So many of us hold on to little resentments that may have come from an argument, a misunderstanding, or some other painful event. Stubbornly, we wait for someone else to reach out to us—believing this is the only way we can forgive or rekindle a friendship or family relationship.

    An acquaintance of mine, whose health isn't very good, recently told me that she hadn't spoken to her son in almost three years. She said that she and her son had had a disagreement about his wife and that she wouldn't speak to him again unless he called first. When I suggested that she be the one to reach out, she resisted initially and said, "I can't do that. He's the one who should apologize." She was literally willing to die before reaching out to her only son. After a little gentle encouragement, however, she did decide to be the first one to reach out. To her amazement, her son was grateful for her willingness to call and offered an apology of his own. As is usually the case when someone takes the chance and reaches out, everyone wins.

    Whenever we hold on to our anger, we turn "small stuff" into really "big stuff" in our minds. We start to believe that our positions are more important than our happiness. They are not. If you want to be a more peaceful person you must understand that being right is almost never more important than allowing yourself to be happy. The way to be happy is to let go, and reach out. Let other people be right. This doesn't mean that you're wrong. Everything will be fine. You'll experience the peace of letting go, as well as the joy of letting others be right.

    You'll also notice that, as you reach out and let others be "right," they will become less defensive and more loving toward you. They might even reach back. But if for some reason they don't, that's okay too. You'll have the inner satisfaction of knowing that you have done your part to create a more loving world, and certainly you'll be more peaceful yourself.

    We walked in so quietly that the nurse at the desk didn't even lift her eyes from the book. Mum pointed at a big chair by the door and I knew she wanted me to sit down. While I watched mouth open is surprise, Mum took off her hat and coat and gave them to me to hold. She walked quietly to the small room by the lift and took out a wet mop. She pushed the mop past the desk and as the nurse looked up, Mum nodded and said, "Very dirty floors. "

    "Yes, I'm glad they've finally decided to clean them, "the nurse answered. She looked at Mum strangely and said, "But aren't you working late?"

    Mum just pushed harder, each swipe(拖一下)of the mop taking her farther and farther down the hall. I watched until she was out of sight and the nurse had turned back to writing in the big book.

    After a long time Mum came back. Her eyes were shining. She quickly put the mop back and took my hand. As we turned to go out of the door, Mum bowed politely to the nurse and said, "Thank you."

    Outside, Mum told me, "Dagmar is fine. No fever. "

    "You saw her, Mum?"

    "Of course. I told her about the hospital rules, and she will not expect us until tomorrow. Dad will stop worrying as well. It's a fine hospital. But such floors! A mop is no good. You need a brush."

    To err is human. To blame the other guy is even more human.

    Common sense is not all that common.

    Why tell the truth when you can come up with a good excuse?

    These three popular sentences are meant to be jokes, and yet they tell us a lot about human nature .To err, or to make mistakes, is indeed a part of being human, but it seems that most people don't want to accept the responsibility for the problem. Perhaps it is the natural thing to do .The original quote about human nature went like this: " To err is human, to forgive, divine(神圣的).".This saying mirrors an ideal people should be forgiving of others' mistakes. Instead, we tend to do the opposite –find someone else to pass the blame on to. However, taking responsibility for something that went wrong is a making of great maturity.

    Common sense is what we call clear thought. Having common sense means having a good general plan that will make things work well, and it also means staying with the plan. Common sense tells you that you take an umbrella out into a rainstorm, but you leave the umbrella home when you hear a weather forecast for sunshine. Common sense does not seem to be common for large organizations, because there are so many things going on that one person cannot be in charge of everything. People say that in a large company, "the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing."

    And what is wrong with a society that thinks that making up a good excuse is like creating a work of art? One of the common problems with making excuses is that people, especially young people, get the idea that it's okay not to be totally honest all the time. There is a corollary(直接推论)to that: if good excuse is "good" even if it isn't honest, then where is the place of the truth?

    You may hear about some people who have walked on the moon. Of the outstanding astronauts listed below, who do you think was the most influential in human's history?

Pete Conrad (Apollo 12)

    Because of his dyslexia（阅读障碍）, Pete always failed in his study and had to leave school. Then his father sent him to Darrow School, where he performed so well that he won a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) scholarship. He took the NASA's test, but his dyslexia ruined the opportunity.

    It was because of Alan Shepard's persuasion that Pete decided to apply again for NASA. He was chosen as the commander of Apollo 12. He landed on the moon on Nov 19, 1969 and spent 31 hours there.

