1 . Throughout history — and probably in your own life — you’ve seen examples of good and bad leaders. They can lift you up or drag you down, praise a group effort or promote themselves.

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Leadership is said to be an art.     2    . It truly takes practice to create a team atmosphere where people are happy, excited to come to work, and excited to do the work. Here are some of the most important tips to become a great leader.

Be transparent with your team

The higher up you go, the more secrecy there is.     3    . For example, you can include your team in decisions that directly affect them, ask them for feedback on plans or share important news before it becomes public.

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Being a leader isn’t just about checking off tasks and evaluating your team’s performance. Leaders should also make it their job to understand their teams as a whole, understand the people on their team as individuals, and put them in the right positions.

Seek guidance

    5    . And some leaders don’t even want to be leaders! If you find yourself unexpectedly in charge of a team, reach out to a boss you liked before and ask them for advice to guide you through this process.

3 . How do you express gratitude in your everyday life? For me, it sometimes feels worrying: hand-writing hundreds of thank you cards after an anniversary, or making sure to eat every last bite on my plate so my grandma wouldn’t think I was ungrateful for the meal.

    1    Here are some tips about how to be better at showing gratitude.

Start a gratitude journal or write a letter. Make it a habit to put down the things that you’re thankful for.     2     There’s also some evidence that it could lower your risk of heart disease and symptoms of depression for some people. Think of someone in your life who you have not had the chance to thank. Think of a specific instance when they helped you. Then, it’s a good idea to send them a letter.     3    

    4     Look around in your immediate space, and take notice of everything that makes up your environment: the sky, the cool wind, the warmth of your sweater. The act of simply noticing and naming things is a great way to stretch your gratitude muscle as well as obtain some clarity on the strength of all the unique connections in your life.

Bear in mind the difference between saying “thanks to” and “thanks for”. Being grateful “for” something can be a little unclear or general.     5     It encourages specificity and reminds you of your connection with and responsibility to that person or thing.

4 . Asking for or accepting help can bring up a wide range of complicated emotions, like there’s the fear of being seen as needy or weak. Although accepting help from others is difficult, giving and receiving is a necessary part of life.

    1    . For many people, the difficulty in asking for or receiving help is tied to childhood. As psychologist Lisa Firestone points out, these feelings often develop from having our requests go unnoticed at an earlier age.

Sometimes these unnoticed requests are a result of neglect or because parents are too busy to notice. Maybe they were undertaking some jobs to make ends meet or didn’t have additional family support to spare.     2    . When your needs go unnoticed, it can create feelings of shame about asking for or receiving help, while also forming an extreme sense of independence.

How do you get better at accepting help? One way to get better at accepting help is to start with small requests, such as asking for directions.     3    . Practicing this in good environment can ease some of the emotions that can appear suddenly.

    4    . If you feel very uncomfortable, wait a few moments to let these feelings calm down before accepting or denying the help.

Helping others feels good. Although asking for help is hard, one way to make it a little easier is to focus on how it feels when you help others.     5    .

5 . Friendship is a practice of unconditional love, an opportunity to grow together towards fulfillment (成就), and a journey to unfold the most precious capacities of a human being.     1    Here 4 key points to develop and sustain a true friendship.

    2    Many times we blame the other person for what we feel, without realizing that we are presenting the bad power to him/her. This is not, however, something we must be afraid of or we should avoid. When we create a bond of affection with another human being, we are automatically vulnerable to the actions that are produced by this person. Being aware of that, we would be better off if we take responsibility and accept the emotions that come up in our inner world instead of blaming the other for what we are feeling.

Provide support and encouragement. Friendships aren’t all fun and games — they do require you put in some work. Say they’ve just quarreled with their parents or failed an exam. It’s your job to be there for them and provide them with whatever they need, starting with support and comfort.     3    

Whatever the case, make it apparent that you’re rooting for them.

Seek the good of the other person. When we love another person, we seek the good of the other because we gladden their own happiness. Therefore, our seeking for the other person’s good is totally disinterested. We serve the other without expecting anything in return.     4    

Accept the differences.     5    . Friendship welcomes differences and integrates them into a level of union that accepts and goes beyond them. Friendship involves recognizing that the value of the relationship is beyond our personal traits and belief system.

6 . Awe (敬畏) is that feeling we get when something is so vast that it stops us in our tracks. Often, it expands our thinking, increases positive emotions and brings overall satisfaction in life.     1    

Most of us associate awe with something rare and beautiful: nature, music or a spiritual experience. But people can trigger awe too, and not just famous people, such as athletes or astronauts.     2     Psychologists call this interpersonal awe.

Often, this interpersonal awe is a response to life’s big, sweeping charges, such as witnessing a baby’s first steps. For Lynn Heady, a retired educator, it’s watching a friend fight cancer and still embrace life.     3     John Bargh, a psychologist and professor, said he was truly awestruck by his then-5-year-old daughter. When she heard another child crying, she grabbed her toy, walked over toyer toy, walked over to the boy and handed it to him.

    4    But we can prepare ourselves to notice it when they do and take steps to boost the emotion’s positive effects. Here’s how:

Blurting (脱口而出) out “Wow, that was awesome!” is a simple way to help you identify and remember a special experience.     5     Another way is to thank the person who awed you. This makes the other person feel good and can give your relationship a boost. And it helps you too: Studies show that people who practice gratitude have significantly higher levels of happiness than those who don’t.

7 . Healthy relationships with your partner and family members can improve your life and make everyone feel good about themselves.     1     Healthy relationships take time to build and keep. The more positive effort you put into a relationship, the healthier it should be.

People in healthy relationships love and support each other.     2     They are there for each other in the good times and the bad times.

    3     They are less likely to have physical and mental ( 精神的) health problems. Healthy relationships can increase your sense of worth and belonging, give you confidence and encourage you to try new things and learn more about yourself.

People who are in a healthy relationship talk to each other regularly and listen to each other too. Misunderstandings can happen.     4     Making a real effort to understand what the other person is saying also helps. Double checking that you have understood correctly can avoid misunderstandings. To encourage more open communication in your relationship, you can set aside time to speak to each other, without interruptions (打断) and put yourself in the other person’s shoes.

Building healthy relationships with partners, friends and family is good for you.     5     Keeping good relationships with others takes time and effort. No relationship is perfect, but it is important that it brings you more happiness than stress.

8 . Meeting strangers is probably one of most people’s biggest fears, only second to speaking in front of a crowd. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be an experience as scary as you might think.     1     .

Go out alone. Don’t always go to events with a friend or family member.     2     . If you go with someone you’re familiar with, you’re more likely to stay and talk to the person you already know rather than try to talk with strangers.

    3     . Most people’s favorite topics are about themselves. Even if you don’t have an interesting icebreaker, you can always ask people to talk about themselves—they’ll be more than happy to oblige you. For example: ask what they do for a living, where they’re from, or what they studied in school.     4     . They’ll be excited to share their hobbies, and you might find that you have something in common!

Don’t be embarrassed if you’re visibly nervous. If your voice cracks or your handshake is sweaty, laugh it off. If you’re an amateur comedian and can make it into a joke, point it out and get people laughing with you. If it’s something that makes you feel less confident, just ignore it. Everyone gets nervous sometimes, so push past and continue on with the conversation.     5     .