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make the most of, be reunited with, tend to, after all, get through |
We are enrolled in the full-time school called "life". Every day in this school, we have opportunities to learn new lessons. No matter whether we like these lessons or not, we have to take them, because they are our lessons.
Why are we here in this world? What is the purpose of life? Humans have tried to discover the meaning of life for thousands of years, but failed to get the answer, because the meaning of life is different from person to person.
Each one of us has his or her special purpose and path, unique and different. As we travel on our life paths, we will learn many great lessons in order to fulfill that purpose. Learning our lessons well is the key to discovering the real meaning of our own life.
As we travel through our lifetime, we may be taught hard lessons that others don't have to face, while others spend years struggling with problems we don't need to deal with. We may never know why we love English, not physics, which indicates that our paths are different. While traveling on our own paths, sometimes alone, we should, first of all, take a basic lesson in openness.
Openness means being receptive. Life will present us with so many lessons, none of which are useful to us unless we can recognize them and are open to their values. These lessons are not easy to learn, but we should regard them as gifts. But how can we recognize these lessons? It is a matter of what "glasses" we are wearing at the time. It is not difficult to spot them if we take them as opportunities. So when we are not open to learning our lessons, failing a weekly English test might be like a disaster rather than an opportunity to us. Of course, the hard lessons may not be fun, but they can actually be the biggest gifts we receive from life.
My challenge for you is this: to read a book for 15 minutes every single day for a month.
Let me explain a bit, by telling you where the challenge came from. I have many things in common with my dad, like music taste and sense of humor, but sadly reading isn't one of them. I can happily spend a whole day with a book, but my dad can't read a book for longer than about 5 minutes. He reads emails, websites and papers for work, but not books. He's busy, so I think sitting down to read for just 15 minutes a day is a good way to relax and to introduce him to reading.
My dad is not the only person who avoids books. I know lots of people would rather relax on their computers or in front of the TV. Everyone is different and has their own interests, but I think there are lots of benefits to reading, which screen-based activities don't have.
Firstly, it's better for your eyes. Looking at screens can be very stressful for your eye muscles, and clearly you should avoid looking at screens for an hour before bed, to get a good night's sleep.
One thing I personally love reading, is being transported to another world—I would often forget the time or things around me! Reading is a great way to switch off before you go to bed, because you think more about the world of the book, rather than the real world, so you can truly relax. I know you can be transported to a different world in a film or a TV show, but I think books do it better.
I also enjoy hearing what people are doing and finding out what they think. Reading gives me the chance to get to know hundreds of new people! It also teaches you to see things from other people's point of view, and understand other people's decisions or opinions. With a book, you can hear everything a character is thinking or feeling—you really can be inside someone else's head!
So give it a go! Take 15 minutes when you are waking up, going to bed, eating lunch, or having a coffee. If you read a lot, why not try 15 minutes of an English book, or pass the challenge on to someone else? Good luck, and happy reading!
Life Lessons
Life is not easy when you are pursuing something worthwhile and ready to learn from the best experiences. Here are some life lessons which people will learn the hard way in majority of cases.
It takes consistent time and effort to be successful in any area. However, People usually get discouraged when it takes more time than they thought it would. At this time, people refer only to people who have already achieved what you want to be, which most people fail to do. Look at any successful person and you'll notice one thing common in all of them. They took time to learn and mastered their skills like no one else.
Be brave to take the road less travelled. In our whole life, we always want to follow the same path that everyone suggests, do the same things everyone does, take the same career path everyone takes, wear the same clothes everyone wears, and hang out with the same people we work with. But when you get bored of life, you will realize that you are not meant to do what everyone does and that your destiny is different from anyone else's out there in the world. But the price you pay to realize this is high because it takes a great amount of courage to follow your own path.
You don't have to live your life in a way society wants you to. Parents sometimes force their children to select a career they don't want because other children have selected that career. Worst of all, people follow them without even asking. There is no harm in old rituals (惯例) and beliefs but when you pursue them before your interest, sooner or later you'll realize that you should first do what you think is right.
However, if you are smart enough to learn early and wish not to waste your precious time learning them the hard way, learn them now and apply it to your life as soon as possible.
A. You have to break the rules sometimes.
B. After all, life lessons are always learned the hard way.
C. There is no elevator to success; you have to take the stairs.
D. The reason why we follow others is that we are scared to fail.
E. It always takes tests and then fails us to learn anything worthwhile.
F. The general rule goes that the harder you try, the greater results you get.
G. Many old beliefs are being performed these days and are followed blindly.
How to help your kids find a purpose? You don't have to start with the really big questions. Quick, what's the meaning of life? Many of us may not be able to answer that, but that doesn't 1 our kids don't have questions or need answers.
"The sense that your personal life is 2 to you is a basis of psychological well-being," says Michael F. Steger, director of the laboratory for Meaning and Quality of Life at Colorado State University. Not only that, it is tightly tied to being happier, more positive, more 3, more caring, more helpful, more resilient (有弹性的), and more satisfied in your life, relationships, and work.
"But helping your kids find meaning doesn't mean parents have to 4 all life's ancient mysteries," Steger says. The 5 is to understand the difference between the meaning of life and the meaning in life.
"We do not have to start with the biggest and most troubling questions about our lives," Steger says. "We can start with trying to 6 how, today, right now, we are going to do one thing that makes the story of our lives more positive, or makes a positive difference to someone else. "
With kids in 7 school, Steger says, "At the most basic level, our best hopes for our children are that they feel their lives matter and that they 8." To start conversations along those lines, says Steger, "You can ask questions about what they think their best 9 or strengths are, whether they have good relationships with other people, whether they care about others. You can ask them about times when they have made a difference, made someone feel better, felt 10 for doing something, or helped someone out. All of these kinds of questions can start a conversation about your kid's 11 way of being in and contributing to the world. "
In middle school, says Steger, "Kids are being exposed to ideas, behaviors, assumptions, and priorities that might be 12 different from the ones they have always assumed were true." So for kids of this age, parents can start conversations focusing on how your children's sense of who they are, how they related to others and what life is has been 13.
By high school, according to Steger, "We hope our children see how much their lives matter, see that they are at the beginning of an exciting and strengthening life story, and have some slight ideas about 14. "But the question of what you want to do with your life is too big for a single conversation, says Steger. Instead, he encourages parents to have 15, smaller conversations with their kids about how they view themselves and their lives, and what kind of impact they would like to make.
