Emily and her boyfriend had just had a fight. She felt alone and hopeless. Then she went into the kitchen and grabbed what she needed before going back up to her room quietly. She switched on the TV and started eating…and eating…for hours, until it was all gone.

     What Emily didn't know at the time was that she was suffering from an illness called binge-eating disorder(BED)(暴饮暴食).

    For years, Emily didn't tell anyone what she was doing. She felt ashamed, alone, and out of control. Why don't famous people confess (承认) to BED, as they do to anorexia? It's simple: There's a stigma（污名）involved. “Overeating is seen as very bad, but dieting to be skinny is seen as positive and even associated with determination," says Charles Sophy, a doctor in Beverly Hills , California.

    "Some parents or friends may look at a teen with BED and think, 'Oh, a good diet and some will-power will do the trick.' But that's not true," says Dr.Ovidio Bermudez , a baby doctor at the Eating Recovery Center in Denver. "Eating disorders are real physical and mental health issues; it's not about willpower." The focus in treating BED shouldn't be on weight, because as with all eating disorders, the behaviors with food are a symptom of something deeper.

    Like most other diseases, genetics may play a big part in who gets BED and who doesn't. If you have a close relative with an eating disorder, that means you're more likely to develop an eating disorder of your own.

    Besides, many people with BED have tried at some point or another to control it by going on a diet, but paying more attention to food doesn't help. And it might even make things worse, like it did for Carla, who's 15 now and is recovering from BED. "My parents would always tease me about my weight, so when I was 14, I went on a very restrictive diet," she says. When you can't have something, you only want it more, so every time Carla would have a bite of something that wasn't allowed on her strict diet. She would quickly lose control and binge (狂欢).

     “Oh, my god. Are you serious?”

    That's a reaction I often get when people hear the tale of my childhood.

    It's a story I don't often share. Growing up in a bad home, I learned to protect myself by not speaking up. I've seldom said anything about how badly I was treated and hurt as a child.

    I don't talk about how my name was changed at least three times, what it was like to live in my van (箱式货车), or how I've struggled with anxiety, depression and wanting to kill myself.

    But I learnt to start speaking up for myself. I went on to earn two graduate degrees and I will complete my doctorate (博士学位) this year. I've also become a widely published author. So, how did I get to where I am today?

     What's helped me is surrounding myself with caring, loving people. I've learned day-to-day skills through research, trial and error, and with the help of skilled professionals.

    They've taught me how to slow down, to breathe, to be thankful for what I've got. They're the ones who make my goals possible. They have also taught me to turn my past experiences into strength—to make the negatives into positives.

    My hope is that sharing my story might help others to see what is possible even in the darkest of times and help others to speak out.

    I don't think I'm in any way special or unique. I'm a common man, no more deserving than anyone else. But for far too long, I've been afraid that others think I'm damaged goods. I've worried about how I might be treated differently.

    Pain and fear teach us to be silent. It's time for that to change.

    I don't know what tomorrow might bring. But one thing I've learned is that if we can hold on and find help, if we find ways to get through the day and speak up, we'll not only survive, but become stronger than before.

    Our very survival can be an inspiration all on its own. And with love of my friends, I look forward to so much more than completing my education – I look forward to the future.

    Do you still remember your favorite poem from high school or some other important periods in your life？Why is it that decades later it still stands out in your mind？Probably the main reason is that some aspect of that poem resonates (引起共鸣) with you. In the same way, you too as a school leader can touch the hearts of your teachers and students.

    Poetry allows us to experience strong spiritual connections to things around us and to the past. The power that poetry has displayed over time and across cultures actually satisfies this common need of the human heart and soul.

    As one of the oldest art forms, poetry has successfully connected various parts of humanity (人性) from one generation to another. Referring to poetry, Hillyer makes a simple yet meaningful statement, “With this key mankind unlocked his heart.”

    School leaders can find and make use of the value of poetry for themselves, their students and their teachers. Beyond the simple use of poetry, techniques of poetry such as repetitions can be used to take advantage of the power of language to transform communication, create meaning and a culture of care and attention.

    Since schools are mainly about people and relationships, school leaders, like poets, are required to inspire and encourage the human heart. The use of poetry—or even of some techniques of poetry—in school leadership not only helps to improve communication, but also serves to meet the human need for inspiration.

Do you believe that things are connected for no scientific reason at all? For example, do you avoid saying the word "four" to avoid bad luck? If so, you have a superstition (迷信). And you're not alone – all kinds of people have them.

