As the pace of life continues to increase, we are fast losing the art of relaxation. _______ you are in the habit of rushing through life, being on the go（忙碌）from morning till night, it is hard to _______. But relaxation is _______ for a healthy mind and body.

Stress is a（n）_______ part of everyday life and there is no way to _______ it. In fact, it is not the bad thing that it is often supposed to be. A _______ amount of stress is important to provide motivation and give _______ to life. It is only when stress gets out of control that it can lead to poor performance and _______ health.

The amount of stress a person can bear _______ very much on the individual. Some people are not afraid of stress, and such a ________ is obviously chief material for managerial responsibilities. Others lose heart at the ________ of unusual difficulties. When exposed to stress, in whatever form, we ________ both chemically and physically. In fact we make a choice between ________ and fight. And in more ancient days the choices made the ________ between life and death. The crises we meet today are ________ to be so extreme, but however little the stress, it requires the same response. It is when such a reaction ________ long, through continued exposure to stress, that health becomes ________. Such serious conditions as high blood pressure and heart disease have ________ links with stress. Since we cannot ________ stress from our lives we need to find ways to ________ it.

So what do you think of stress? What is your way to deal with it?

Joe bought his first white car with dark red leather seat. Before that, Joe studied for six weeks to get a driving license. Lucky, he passed the written test or the test of driving skills. With a permit in hand, Joe still felt drive himself was scary. So he asked his uncle help him to practice driving skillfully. His uncle promised to do that. However, Joe was requiring to commit 100 percent as his uncle had taught. After a month full with struggle and hard work, Joe made a great progress. He finally learned how to drive his car on their own. Although it is scary at first, driving eventually became easy for Joe.

   Next week, strangers with a truck will take away everything we own, except the clothes on our backs, the car we will drive, and as much stuff as we can pack into it. It's called moving. Some people do it often. For others, like me, it's a rare experience. In all my adult years, I've moved only three times.

My first husband and I moved into our first house with a bed, our clothes and a few gifts. That was a lifetime ago. Over the years, I filled that house with three children, a few dogs and enough stuff to reach the ceiling.

When the kids grew up, I lost my husband to cancer, and I began to learn about letting go. First, I let go of the idea of being in control. Life isn’t about being in charge of what happens; it's about being in charge of what we do with it. Next, I let go of putting off the things I care most about, like keeping in touch with the people that mean the most to me. I let go of the people whose lives are about anger or hatred, and tried instead to surround myself with those who shine with kindness. Finally, I let go of being alone---I remarried. I eventually moved to a new city with my new husband, and after that move, I promised I'd stop collecting meaningless things. But 12 years later, here I am, still learning about letting go.

Yesterday, while cleaning out a dresser, I found a box filled with old keepsakes. Nothing in that box may mean much to anyone, except me. They are treasures for me because of the memories they preserve. We finally decided to keep them, hold them close and never let them go. We’ll all move someday from this world to the next, but we won't need a truck to do it. We'll take nothing with us and leave behind a memory of the life we lived, the mistakes we made, and all the love and kindness we tried to show. That memory might not be a treasure, but if we're lucky, someone will keep it and hold it close and never let it go.

Yours,

Li Hua