The other day I was shopping at a local store and came upon a lady from India squatting on the floor looking for a certain product on the bottom shelf. She sprang up when she saw me as if to get out of my way. Apologetically she explained that she was a cashier at a nearby store and was on her lunch break, trying to get a few needed items before her time was up.

I reassured her, "I am in no hurry. Go ahead and do what you need to do." While she searched for a particular brand, she said that sometimes customers were rude to her at the store and she really appreciated my kindness. I told her that I had noticed cashiers being treated rudely by some people.

I also explained to her that I was a retired nurse and understood some of what she was saying first hand. Sometimes patients, families, or doctors could be very rude or mean. But I tried to understand why they were feeling that way and let it go. "The world would be a better place if we all acted kindly toward each other. Those who are rude may have bad karma coming after them eventually." I added.

She nodded and was surprised, “So you know about karma?” My reply was simple. “A little bit. Karma is the same thing as doing something bad and it comes back to bite you on the butt.” She paused, looked puzzled, then broke out in a big smile and covered her mouth with her hand, laughing as she walked away.

It felt so good that in a brief exchange I showed her there were kind people in the world, which might have helped her regain her faith in humanity.

Despite all of the motivational quotes that say getting out of comfort zone is essential for your happy life, it’s still a struggle breaking from regular routine. Your comfort zone is a space for balance, and is neither good nor bad. It's simply a natural tendency we all have, and while leaving it can cause anxiety and stress, it’s often for the best.

The benefits to leaving your comfort zone are many-sided, impacting not only your emotional health but also your your work-life balance. For instance, your work productivity will increase because you’ll no longer be stuck being content with tasks that are easy for you. Rather than pretending lo be busy. You’ll feel the impact of a deadline and make an effort to learn from new experiences. By breaking out of your comfort zone, you will be prepared lo deal with new and unexpected changes in life. Brene Brown, a research professor at University of Houston, explains this phenomenon further, where “one of the worst things we can do is pretend that fear and uncertainty don’t exist. By taking risks in a controlled fashion and challenging yourself to things you normally wouldn't do, you can experience some of that uncertainty in controlled, manageable environment. Learning to live outside your comfort zone when you choose to can prepare you for life changes that force you out of it.” You'll find a renewed sense of optimism Regarding obstacles (障碍), and brainstorm to use creativity to get yourself to your desired goal.

Getting out of your comfort zone is also a way to challenge yourself in a beneficial way, as long as you're aware of what your limitations are for just enough anxiety and stress. You can stretch your personal boundaries Co do amazing things, like climbing Kilimanjaro or meeting new people. As you break out of your comfort zone though, make sure you you take time lo recover mentally by coming back to your routine occasionally so you don't burn out. Soon, you’ll find yourself making it a habit to leave your comfort zone to pursue greater. better things.

Promising to be truthful has a real impact on reducing the number of teens who are willing to cheat, according to a new study conducted in India by a research team from the University of Plymouth. The findings, published in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, suggest that the desire to be honest goes beyond just a fear of social punishment.

“Promises are what we call “speech acts” and create commitments by merely saying specific words,” said the study’s first author. Dr. Patricia Kanngiesser. “so one would think that they have very little binding power. In contrast, research has shown over and over again that many people do keep their word, even at a personal cost."

Cheating and dishonesty, even on a small scale, can weaken trust and lead to costs for others, and society at large. Cheating in academic settings is a problem worldwide. As of 2018, 20% of the world’s adolescents—about 250 million individuals—lived in India and the country’s highly competitive educational system means academic cheating is a concern.

The study involved a series of experiments among 640 adolescents (ages 10 to 14) to test the effectiveness of inviting participants to promise to be truthful, with points that would later be converted into prizes as an encouragement. For example, adolescents played a game in which they mentally chose a location in a box with 16 dice, shook the box and recorded the number of the dice falling in their chosen position.

Prizes were based on their total reported scores after fifteen rounds. Since the initial choice was private, opportunistic ad unobservable switching to a higher scoring dice was possible.

Before the task, the participants were given a choice to promise to be truthful or not. To make promising to be honest more attractive, those who did so received extra points. This gave even potentially dishonest participants a motivation to choose to promise. Control groups of participants could also earn those extra points but did not have to promise.

The researchers were able to evaluate the degree of dishonesty by comparing participants’ reported results to what would be statistically expected. Compared to control groups, promises in the study effectively lowered cheating rates, and the authors conclude that they could be a simple tool to reduce dishonest behavior. “this study provides more evidence of that, and suggests promises could be a powerful way of encouraging and sustaining honest behavior in an academic context.” Kanngiesser said.

The end of British pub culture?

British beer and pubs are famous around the world. Things are changing. However,     11    

For thousands of years, the most important two buildings in any British village have been the church and the pub. Traditionally, the church and the pub are at the heart of any village or town, since it is where the people gather to socialize and exchange news. After all, the word “pub” is actually short for “public house”. As a result, British pubs are often old and well preserved.     12    

Many British pubs have old names referring to the monarchs, such as the king’s head or the queen Victoria, but of course this doesn’t mean they are only for kings and queens.     13     On a cold night, the pub’s landlord or landlady can always find a warm place for you by the fire. There is always honest and hearty food and plenty of drink available at an affordable price.

That’s how it used to be.     14     Economic downturns, governmental “austerity measures” (财政紧缩政策), and cultural changes are causing many pubs to go out of business. People do not have spare money to spend on beer. On top of that, in 2007 smoking was banned in all public indoor spacer including spaces, including pubs, which may also have affected the numbers of customers going to pubs since then.

To save their business, pubs are trying to diversify to attract new customers. Now there are a number of different types of pubs. Besides a “traditional pub”, a “gastro pub” serves higher-quality food than usual.     15     And a “theme pub” caters to specific types of customers, such as sports or karaoke fans.

As you can see, British pubs now offer something for everyone. And with various “save the pub” campaign, there are signs that people are regathering around these new kinds of pubs while supporting the traditional ones to back its great British custom with pride.