When asked about happiness, we usually think of something extraordinary, an absolute delight, which seems to get rarer the older we get.

    For kids, happiness has a magical quality. Their delight at winning a race or getting a new bike is unreserved (毫无掩饰的).

    In the teenage years the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it's conditional on such things as excitement, love and popularity. I can still recall the excitement of being invited to dance with the most attractive boy at the school party.

    In adulthood the things that bring deep joy—love, marriage, birth—also bring responsibility and the risk of loss. For adults, happiness is complicated.

    My definition of happiness is “the capacity for enjoyment”. The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are. It's easy to overlook the pleasure we get from the company of friends, the freedom to live where we please, and even good health.

    I experienced my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First I was overjoyed when I shut the last lunch-box and had the house to myself. Then I spent an uninterrupted morning writing, which I love. When the kids and my husband came home, I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.

    Psychologists tell us that to be happy we need a mix of enjoyable leisure time and satisfying work. I don't think that my grandmother, who raised 14 children, had much of either. She did have a network of close friends and family, and maybe this is what satisfied her.

    We, however, with so many choices and such pressure to succeed in every area, have turned happiness into one more thing we've got to have. We're so self-conscious about our “right” to it that it's making us miserable. So we chase it and equal it with wealth and success, without noticing that the people who have those things aren't necessarily happier.

    Happiness isn't about what happens to us—it's about how we see what happens to us. It's the skillful way of finding a positive for every negative. It's not wishing for what we don't have, but enjoying what we do possess.

    Recently I read the Human Development Report. I couldn't help thinking about another problem which the world is facing--hunger. According to the report, 2,400 people are dying from hunger every day; nearly 13 million in southern Africa will be worried about their food supply because of earthquakes, floods or wars.

    In a word, hunger remains the biggest problem of the world today. It's strange to see that man can travel to the moon, but still doesn't know how to feed himself. You may ask, “Who steals our bread? The first thieves should be population growth, poverty and loss of rich farmland.

    In less developed areas like South Africa, the population grows faster than the crops. It is almost impossible for its government to feed so many people and provide education for them. So it is very important to control the population growth and protect their farmland in countries whose people are suffering from hunger.

    According to the report, the world's food production is enough to feed everyone if it is given away well. But the problem is that the developed countries are eating food that should be given to the poor. Although they are just using their own earning, the fact is that they are coldly watching others starving away.

    Luckily, some developed countries such as Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have done a lot to help those hungry people in African countries. We hope other developed countries will follow them.

    Most of us would be traveling for the rest of our lives if traveling abroad were not so expensive. But there is no need for you to cut down on the number of holidays you're having this year. Below are some of the cheapest places to travel to this year.

    Sri Lanka

    Great seafood, beautiful beaches, and amazing jungles await you in Sri Lanka. It is definitely one of the cheaper places to travel to as well. It will be possible for you to live in high-class hotels and resorts for as little as 70 dollars a night! If you don't want to spend that much money, you can find hostels, and smaller hotels for as little as 20 dollars a day. You can just spend the day exploring Anuradhapura or go adventuring in Habarana Lake as well!

    Hungary

    It might be surprising to see Hungary on the list of cheap places to travel to this year. It is located in the most expensive continent on the earth, after all. However, Hungary is the country where you get rooms for as little as 16 Euros, and beer for about 4 Euros each! This is definitely a bargain! You can get a travel card to use the public transport throughout the country, and save quite a few dollars on that as well. Spend a few nights in Budapest or head out to the northern hills where you can hike and swim in the clear lakes!

    Greece

    There was a time when Greece was unbelievably expensive, but due to its recent economic problems, Greece has become quite cheap to travel to. Price of accommodation and food is at an all-time low, so this might definitely be a great time for you to visit! There are some areas of the country that will be expensive like Santorini or Mykonos, but if you just want to explore local Greek culture, you can walk on the streets of Greece, or adventure across the smaller islands around like Kefalonia or Piraeus or Los!

    Here we introduce some rental houses to you.

    Apartment Levant in Komiza

    Overlooking one of the most beautiful fishing villages in Croatia, our two-storey house also gives you a full view of Komiza bay as well as neighboring island of Bisevo.The apartment has a wide，covered balcony and a small garden with lemon trees. It is only 10 minutes' walk from the centre of the village, although it is on the edge of the village, with forests behind the house.

