William Purkey, a well-known professor of education, said, “Dance like no one is watching, love you'll never be hurt, sing like no one is listening, and live like it's heaven on earh.” It seems like the perfect life philosophy — and one I've learned to apply to running over the year.

    But I didn't always feel this way. In my early days, when I weighed 240 pounds, I ran like everyone was watching — and judging. If I was on a run and saw a car approaching, I'd stop and pretend I was looking for something I'd lost. I bought the high-tech gear and clothes that I thought would make people believe I was a runner. And I didn't have a clue if the expensive shoes I was wearing were the right kind for me — I just wanted to look like I fit in with this group.

    To be honest, I felt a certain satisfaction in believing that someone was watching. I really thought that other people cared about my performance. The best example of this was a combined, two-lap marathon in Florence, Italy. As I approached the finishing line, the crowd began to cheer. I was surprised. Here I was, thousands of miles from home, and the Italians were shouting for “IIPenguino.”

    About 20 yards from the finishing, the truth set in when the winner of the full marathon went past me as I was finishing the half-marathon. No one was cheering for me. No one probably even noticed that I was finishing. I couldn't help but smile at my own illusion of self-importance.

    That's when I realized I had been running for every reason except the right one. I ran to make other people happy, ran to live up to their expectations. But no one was watching — no one cared. So I decided I was going to run for me—just me—and gained a new enjoyment from the sport I hadn't truly experienced yet. I've learned to run like no one is watching.

    So if you see me at race, and I look like a 60-year-old guy waddling(蹒跚) along, don't worry. I'm fine. The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.

    It's common for children to grow up being told to minimize daydreaming, and instead to focus on lessons and class work. Historically, daydreaming students who go off on their own thoughts, rather than focusing on the teachers, the blackboard, or their class work, are often encouraged to stop allowing their attention to wander and to bring themselves back into the present moment. They're described as uninterested in school work and their future. Traditionally, daydreaming is seen as a practice that results in bad consequences.

    But recent studies are beginning to renounce those common beliefs by pointing out the potential benefits that daydreaming may provide. PsychCentral reports that Mary Smith, a psychological scientist and researcher, recently examined scientific writings and studies to gain a better understanding of the role of a reflective brain. These studies have shown that the brain has a network that is active when a person is daydreaming and that brain network can help memory and learning.

    Though paying attention in school is important, these results suggest that there should be time for students to daydream, too. Giving them the chance to reflect and daydream can help improve learning and development. Research also indicates that when students are permitted to daydream, they experience less anxiety and become more motivated. On the other hand, if students are warned against daydreaming, their knowledge of themselves and the world around them may suffer.

    As a result, educators are encouraged to promote a balance between outward and inward attention. A little bit of daydreaming to break up the hard focus on school activities can be beneficial, and it may help students become better, active learners.

    As for students, the lesson here is not to be afraid of doing some daydreaming. Sure, you want to pay attention to the vital information conveyed to you during your classes, but don't get discouraged if your mind wanders. A little bit of daydreaming is healthy.

    A new study, conducted by British company Mindlab International, has found that listening to music at work increases accuracy (精确) and speed, The Telegraph reported.

    Perhaps, some parents disagree with this idea, saying, "Switch off the music and concentrate!" Well, if that's the case with your parents, you might now be able to convince them that you have science on your side.

    The company gave 26 participants（参与者）a series of different tasks for five days in a row, including spell checking, mathematical word problems, data entry, and abstract reasoning. The participants completed these tasks while listening to music or no music at all.

    The results showed that while music was playing, 88% of participants produced their most accurate test results and 81% completed their fastest work. David Lewis, chairman of Mindlab International, told The Telegraph, "Music is a very powerful management tool if you want to increase not only the efficiency of your workforce but also their emotional state... they are going to become more positive about the work."

    However, you may have a list of your favorite songs, but not all kinds of music match all homework. For maths or other subjects involving numbers or attention to detail, you should listen to classical music, the study found. In the study, pop music enabled participants to complete their tasks 58% faster than when listening to no music at all. If you are reviewing your English writing, pop music is the best choice, as it is the best kind for spell checking. It cut mistakes by 14%, compared to listening to no music. After finishing your homework, do you often take time to check your answers? Maybe, some dance music is suitable for you.

    Mark was a great kid from a tough neighborhood. Crime, drugs, fighting and poverty: You name the problem and his neighborhood had it. A scholarship fund provided his tuition to Catholic High, where he was a great baseball player.

