It is not only praise or punishment that determines a child's level of confidence. There are some other important ways we shape our kids—particularly by giving instructions and commands in a negative or positive choice of words. For example, we can say to a child “Don't run into traffic!” or “Stay on the footpath close to me.” In using the latter, you will be helping your kids to think and act positively, and to feel competent in a wide range of situations, because they know what to do, and aren't scaring themselves about what not to do.

    Why does such a small thing make a difference? It is all in the way the human mind works. What we think, we automatically rehearse. For example, if someone offered you a million dollars not to think of a blue monkey for two minutes, you wouldn't be able to do it. When a child is told “Don't fall off the tree,” he will think of two things: “don't” and “fall off the tree”. That is, he will automatically create the picture of falling off the tree in his mind. A child who is vividly imagining falling off the tree is much more likely to fall off. So it is far better to use “Hold on to the tree carefully.”

    Clear, positive instructions help kids to understand the right way to do things. Kids do not always know how to be safe, or how to react to the warning of the danger in negative words. So parents should make their commands positive. “Sam, hold on firm to the side of the boat” is much more useful than “Don't you dare to fall out of the boat?” or worse still “How do you think I'll feel if you drown?” The changes are small but difference is obvious.

    Children learn how to guide and organize themselves from the way we guide them with our words, so it pays to be positive.

    Too much work and too much wine go together like biscuits and cheese, a new international studies finds. Employees who work more than 48 hours a week are 11 percent more likely to over-consume (过渡消费) alcohol than those who work standard time, Finnish researchers say. The study looked at more than 300,000 people in Australia, Europe and North America. No differences were seen between men and women, says the study, published in the British Medical Journal.

    Risky alcohol consumption is considered as more than 14 drinks a week for women and more than 21 drinks a week for men. About 20 percent of Australians drink at levels that put them at risk of lifetime harm from injury or disease. Drinking alcohol can affect the liver or cause brain damage, heart disease, high blood pressure and increase the risk of many cancers.

    Study author Marianna Virtanen said while alcohol might help ease the stress of working long periods of time, risky consumption could lead to difficulties in the workplace, such as poor performance. The European Union Working Time Directive ensures that workers in EU countries have the right to work no more than 48 hours a week, including overtime. “ But many people , for example well-educated managers and professionals, work much longer hours to achieve faster promotions (晋升), salary increases, and more control over work and employment,” said Prof. Virtanen from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.

    One of the greatest sources of unhappiness, in my experience, is the difficulty we have in accepting things as they are.

    When we see something we don't like, we wish it could be different. We cry out for something better. That may be human nature, or perhaps it's something ingrained(根深蒂固的) in our culture. The root of the unhappiness isn't necessarily that we want things to be different. However, it's that we decided we didn't like it in the first place. We've judged it as bad, rather than saying, "It's not bad or good, and it just is it."

    In one of my books, I said "You should expect people to mess up and expect things to go differently than you planned". Some readers said it's too sorrowful to expect things to go wrong. However, it's only negative if you see it as negative and judge it as bad. Instead, you could accept it as the way the world works and try to understand why that is.

    This can be applied to whatever you do: how other people act at work, how politics works and how depressing the news media can be. Accept these things as they are, and try to understand why they're that way. It will save you a lot of sadness, because you'll no longer say, "Oh. I wish bad things didn't happen!"

    Does it mean you can never change things? Not at all. But change things not because you can't accept things as they are, but because you enjoy the process of changing, learning and growing.

    Can we make this world a better place? You can say that you'll continue to try to do things to help others, to grow as a person, to make a difference in this world. That's the correct path you choose to take, because you enjoy that path. Therefore, when you find yourself judging and wishing for difference, try a different approach: accept, and understand. It might lead to some interesting results.

    Starting Cycling

    We have two services designed to give people the confidence and knowledge to cycle successfully.

    Lessons

    All our instructors have been trained to National Standards level of “Bikeability”. This means you will be trained to a standard consistent across the whole country.

