How to Find Yourself

    Do you often feel lost？Do you think you are living somebody else's life? If yes, discover ways to find yourself by going through the following article.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} If you are thinking, “how to find yourself when you are lost?”, then the first thing to do is to have a rest from everything—work, personal life and all worldly things. Give time to yourself to think why you seem lost. Is it because of over work? Is it because you are not leading a life that you want to? Or is it because you are not satisfied with the people or things around you? Try to find answers to these questions to determine the cause behind your restlessness.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} For once, instead of being the way others want you to be, be yourself. Look within and find yourself in you. Think about the things that you would want to do if you didn't have any family obligations or any money issues. Think about the kind of relationship you would want to be in, the place that you would like to stay in, the kind of lifestyle you would like to lead, if you didn't have the society or people around you, judging all the time. If you really want to know how to find inner peace, then think, what you would want others to describe you as—an honest person? Or adventurous? Or loving, or realistic? Once you look within, you will know the answer and then try to be exactly that.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}  Thinking deeply about the past, the time or situations when you were the happiest, is another way to find yourself .Think what you were doing or with whom you were, when you were the happiest. This will help you to identify things that you want to do in life that make you happy and also certain people whose company you enjoy.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Knowing yourself and determining what you to do with your life will not come to you in a day or two. Discovering oneself is an ongoing process and it can take months or sometimes even years to truly find yourself. So, it's important that you maintain a written record of all your feelings and thoughts, which you can go through at a later stage. Pour all your emotions and feelings about life in it and who knows may be one day going through it, you will find yourself.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}  Once you have discovered what you want to do with your life, make a move for change and self improvement. Even if it means taking up small things such as dancing or painting, go ahead and do it. If you want a career change, plan and take steps so that it can take place smoothly. If you are stuck in a bad relationship and find yourself unable to mend it, break away. At the beginning, you may find yourself slightly unbalanced, but with time everything will be fine.

    It is very important for you to truly find yourself, before it is too late. If you do not find yourself now, you will spend your life with somebody you do not even know, i.e. yourself.

    Today we eat on the go, at our desks and even in front of computers. We eat takeout, delivered and packaged meals, {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    “Over the past three decades, people have started eating out more than ever before and purchasing more prepared foods at the grocery store, which tend to contain more fat, salt and sugar than their home-made foods,” noted US healthy living website SparkPeople.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} It encourages us to value the time we spend preparing, sharing and consuming food, as a recent USA Today article put it. It all started in 1986 with the efforts of Slow Food's founding father, Italian activist Carlo Petrini, who wanted to bring back food varieties and flavors that had gone dark in the face of industrialization. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Now, his idea is almost the mainstream.

    Starting at the table, the movement promotes an unhurried way of life founded on the idea that everyone has a right to cooking pleasure, and that everyone must also take responsibility to “protect the heritage (遗产) of food, tradition and culture that make this celebration of the senses possible”, wrote The Phnom Penh Post.

    “{#blank#}4{#/blank#} It means turning down the speed at which we eat and increasing the amount of time we spend dining together with other people,” Althea Zanecosky, spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, told The Huffington Post.“ {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Dinner table conversations keep families together,” noted the Belgian non-profit organization Greenfudge.

    Sometimes we can get so caught up in the stress and worry of our personal lives that our minds become too confused to operate effectively.This is especially dangerous in a test-taking situation.After hours of reading and studying,our brains can lock up in a state of overload.

    In a stressful situation it's often a must to clear your mind completely to allow your brain to refresh itself and recalibrate all of its functions.But when you're tense,clearing your mind isn't so easy!Try this relaxation technique if you think your brain has seized up from information overload.

    ⒈Set aside at least five minutes for quiet "clearing" time.If you're at school,see if you can put your head down somewhere or find an empty room or quiet space.If necessary,set a watch (or phone) alarm or ask a friend to tap you on the shoulder at a designated time.

    ⒉Think of a time or place that puts you into a complete state of peace.This place will vary from person to person.Have you ever sat on the beach watching the waves come in and realized you've "zoned out" fora while?This is the sort of experience you're looking for.Other experiences that make us zone out could be: Sitting in the dark and staring at Christmas tree lights—remember how peaceful that feels?

    ⒊Cover your eyes and go to your "place".If you are at school preparing for a test before class,you may simply rest your elbows on the desk and put your hands over your eyes.For some people,it may not be a good idea to put your head down.(You might fall asleep!)

    Don't let any thoughts creep into your head.As soon as you start to think about a test problem,clear away the thought and concentrate on your peaceful place.