Neil Armstrong (Apollo 11)

    Armstrong's biggest moment came in 1969, when he was chosen for NASA's first manned lunar mission (登月任务), along with Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins. On July 21, 1969, he set foot on the surface of the moon. which made him the first human to do so. He stayed on the moon for 21 hours. After returning, Armstrong became an international star and was honored worldwide.

John Young (Apollo 16)

    Young was made the commander of Apollo 16, which landed on the moon on April 16, 1972. He spent two days and 23 hours on the moon. Young retired from NASA after serving for around 42 years, which made him the man ever to work for NASA for the longest time.

Edgar Mitchell(Apollo 14)

    Edgar was selected by NASA in 1966, and was later made the lunar pilot of Apollo 14. He followed his commander Alan Shepard onto the moon, staying there for 1 day and 9 hours. Edgar has expressed his firm belief that UFOS belong to other planets. He also firmly believes that American government is in possession of some “recovered alien bodies.”

    Don't put it off, do it now!

    Why do we spend so much time not doing the work we should do, or putting off small jobs that have piled up to create a big problem? Procrastinating, as putting things off like this is called, is in our character we have naturally since birth; we avoid dull or difficult jobs until it's too late to do anything else.

    "We often put things off although we know it will make life more stressful," says Dr. Steel, an authority on the science of motivation. "If these tasks were fun, we'd just do them now. We put off what is difficult or unpleasant, such as the paperwork that needs doing before leaving the office or cleaning the bits of your home that people can't see. But the fact is, the less people procrastinate, the more money they have, the better relationships they have, and the healthier they are." This is obvious when you look at the couples who don't argue about whether anyone has cleaned the kitchen, and the people who simply go for a run instead of endlessly rescheduling it in their heads.

    Of course, there are the rest of us, who feel the small jobs piling up around us daily. "We've evolved to respond to the moment, and not to set our sights too far in an uncertain world," Dr. Steel adds. "We are not set up to appreciate long-term rewards, whether it's the benefit of a four-year degree, doing exercise or dieting. We usually feel the cost now and the reward comes much later." According to Dr. Steel, we have two decision-making systems. They are the limbic, which is responsible for the short term, and the prefrontal cortex, which deals with the future. We bounce between long-term goals and short-term temptations, so we need goals that will translate our plans for the limbic system.

    Let's take the example of students' writing essays. They should set themselves targets and word counts per day. These are thus turned from seemingly endless tasks into something concrete with measured progress. Dr. Steel recommends such techniques, or "pre-commitments", adding that leaving you a month before the "deadline" makes it more likely a task will be completed. The benefit is that you'll avoid the embarrassment of not following up on something people are expecting you to do—telling everyone you are going to take up jogging makes you more likely to do so.

    Overcoming procrastination finally comes down to planning, which, if you're not careful, becomes procrastination in itself. But it is worth making sure you have everything in place. "Successful people don't pretend they don't procrastinate," Dr. Steel says. "People who pretend they have willpower are less successful." Instead, plan for procrastination: make your work environment a temple of productivity by cutting out what stops you paying your attention, so you can really focus on moving forward.

    Jarrett Little was road testing his mountain bike outside of Columbus, Georgia, when his riding partner, Chris Dixon, stopped suddenly. Something in the distance moving among the trees had caught her attention. It turned out to be a sandy-colored five-month-old puppy.

    "He was really thin, ribs showing, and a broken leg," Little told John Parks, a reporter from CBS News. The cyclists fed the friendly pup and shared their water. They also quickly realized that the dog was coming with them, although they had no idea how. They were more than seven miles from downtown and riding bikes. "We couldn't leave him," Little said. "Out there next to the Oxbow Meadows, he was going to become the lunch of an alligator living in the river."

    Suddenly, Little had an idea. He carefully picked up his new friend and slipped the 38-pound dog's hind legs (后肢) into the back pockets of his cycling jacket. Then he hung the dog's front paws over his shoulders.

    "He was injured, so he wasn't trying to fight," Little says. "He was also happy that we were there, touching him, and hadn't taken off on him."

    The group's 30-minute ride into town ended at a bike store, where they got more water and food for the dog. That was when Andrea Shaw, an accountant from Maine in town on business, happened by. The dog made a headed straight for her, licking and "loving on her," says Dixon. Shaw was struck and, after learning what had happened, declared her intentions: "I am keeping this dog."

    Shaw called him Columbo and scheduled an operation on his leg. Today, Columbo is living the high life on a farm with a horse, a pony, a six-year-old boy, to keep him company. As Dixon told John Parks, "He is literally the luckiest dog alive."