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put off; hand in; make sure; turn over; get involved; pay attention to; come up with; to begin with; in turn; to put it another way |
Life can be so wonderful, full of adventure and joy. It can also be full of challenges, setbacks(挫折) and heartbreaks. Whatever our circumstances, we generally still have dreams, hopes and desires—that little something more we want for ourselves and our loved ones. Yet knowing we can have more can also create a problem, because when we go to change the way we do things, up come the old patterns and pitfalls(陷阱)that stopped us from seeking what we wanted in the first place.
This tension between what we feel we can have and what we're seemingly able to have is the niggling(烦人的) suffering, the anxiety we feel. This is where we usually think it's easier to just give up. But we're never meant to let go of the part of us that knows we can have more. The intelligence behind that knowing is us—the real us. It's the part that believes in life and its possibilities. If you drop that, you begin to feel a little "dead" inside because you're dropping "you".
So, if we have this capability but somehow life seems to keep us stuck, how do we break these patterns?
Decide on a new course and make one decision at a time. This is good advice for a new adventure or just getting through today's challenges.
While, deep down, we know we can do it, our mind—or the minds of those close to us—usually says we can't. That isn't a reason to stop; it's just the mind, that little man or woman on your shoulder, trying to talk you out of something again. It has done it many times before. It's all about starting simple and doing it now.
Decide and act before overthinking. When you do this you may feel a little, or large, release from the jail of your mind and you'll be on your way.
Xuan paper, known as one of the Four Treasures of Study, first came into (exist) in Xuan Prefecture in the Tang dynasty. The traditional skill of making the paper hand has been passed down through generations. The process takes as many as 100 steps, all of require a level of delicacy.
Take papermaking master Zhou Donghong for example. He uses a fine screen to filter(过滤) a mixture of water and fibers. He lifts it up, and it's a sheet of paper. It takes him and his partner only 15 seconds (form) and shape it, but they've devoted (they) to perfecting the skills for decades.
"There are a lot of tricks of filtering the fibers, and timing is (difficult) part of all. We have only one chance to filter the right amount of fibers, and only the proper weight guarantees the paper is neither too thin nor too thick, and the margin for error is (extreme) small," said Zhou. With just the right degree of thickness, top quality Xuan paper holds ink and water tightly.
The skill of papermaking, (recognize) as a national treasure, has also proven to be an international one. We felt great sense of pride as it was listed as a world intangible culture heritage(非物质文化遗产) by UNESCO in 2009. Since then, in Jingxian County, Xuan papermaking (teach) in schools.
