Last summer, I was suffering from too much stress, I'd just graduated from a challenging doctoral program and was 1 from the years of research, study and writing. I took a vacation to celebrate, but the academic intensity had become a 2 . Sitting on the beautiful lawn of the hotel on Mackinac Island, I just felt like I should be studying or working as usual.
3 seeing natural beauty would have relaxed me, but I couldn't 4 . I couldn't help looking at my cell phone repeatedly in case I missed something important. " Enough," I murmured. I needed to 5 , but why couldn't I?
A dragonfly buzzed around me. With each 6 , this creature's wings changed color — blue one moment, green the next. Dragonflies usually fascinated me with their quick movements that 7 me of acrobats (杂技演员) in the wind, but I wasn't in the 8 that day. What I needed then was 9 , not movement. As if on cue, the dragonfly came to rest on a blade of grass in front of me.
I watched that dragonfly carefully for many minutes. So did the dragonfly. "It's not a matter of relaxing," it seemed to say. "It's a matter of 10 the now, the here. Life is so short. Be here in the moment and let the 11 take care of itself." Suddenly, I 12 this beautiful creature, who only had months to live, was "instructing" me about the 13 of life and felt much relaxed. The dragonfly seemed 14 that its message had been delivered. It sprang from the grass and flew away. I didn't see it again. But I would never forget what it taught me: Be here and 15 yourself.