    Mark struggled in the classroom, though. He was bright, just behind, due to a more than difficult home environment. But there were problems finding the time for all he needed to do. After-school tutoring seemed impossible because of baseball practice. Some suggested Mark abandon sports and concentrate on “schooling”. But, in reality, if he was going to attend college he would need his sports; so to miss practice and then perform any less than at his best on the field was not wise.

    A fellow teacher, Mrs. Jones, offered to tutor Mark in math at her home. I asked Mark to come to my house for other areas of work. No one paid us. Mrs. Jones summed it up this way: “Pay day doesn't always come on Mondays”.

    When we were not working with Mark to improve his skills for the ACT, the coach and Mark's dad took him to various colleges to talk with both baseball and football program coaches. He settled on the college that offered him scholarships to play both sports. But he needed a good ACT score.

    It takes months to receive the results of college entrance exams. One afternoon after school, while I was grading papers in my room, there was a noise outside the door.

    Mark came in, lifted me out of the seat behind my desk, spun(旋转) me around in the air, and yelled over and over: “I'm going to college! I'm going to college!”

    “I guess you got your scores!” I asked.

    “Well, yeah!” he laughed. “And guess what? I got one point more than I need to be admitted. One point extra. Thank you! Now, where's Mrs. Jones? I've got to tell her too!”

    Until that moment, I had never quite understood what the expression “Pay day doesn't always come on Mondays” meant. But it was clear to me the instant Mark ran into the room to announce his news. No amount of money could ever replace my spin in the air at the hands of a boy who finally had a chance at a better life.

    Have you ever thought that your life will be perfect if something in your outside world changes? You may say, "I will live happily if I find my soul mate." You may say, "If the perfect job comes along, I will get satisfaction. My problem is that my boss is stupid." Or you may say, "If I have a child, I will know what it is like to be loved." The problem is that it is not the outside world that prevents you from experiencing peace, love and joy. Instead, it is your own internal (内部的) patterns that get in your way.

    To prove this point, at my weekend programs, I had my students look at a flower on my table. Then I asked them to share their experiences. Some showed a state of complete joy because staring at the flower reminded them of their wedding or a great trip with their lovers. Others said the flower made them angry because it reminded them of a gift given by a former partner who turned against them. Some students even told me that the flower reminded them of their beloved grandmothers' gardens with some shedding tears (流泪)of joy and others shedding tears of sadness. However, the flower was still just a flower.

    Our internal patterns decide whether each moment is filled with peace, anger, joy, love or sadness. When you don't realize that it is your own internal state that is creating your experience, you are likely to blame (责备)the external situations in your life. Most people aren't taught that emotion is a choice. And they aren't taught how to change those lower emotional patterns such as anger, anxiety, sadness and so on. Next time, when you meet something bad, please look at your internal state. When you accept that you are responsible for your own state, and find the courage to turn inward, you can step out of being a slave to what shows up in your external world.

    In 2011, the old style Malta buses were taken off the road and replaced by modern vehicles. Most of the old buses were deserted, a few were sold, and about 100 of them were put into storage in the hope of showing them in a museum at some stage.

    A pre-2011 visit to Malta wouldn't have been complete without a ride on one of the colorful buses. Until 1973 you could tell the destination of the bus just by looking at its color — Sliema was green and white, Zabbar was red and white with a blue stripe(条纹)etc. . Later, the buses all had numbers. For a while, they were all painted green and white before the ‘final' orange, yellow and white.

    In their prime, walking around the Triton fountain at the Valletta bus station, you would have found it very difficult to see two buses of exactly the same design. Most of them had locally built bodies. On the front of the buses carried names like Dodge, Leyland, Bedford etc. You were equally likely to find football pennants(锦旗)and the like decorating the cabs. Real bus experts would have recognized that these were there mainly for decorative reasons, and were seldom an accurate reflection of the vehicle's origins.

    Nowadays much more modern buses are to be found at the Floriana bus station. They are more environmentally friendly and possibly even more comfortable than the older types. However, I miss the old buses. I remember, when you boarded your bus, you had to prepare the correct change to pay the usually bad-tempered driver as you got on. If you were seated anywhere near the front, you would have noticed that most drivers sat well to the right of their steering wheel. The reason for this, as any Maltese would tell you, was to leave space for their pet to sit alongside them. I wonder where the pet sits these days.