    Apartment Domina

    Located in the centre of the city, the apartment is protected as a historical site. All other facilities are at your fingertips such as restaurants, shops and museums. The apartment is fully equipped and air-conditioned, having a kitchen with a dishwasher, a satellite TV and the free Web access. It contains a bedroom with a double bed and antique furniture. Besides, the apartment offers pet-friendly accommodation.

    Apartment Tonka

    The apartment is located in an old stone house in the centre of Komiza. It offers two bedrooms, each with a separate bathroom, and a living room with a furnished kitchen. The house is only a couple of minutes away from the old harbor, along the old town's street where you can enjoy Komiza's rich cultural history. The bus stop is less than 200 meters away, near the fruit and vegetable market.

    Pearl of Issa

    This two-bedroom apartment is only a few minutes' walk from beautiful beaches, shops, restaurants, cafés and bars. It consists of two bedrooms, a fully equipped modern kitchen, a dining room and a resting area with a sofa, which can be used as an extra sleeping place for one person, a bathroom and a balcony with comfortable garden furniture and barbecue equipment.

When faced with the decision to get out of bed or have a few more minutes of sleep, which do you choose? Believe it or not, that decision could make a world of difference in the rest of your day.

About 85 percent of Americans use an alarm clock to wake up in the mornings, according to sleep researcher Till Roennenber. And while there are no official numbers on snoozing (打盹), a quick survey of social media makes it clear that hitting the snooze button is a popular pastime.

As to how the snooze button will affect your day, scientists have mixed opinions. Some scientists think people who hit the snooze button in the mornings are actually clever, creative and happy while some said that hitting the snooze button will ruin your life, or at the very least your day. "I feel that hitting the snooze button has got to be one of the worst things that ever happened to human sleep," researcher Jonathan Horowitz said. "The chances of you 'snoozing' and actually experiencing a meaningful rest are close to zero."

According to some sleep experts, when hitting the snooze button, you are in fact confusing your body and mind, and throwing yourself into a deep state of being sleepy. The body needs some time to wake up, so, when returning to what will be a light sleep for a brief period of time, you are putting your body back into a sleep mode before waking it again. At that point your body won't know what it wants, resulting in a sort of half awaken state.

If you really want to take advantage of an alarm clock, the key is to form a healthy sleep cycle. Focus your efforts on getting enough sleep each night and waking up at the same time each day so that when your alarm goes off you feel rested.

When it comes to sitting properly, we all know the correct way even if we don't do it to the letter. No crossed legs, bottoms touching the back of the chair and feet on the ground. But even if you're doing it right, sitting for long periods is shockingly bad for you. It has been described as the new smoking, linked to heart disease and even cancer. There is no doubt we should all try to do less of it. But perhaps we could also do it better.

A classic survey, published in 1953, described 100 different sitting postures adopted by 480 cultures around the world. Among the most common were sitting cross-legged, kneeling and the deep squat (深蹲), with feet flat on the ground and bottoms resting on or just above it. Even in Western cultures, these are preferred sitting positions among young children. But Westerners tend to prefer chair use from an early age, insisting children sit on seats in school.

One big problem with this desire for chairs is that they make sitting so, well, sedentary (久坐不动的). Consider the Hadza, a group of hunter-gatherer people in Tanzania. They spend around 9 hours a day sitting. However, they squat and sit on the ground in various positions, and this involves high levels of muscle activity. The supportive nature of chairs, with their high backs and armrests, removes this effort perhaps the reason that people love them.

So what's the best way to sit? Josette Bettany-SaItikov at Teesside University, UK has found that kneeling can help keep the spine in a better position as does squatting. We might also take inspiration from traditional cultures like the Hadza. "Use a variety of postures and preferably not just still postures but some which allow movement," says Bettany-Saltikov.

Bettany-Saltikov believes that we should be rethinking what it means to do a desk job. "We still need to design workplaces that enable people to be productive while being lightly active, like with under-table cycling or walking desks," she says. For now, if your job is sedentary, don't forget to stand up regularly and move around.