    ⒋Snap out of it!Remember,this is not nap time.The point here is to refresh your brain.After five or ten minutes of clearing time,take a brisk walk or take a drink of water to re-energize your mind and body.Stay relaxed and resist the urge to think about the things that are stressing you out or clogging your brain.Don't let your brain go back to freeze-out.

    Now go on with your test or study session refreshed and ready!

    Theme park getaways are popular with families, but they sure aren't cheap. Happily, there are some golden rules of ticket-buying that apply to pretty much every theme park, and they can help you chip away at the cost of tickets. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Buy tickets online.

    Never ever pay the walk-up ticket price at a theme park. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} You're guaranteed to save a significant sum-sometimes as much as $ 20 per ticket-even for same-day tickets.

    Buy in advance.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} For instance, Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, slices off $25 per ticket when you make your purchase at least three days ahead.

     {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    This one is a universal no-brainer. Single-day ticket prices at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, are about 30 percent less than admission on Saturdays and Sundays. But the big bonus is that lines will be much shorter, allowing you to spend less time waiting in lines and more time having fun.

    Go in the afternoon.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} For example, Hersheypark's sunset tickets allow entry after 4 pm or 5 pm, depending on the day. You'll still get between four to six hours of fun before the park closes, and you'll pay up to 50 percent less than the full-day ticket price.

A. Avoid weekends.

B. Buy more tickets than you need.

C. Here are some ways to lower your theme park spending.

D. At larger parks, you'll save money when you buy a package.

E. Instead, visit the theme park website and print out your tickets before you go.

F. Some parks offer deeply discounted tickets for visitors arriving later in the day.

G. Most theme parks offer a price cut if you buy tickets at least a few days before you arrive.

    It's becoming more and more common for people to live to 100 or longer. In fact, researchers say that more than a third of all babies now born in wealthy nations are likely to reach their 100^th birthdays, thanks to advanced medical technology and treatment. Here are some of the best strategies for becoming a centenarian.

    Eat vegetables and nuts. A study found that those who ate mainly vegetables gained an extra year and a half over meat-eaters; those who ate nuts regularly lived two years longer.

    Make friends. Another study found that people with strong social networks were 50 percent less likely to die over a certain period. If you don't have many friends or relatives in your local community, you can join in the voluntary activities or take part in a hobby group. You will stay happy and healthy through building the connections.

    Don't smoke. This is important: With occasional exceptions, smokers die younger than non-smokers. Even if you have had the habit for decades, quitting will help with your health greatly. It's important to get your loved ones to stop it, too. People who breathed in secondhand smoke were 26 percent more likely to get heart disease than those who rarely stayed with smokers.

    Improve your lifestyle. Along with healthy eating, you should focus on stress management, regular exercise, and building healthy relationships. When you eat more healthily, manage stress, exercise and love more, your brain actually gets more blood flow and more oxygen.

    Have a sense of purpose. A study found that the common feature in communities with many people who are 100 or older was that older people still took part in daily life, through tasks such as cooking, cleaning and gardening. They feel the motivation(动机) to stay active, to get out of bed in the morning and live for a purpose.

How to save a friendship

    Friends are like stars. Even if you don't see them, you know they are there. And while a shooting star is a beautiful thing to observe, a dying friendship is one of the most painful things to experience. However, if you believe that it is worth trying to save it, then it is worth it. So if you are still moved by a friendship that has given you priceless moments and treasured memories, at least try to save it. While problems are unavoidable, if both of you see the value in saving what you have, focusing on fixing things may just be effective, and your connection may even come through this test stronger than before.

    The moment you realize that the two of you have started growing apart, do something about it. Waiting will only bring about an unavoidable permanency of the loss of your friendship. Be prepared to be the one who makes the first steps; your friend may be laboring under the belief that it is something you have done to harm the friendship, so you shouldn't wait around for them to solve things.

    As life changes around us, friendship change too. However, changes in your life don't mean that your life has to destroy your friendship. Talking openly about the changes is important, as well as accepting that the two of you have changed but still have space, love and respect for one another in your lives. If your friend has distanced himself or herself from you because of changes in your lives, take the chance to show that while life has changed, the importance of your friendship has not.

    Make sure your friend has talked and listened, and both of you have looked for ways to reach compromises（和解）on the things that have weakened your friendship and set the relationship back on track. If you mean as much to this person as they mean to you, you will have at least made some progress in the right direction through mutual（彼此的）compromises in the end.

    Once you have worked through the challenges facing your friendship and come to a shared solution, show your friend how much they mean to you. Start creating new memories and precious moments that will make the unpleasant page in your common history look insignificant and never worth mentioning again.