

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions. “How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?” he thought to himself.

After about an hour or so, the man calmed down, and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 and he really didn’t ask for money very often. The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door. “Are you asleep, son?” he asked.

“No, daddy, I’m awake.” replied the boy.

I’ve been thinking. maybe I was too hard on you earlier,” said the man. “It has been a long day and I took out my anger on you. Here’s the $10 you asked for.”

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. “Oh. Thank you, daddy!” he shouted. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled(皱巴巴的)bills.

4 . While it is impossible to live completely free of stress, it is possible to prevent stress as well as reduce its effect when it can’t be avoided.     1    

◆Try physical activity

When you are nervous, angry or upset, try releasing the pressure through exercise or physical activity. Running, walking, playing tennis, and working in your garden are just some of the activities you might try.

◆Take care of yourself

    2    

If you easily get angry and can’t sleep well enough, or if you’re not eating properly, it will be more likely that you will fall into stressful situations. If stress repeatedly keeps you from sleeping, you should consult a doctor.

◆     3    

Schedule time for both work and entertainment. Don’t forget, play can be just as important to your overall well-being as work. You need a break from your daily routine to just relax and have fun. Go window-shopping or work on a hobby. Allow yourself at least a half hour each day to do something you enjoy.

5 . Are you happy?

Happiness is important in our life. Are you happy? Do you want to be happy every day? Follow me, and you will lead a happy life.

    1     Every morning when you wake up and look at yourself in the mirror, what do you do? If you want to be happy in the hours that follow, please say “You are the best!” to yourself. Don’t always think that you are worse than other students. You are actually powerful and can give yourself even more power. Just believe in yourself!

Smile.     2     Are you often unhappy because of the difficulties in your life? Do you always drop your head when you are in trouble? If you want to walk out of the shadow (阴影) and be happy, please smile. Smile at yourself. And keep on smiling.     3    

    4     A single life is always boring. Talk to your friends or your family. Talk to them about your feelings, your interesting stories and also your troubles. Open your heart to the world, and you will find the world is more colorful than you have imagined.

It is not hard to be happy.     5     Remember to be confident, to smile all the time, and to communicate with others. Wish you a happy life!

6 . People get angry because they don’t know enough to keep calm. I couldn’t control my emotions and used to feel annoyed (使恼怒) when I was a child. Worse still, I was not good at communicating with my ______. I didn’t have a very good relationship with my family.

One morning, my mother ______ handed me my father’s vest (背心) instead of mine. I was larger in build than my father. So when I ______ the vest, it was tight and I felt uncomfortable. I realized that it was a mistake of hers. I got very ______. The mistake grew out of her carelessness.

I took out my anger on my mother ______ thinking much. I was so upset that she had handed me the ______ vest. I behaved badly and I threw it ______! Later, my mother shared her sad feeling with my father, “See what your son has done.” Instead of punishing me, my father behaved very ______. He asked my mother to ______ the vest clean. He then wore it to work the next day.

After a long time, mother told me about my father’s ______. “How come my child turns out this way?” he said. I immediately had a great sense of shame for my bad behavior. I ______ that he spent the whole day wearing a vest that his son threw away. He must feel terrible. I was ______ with great admiration (钦佩) for my father. His kindness taught me a life lesson.

On that day, I decided never to let anger get the better of me. I learn to ______ myself down and forgive others when I was treated in an unfair or unacceptable way. ______ I found forgiveness is a way to turn anger off. And whenever I have difficulty controlling my strong emotion, I try to ______ my father’s vest.

Have you had a headache during a test? Have you ever been so worried about something that you have a headache or even can’t sleep at night? If so, then you know what stress is.

Stress is what you feel when you are worried about something. This worry in your mind can make your body feel bad. You may feel angry, sad, scared, or afraid——all of which can give you a stomachache or a headache.

However, there are different kinds of stress. Some kinds of stress are good and others are bad.

Good stress might happen when you’re called to answer questions in class or when you have to give a speech. This kind of stress can help you to get things better done. For example, you may do a better job on your test if the stress pushes you to prepare better before the test. On the other hand, bad stress can happen if the stress lasts too long. You may not feel well if your parents are fighting, if a family member is sick, if you’re having problems at school, or if anything else makes you unhappy every day. That kind of stress isn’t going to help you. And it can actually make you sick.

The best way to fight the stress is to have a balanced life. Make sure you keep yourself in mind: Sleep, Exercise, Leisure, and Food. If you get enough sleep and eat properly, and if you exercise and leave time for fun, you’ll probably feel less stressed.

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8 . Four Simple Ways to Stay Positive

Trying to stay positive, both in good times and bad, is a great way to improve your quality of life. Try these four methods on a daily basis.

Don’t think a lot about negativity.

Of course, staying positive hours a day, seven days a week is a bit difficult. Letting things get to you is normal, and it’s actually healthy to cry or express frustrations once in a while. It’s when those negative moments control your life that your emotional balance is at risk.     1     However, don’t give that sadness another second in your day.

    2    

What you put into your body directly affects how you feel on the outside. Fill yourself with good, healthy foods like fruits and vegetables and limit snacking. Exercise is equally of great importance. Take a few days out of your week for at a least half an hour of activity, and try to stick to it.     3    

Be kind to others.

    4     Making someone’s day a bit brighter not only puts a smile on his or her face, but also yours as well. Remember to smile and treat each person with pity and respect. Good deeds are contagious (传染的), and your positive attitude may spread among others.

Take it one day at a time.

Being positive isn’t an instant thing. It’s a steady effort that we follow every hour of every day.     5     Instead, focus on living in the moment and doing what you can to make each moment better.

10 . Fear and its companion, pain are two of the most useful things that men and animals possess, if they are properly used. If fire did not hurt when it burned, children would play with it until their hands were burned away. Similarly, if pain existed but fear did not, a child would burn itself again and again, because fear would not warn it to keep away from the fire that had burnt it before. A really fearless soldier—and some do exist—is not a good soldier because he is soon killed; and a dead soldier is of no use to his army. Fear and pain are therefore two guards without which men and animals might soon die out.

In our first sentence we suggested that fear ought to be properly used. If, for example, you never go out of your house because of the danger of being knocked down and killed in the street by a car, you are letting fear rule you too much. The important thing is not to let fear rule you, but instead, to use fear as your servant and guide. Fear will warn you of dangers; then you have to decide what action to take.

In many cases, you can take quick and successful action to avoid the danger. For example, you see a car coming straight towards you; fear warns you, you jump out of the way, and all is well.

In some cases, however, you decide that there is nothing that you can do to avoid the danger. For example, you cannot prevent an airplane crashing into your house, and you may not want to go and live in a desert where there are no airplanes. In this case, fear has given you its warning; you have examined it and decided on your course of action, so fear of this particular danger is no longer of any use to you, and you have to try to overcome it.