    There are 3 levels of skills to progress through. Children would start with levels 1 & 2, progressing from the playground or park to cycle on less busy local roads. Teenager and adult beginners can also learn levels 1 & 2 in an off-road and quiet environment.

    Confident teenagers and adults can broaden their skills by learning level 3, using multi-lane (多道) roads and larger roundabouts (环岛). We provide both a complete package of lessons for the beginner or individual lessons tailored to the client. You can ride a bike but don't feel confident about right turns on multi-lane roads. Whatever the need we can address and practice until perfect!

    Everyone can be taught to ride a bike!

    We train both adults and children.

    We cover London Zones 1 & 2

    The cost is ￡30 per hour.

    Guided Ride

    We know that riding on the roads in London can be scary, and if you have to navigate (确定行车路线) as well it can become a real hard task! The Guided Ride service takes all the stress out of it for you by providing the following:

    Route planned in advance to suit your skill level. Route map provided to you.

    Cycle and equipment checked. We will teach you a simple method to check basic roadworthiness (车辆性能) of your bike that you can perform on a weekly basis.

    Route discussed and focus given to any areas requiring special attention.

    Cycle along with the instructor close behind. Here the traffic can be controlled by the instructor and rider observed.

    Occasionally stopping to discuss events.

    We currently cover London Zones 1 & 2. Please contact us if your requirements are outside of these areas.

    Cost ￡30

    Do's and Don'ts in Whale(鲸)Watching The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has developed guidelines for whale watching in Johnstone Strait, where killer whales are found on a daily basis each summer. It is strongly recommended that vessel (船只) operators follow these guidelines for all kinds of whales.

    Approach whales from the side, not from the front or the back.

    Approach no closer than 100 metres, then stop the boat but keep the engine on.

    Keep noise levels down-no horns. whistles or racing of engines.

    Start your boat only after the whales are more than 100 metres from your vessel.

    Leave the area slowly, gradually moving faster when you are more than 300 metres from the whales.

    Approach and leave slowly, avoiding sudden changes in speed or direction.

    Avoid disturbing groups of resting whales.

    Keep at low speeds and remain in the same direction if travelling side by side with whales.

    When whales are travelling close to shore, avoid crowding them near the shore or coming between the whales and the shore.

    Limit the time spent with any group of whales to less than 30 minutes at a time when within 100 to 200 metres of whales.

    lf there is more than one vessel at the same observation spot, be sure to avoid any boat position that would result in surrounding the whales.

    Work together by communicating with other vessels, and make sure that all operators are aware of the whale watching guidelines.

The Netherlands is the only country in the world with more bicycles than residents. By 2022, the Netherlands has had a total of about 23 million bicycles, with an ownership rate of 1.35 bikes per person. One study published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports that in the Netherlands cycling prevents about 6,500 early deaths each year, and that Dutch people have 1.5 years longer life expectancy (预期寿命) due to cycling. 

"The time spent cycling was about 74 minutes per week for Dutch adults aged 20 to 90 years old. The time was fairly stable over adulthood and reached its apex in the early days of retirement, in one's 60s. The death rate reduction, which was a direct result of the average time spent cycling for a certain age group, was therefore also the highest among the seniors who just retired," said Jeremy Smith, an expert from NIH.

What is it that makes cycling so beneficial? Obviously, cycling is a form of exercise. It is a great form of cardio (有氧的) exercise, which gets your heart pumping and helps strengthen the heart muscles. Doing cardio exercise may also help lower your blood pressure. 

Furthermore, solid evidence proves the link between cycling and better thinking skills. Even younger adults claim that a bike ride helps shift their thinking to a higher level — and research backs them up. In one small study, young men are required to cycle for 30 minutes every day for 3 weeks. They also completed a series of cognitive (认知的) tests before and afterward. After cycling, they scored higher on memory, reasoning and planning, and they were able to finish the tests more rapidly than before.

Besides all the benefits mentioned above, cycling, as many Dutch put it, is a way of life. In their simplest form, bikes are tools for travelling. But they're so much more. They are cognitive improvement, environmental protection, satisfaction and an expression of freedom. They bring people of the same passion together and connect them to a greater journey of life.