Have you ever had the following experience? You have been given the task of organizing a conference, which includes a must-do list about a mile long. There are the conference site, the guest list, the materials, the technology and even the food and drink to think about and plan. If you are beginning to feel the stress, slow down and take a breath. 【小题1】

Write down your goals. You will need to clearly define what you hope to accomplish with this conference because this will shape the rest of your decisions.【小题2】

Develop your budget.【小题3】 Then break that budget into different parts such as the conference site, materials and speakers’ fees. Stick to your budget, and make sure your assistants are keeping their monetary limits as well.

【小题4】 When searching for locations, keep in mind the number of participants, the convenience of the location, parking and closeness to public transportation, airports and hotels. Your goal in finding a place to hold the conference should be making it as easy as possible for participants to attend.

Seek help from the staff of the conference site. If you have chosen a site that is known for holding conferences, you can seek help from the staff there as organizing meetings is what they do every day.【小题5】 They should be able to answer any questions or concerns and provide advice when needed.

Of course, full preparations also include a walk-through. Go to the site and meet with the staff the day before to be certain that everything is in place and to take care of any small details.

   Holding on regret is like dragging (拖) the weight of the past with us everywhere we go. It consumes our _________, leaving less available for life in the present _________ we are constantly feeding an old issue. This attachment can _________illness the same way watering a dead plant creates decay (腐烂).We know that _________ new and beautiful can grow in its place if we only prepare the soil and plant the right seeds. We also know that we create our lives from our _________, so focusing on the past may actually recreate a situation in our lives where we are _________ to make the choice again and again. We can choose to move _________right now by applying what we have learned to the present and perhaps even sharing with others, _________ the energy into something that is constructive and creative for ourselves and others.

Forgiveness can heal _________. In meditation (冥想), we can ____________discussing the issue with the self of our past and ____________our forgiveness for the choice. ____________, we can ask for ourselves' forgiveness for keeping them locked in that space of judgment for so long. We may also want to ask for ____________from anyone else who may have been ____________and perhaps offer our forgiveness. By replaying the event in our ____________, we can choose a new ending using all that we now know. Imagine that you have actually gone back into the ____________ and made this change, and then say goodbye to it. ____________your former self with a hug and bring the forgiveness and love back with you to the present. Since we are usually hard on ourselves, it is amazing how ____________ healing it can be to offer ourselves love.

Keeping our minds and our energy fully in the present allows us to fuel our ____________ and emotional well-being today. This action frees our energy to create the dreams we dream for the future. By ____________responsibility and action in the present, we can let go of the past.

Yours,

Li Hua

Ways to Be Happy in Life

Happiness is very important. If you are not happy, life can become meaningless. What can you do to be happy? Here are several ways to help.

1. 【小题1】.

Having things to expect helps keep you positive and happy. It might be a holiday you’ve booked, or a concert. Make sure you regularly provide yourself with things that you desire to do.

2. Have a laugh.

Laughter is fantastic medicine for the soul. Seek out people who is humorous and make you laugh. Avoid those negative people. Watch some funny films. Learn to laugh at yourself and things around you. 【小题2】.

3. Exercise!

Through millions of years of evolution, we are designed to work physically harder than most of us do. This leaves us with extra unburned energy.

【小题3】 This could be the gym, swimming, playing tennis etc. Exercise also produces some feel-good chemical substance (物质) in your body, leaving you feeling great afterwards.

4. Watch your stress levels.

Stress is harmful to your health. 【小题4】 Can you off-load some responsibility? Maybe talk to your boss about getting some help? If things can’t be improved, then consider finding a new job.

5. Don’t be a people pleaser.

【小题5】 Learn to say no to people who ask for too much. Do things that make you happy, even if people in your life don’t approve. As long as it isn’t harming anyone else, then chase what you feel you want to do.

   So let’s say that you’re sitting at a restaurant and when your food arrives, you take one bite and decide that something is preventing you from taking a second bite. No matter what the reason is, this dish is going back to the kitchen, and now it’s up to you to find a way to send it back politely.

First of all, the single most important thing to do when you’re sending something back is to do it immediately. If you eat half the dish before sending it back, the server and kitchen will believe that you really don’t need to send it back.

If a dish is too salty that it cannot be eaten, you should first let the server know what the situation is, and they’ll take it back to the kitchen and bring you a new one. Remember that it is not the server’s fault, so don’t take it out on them. Also, don’t be afraid that they’ll get angry at you, or someone will spit (吐) in your food. It’s their job to make sure that you’re satisfied, and if the kitchen clearly makes a mistake the server will be frustrated with the kitchen, not with the diner who has been served an inedible meal. A new dish will be cooked, and nobody’s going to spit in it.

There is, however, one example when you are sending back a dish which will really annoy both the server and the kitchen. If you order a pasta dish that contains pancetta but then send it back to the kitchen because you’re a vegetarian (素食者) and don’t know what pancetta is, and then congratulations because you’re one of the most unbearable types of customers a restaurant can have. A perfectly good plate of food is just thrown out because you don’t ask what pancetta is before ordering.

So the bottom line: Use common sense if you think that you need to send your dish back. If the kitchen do something wrong, then they’re on the hook for a new plate of food. If you do something wrong, then hopefully you’ve learned a lesson.