You know that you have everything to be thankful for：a loving family，a pretty good job，and a healthy working body．Still，you keep feeling that what you have just isn't enough．Sure，you can be happier by making some life changes．{#blank#}1{#/blank#} It will make you more likely to start enjoying that sunshine instead of complaining（抱怨）about sunburn．

    Live in the present．

    The people who are the happiest with their lives are able to enjoy and hug the present moment．{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Focus on what the day will bring you instead of what happened yesterday or what you'll be able to change about tomorrow. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Though your life may not be perfect in the moment，there are surely some things that you can be very grateful for，whether it's your loving family，your amazing friends，your health，your cool new job，or your amazing home．You probably don't have all of these things but surely there are a few things you can remind yourself to be grateful for every single day．

    Stop comparing yourself to others．

    Stop thinking about how big your neighbor's house is，how great your friend Jack's job is，or how perfect your best friend's relationship is．You'll never get anywhere if you compare yourself to others．{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Hang out with people who are satisfied with their lives．

    Surround yourself with people who are good influences．They will show you that there are all kinds of ways to be happy，and will maybe even give you some tips for how to walk to difficult situations．{#blank#}5{#/blank#} They are more likely to come up with some reasons to be unhappy．

A．Be grateful for what you have．

B．What if there is a major obstacle (障碍）standing in your way?

C．Take some time to enjoy exactly what you're doing right now．

D．The easiest way to be satisfied with your life is to adjust yourself positively．

E．Avoid people looking for reasons to be upset with their life．

F．But if you drop comparing completely，you'll only be doing yourself a favor．

G．Get regular exercise with friends every day．

    Sometimes you'll hear people say that you can't love others until you love yourself. Sometimes you'll hear people say that you can't expect someone else to love you until you love yourself. Either way, you've got to love yourself first and this can be tricky(狡猾的). Sure we all know that we're the apple of our parents' eyes, and that our Grandmas think we're great talents(天才) and our Uncle Roberts think that we will go to the Olympics. But sometimes it's a lot harder to think such nice thoughts about ourselves. If you find that believing in yourself is a challenge, it is time you build a positive self-image and learn to love yourself.

    Self-image is your own mind's picture of yourself. This image includes the way you look, the way you act, the way you talk and the way you think. Interestingly, our self-images are often quite different from the images others hold about us. Unfortunately, most of these images are more negative than they should be. Thus changing the way you think about yourself is the key to changing your self-image and your whole world.

    The best way to defeat a passive self-image is to step back and decide to stress your successes. That is, make a list if you need to, but write down all of the great things you do every day. Don't allow doubts to occur in it.

    It very well might be that you are experiencing a negative self-image because you can't move past one flaw or weakness that you see about yourself. Well, roll up your sleeves and make a change of it as your primary task. If you think you're silly because you aren't good at math, find a tutor. If you think you're weak because you can't run a mile, get to the track and practice. If you think you're dull because you don't wear the latest trends, buy a few new clothes. But remember, although you think it is so, it doesn't mean it's true.

    The best way to get rid of a negative self-image is to realize that your image is far from objective(客观的), and to actively convince(客观的) yourself of your positive qualities. Changing the way you think and working on those you need to improve will go a long way towards promoting(提升) a positive self-image. When you can pat(拍) yourself on the back, you'll know you're well on your way. Good luck!

B

    My friends and I had just finished lunch at a hotel when it started to rain heavily. When it became lighter, I decided to get my car which was parked at my office three streets away.

    My friends argued that I shouldn't go, mainly because I was seven months pregnant（怀孕的）then. I made it clear to them that I'd be very careful. One of them wanted to come with me but I insisted that she stayed with another friend who needed help with her baby.

    I walked out of the hotel and started making my way to the car. At the crossing, a van stopped and a man came out with an umbrella. Before I knew what was happening, he walked right beside me and told me he'd escort（护送）me to my destination. Although I was very embarrassed and refused, he insisted that he would.

    During our walk, he kept telling me to walk slower, as the ground was wet. When we got to the car-park, I thanked him and he went away. I did not get his name and may not even recognize him now. Did he purposely stop for me? I'll never know.

    So how did I pay it back? I was at home when I noticed two Indian construction workers walking in the heavy rain. They were probably on their way to the working place near my home. I went out and passed them an umbrella. They were completely surprised by my action, and I told them they should take and keep it. They were very grateful to me, probably wondered why a stranger was offering such kindness. I was so relaxed and happy that day.

    Why do some people live to be older than others? You know the standard explanations: keeping a moderate diet, engaging in regular exercise, etc. But what effect does your personality have on your longevity? Do some kinds of personalities lead to longer lives? A new study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society looked at this question by examining the personality characteristics of 246 children of people who had lived to be at least 100.

    The study shows that those living the longest are more outgoing, more active and less neurotic（神经质的）than other people. Long-living women are also more likely to be sympathetic and cooperative than women with a normal life span. These findings are in agreement with what you would expect from the evolutionary theory: those who like to make friends and help others can gather enough resources to make it through tough times.

    Interestingly, however, other characteristics that you might consider advantageous had no impact on whether study participants were likely to live longer. Those who were more self-disciplined, for instance, were no more likely to live to be very old. Also, being open to new ideas had no relationship to long life, which might explain all those bad-tempered old people who are fixed in their ways.

    Whether you can successfully change your personality as an adult is the subject of a longstanding psychological debate. But the new paper suggests that if you want long life, you should strive to be as outgoing as possible.

    Unfortunately, another recent study shows that your mother's personality may also help determine your longevity. That study looked at nearly 28,000 Norwegian mothers and found that those moms who were more anxious, depressed and angry were more likely to feed their kids unhealthy diets. Patterns of childhood eating can be hard to break when we're adults, which may mean that kids of depressed moms end up dying younger.

    Personality isn't destiny, and everyone knows that individuals can learn to change. But both studies show that long life isn't just a matter of your physical health but of your mental health.

    Age has never been a problem for 16­year­old Thessalonika Arzu­Embry. After all, she's already got her master's degree.

    The North Chicago­area teen started homeschooling at the age of 4. She began having an influence on others soon after. When she was 6 years old, she was an inspirational speaker at an organization called Tabitha House Community Service, a shelter for people who were forced to leave their homes due to the situations such as earthquake, flood and other natural disasters.

    At the age of 11, she graduated from high school and then earned her bachelor's degree in psychology in 2013. She completed those classes online as she was traveling for church events and leadership meetings.

    She doesn't stop there, though. The teen plans to focus on aviation psychology(航空心理学) for her further study, a decision inspired by her father who is a pilot. She grew up around airplanes and took fights all the time. Her goal is to use it to determine whether pilots are dealing with problems that could have deadly results once the plane takes off­a topic that has been in the news lately. For her, it's a mix of two of her interests.

    In her free time, Thessalonika enjoys playing tennis, swimming and being active in her youth group at church. She also has three self­published books, which are on her site. Jump the Education Barrier is written to help students finish college, and in the future aims to help business owners with trends. Her third book The Genius Race, has a wider appeal. It is designed to help people to be geniuses in various areas of 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!