For example, Portugal's soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo always steps onto the pitch (球场) with his right foot first, according to The Telegraph. And sports players are not alone in having superstitions. A visitor once asked the Nobel Prize winning scientist Niels Bohr whether he really believed that the horseshoe he'd hung at his country home was lucky. "Of course not," the Danish physicist said. "But I understand it's lucky whether you believe in it or not."

One recent study found that even scientists at MIT and other top US schools tended to look for a meaning in natural events, similar to the connection between stepping on the pitch and playing soccer well, according to The Atlantic. When the researchers gave the scientists little time to answer questions, they were twice as likely to agree with statements such as "Trees produce oxygen so that animals can breathe" as they were when they had more time to think about their reply.

It seems that fear can make people think differently in this way, too. In a British study, students imagined meeting a "witch" who said she would cast (施魔法) an evil spell(符咒) on them. About half said a scientist should not be worried about the spell. Yet each of them said that, personally, they wouldn't let the witch do it to them.

So why are so many of us superstitious? Well, it seems to be our way of dealing with the unknown. "Many people quite simply just want to believe," Brian Crank, a professor of psychology at Missouri Western State University, said in a 2008 interview. "The human brain is always trying to work out why things happen, and when the reason is not clear, we tend to make up some pretty bizarre (古怪的) explanations."

    And these explanations aren't completely unhelpful. In fact, superstitions can sometimes work and bring real luck, according to psychologists at the University of Cologne in Germany in the May 2010 issue of the journal Psychological Science. They found that believing in something can improve performance on a task like an exam.

    So, what about you? What superstitions do you follow to keep you safe and successful?

    It had coaster brakes and only one gear (齿轮). My two older brothers used it before me. The twenty-inch, black frame showed its age. It was scratched and nicked from years of use, but I didn't care. It was mine now.

My tricycle stood by the front steps of our house—-forgotten. In the front yard. I held the handlebars, swung my right leg over and settled myself onto the seat. My legs weren't long enough for both to touch the ground at the same time. I leaned to one side one foot supported me, I looked around, made sure no one was watching and kicked off My feet reached for the pedals and began to pump.

    After a few wobbly (不稳定的))yards, I fell off, and landed on my shoulder in the grass. I jumped up, brushed myself off, got back on and fell again.

    A week later, I rode in circles around the yard. Always to the left, I didn't wobble or fall. I was steady as I followed the beaten trail ['d created in the grass. I was free and I was flying.

    “Michael!” Mum called. ‘Supper is read!'

     I turned toward the front steps, wobbled and fell to the ground. I didn't know how to go straight or to the right. I'd learned to travel in circles to the left.

A year later, I was bicycling all around the neighbourhood. At twenty years old, I left home and cried. It was a lonely time in my life. Mum wasn't there It was time to learn how to turn again. I married and became a Dad —- I stumbled（跌跌撞撞）. There was someone else to think about new turns to stumble through.

    Each time I fell. I got up, brushed myself off and turned around the obstacle (障碍). Each time I think I'm on a straight road, life throws a turn in front of me. I may fall, but I always climb back on my seat.

    I'm learning to drive in Switzerland. I think it will be a good idea to learn now because I have plenty of free time and am earning a little money to pay for lessons. I never learnt when I lived in the UK, so luckily driving on the "wrong" side isn't a problem.

    However, there are a lot of rules to remember. When you see a road to your right and there are no white lines on the ground, the cars to your right have the right to go before your car and you have to stop for them. In practice, lots of people forget this and cars either wait for each other while both drivers try to remember what to do, or beep (鸣喇叭) at each other if both try to go at the same time!

    When you drive round a roundabout, you should check all your mirrors. To remember how to do this, I often count them aloud—one, two, three—then a second glance at your blind spot when you're in the roundabout. One friend came driving with me and after about an hour asked why on earth I was counting. He had passed his test so long ago, he couldn't remember ever having to check three mirrors!

    Driving still seems scary to me so I drive quite slowly. I also don't know the countryside roads very well and don't know what's coming up round the comer or over the next hill. I drive slowly so I feel safe, but my driving instructor tells me to speed up or cars will bump into me from behind or try to overtake somewhere dangerous. So driving slowly is just as dangerous as driving fast!

    I'm not a very practical person so learning to drive has been a challenge. I don't have a lot of confidence and find it quite demotivating to do something that doesn't come naturally to me. To make driving more fun and interesting, I learn in Swiss German, so my instructor gives me instructions in Swiss. This way I've tricked myself into enjoying driving and hopefully will pass the test!