When we’re young, we don’t always know what interests us. We often learn skills or _________ hobbies to please our parents. As an adult, I wanted to develop one I _________, so I went to trade school.

I entered a cabinetmaking (家具制造) _________. I didn’t think I would be good at building furniture. I had great teachers, but making furniture is _________. There are so many steps and something can go wrong at each one. I was not even a(n) _________ person. My toolbox always looked like a hurricane had gone through it.

I didn’t fully know what I was _________ to at the beginning, but I kept going to class. Doing _________ work and giving it 100 percent of my effort had huge benefits for my mental health. I _________ my fear of embarrassment and asked for help at every opportunity.

I spent that year truly learning. True learning is a humbling (使人谦逊的) experience. I could understand exactly what was wrong with the _________ I made, but I couldn’t ______________ my mistakes. And yet, I kept trying. And failing. And ______________ again. Until I learned to fail better.

I finished the program — with honors, no less! My ______________ were helped by my good wooden work. I also learned how to use tools. Having to ______________ push beyond my comfort zone has made me a more ______________ person. Maybe most importantly, trade school gave me a more realistic idea of my ______________ and limitations. I’m stronger than I thought!

Since I was young. I've noticed _______ in people's hairstyles, clothes, facial expressions and behaviors. I like noticing the world around me and I _______ the power of paying attention.

I grew up on our family farm. My grandpa always had an eye on the sky, _______the clouds and their various colors. He knew when the soybeans got the _______ of brown paper bags it was time to _______. Farming is about noticing and paying attention.

My mother and grandmother _______ everything from curtains to clothes. My mother made quite a few of my _______ and her pattern work was so _______. My aunt Becky knit socks and sweaters. The patterns looked like a foreign language to me, but they were road maps my mother followed _______ If she noticed a __________ stitch(一针), she would follow seriously __________ The women in my family practiced __________crafts, requiring precision and an eye for __________ attention to color combinations and a love of a __________ world.

Noticing was all around me. It was the clothes on my body, the __________ in the fields, and the clouds in the sky.

I'm teaching how to write and seeing details is my job. Nothing is too small to __________Paying attention is my occupation. Through paying attention to my __________carefully, I can get to know more about them than before. So if I notice that their eyes look __________ instead of bright. I will know why. The world is __________ one detail after another, and by opening my eyes to each of them, I can see the world much more __________much more broadly.

When you are living a fully-scheduled life, every minute counts. No matter how many ways you divide your ________, there’s never enough time in a day to catch up.

Six years ago, I was ________ with a care-free, stop-and-smell-the-roses type of ________. When I needed to rush out, she was taking her sweet ________ picking out a purse and a shining crown. When I needed to have a ________ lunch, she’d stop to speak to the elderly woman who looked like her grandma. Whenever my child caused me to deviate (偏离) from my main ________, I thought to myself, we don’t have time for this. ________, the two words I most commonly spoke to my little lover of life were: “________!”

Then one day, things ________. We’d just picked up my older daughter from kindergarten and were getting out of the car. Seeing her little sister not going fast enough for her liking, my older daughter said, “You are so slow.” When the older one crossed her own arms, it dawned on me that her annoyed look ________ that of mine. I saw the ________ my hurried existence was doing to both of my children.

Though my ________ to slow down was made almost three years ago, living at a slower pace still ________ great effort. My younger daughter is my living ________ of why I must keep trying. In fact, she reminded me once again the other day. When I thought my little child was going to eat the last ________ of an ice cream, she held out a spoonful of it. “I saved the last for you,” she said. At that moment, I ________I’d just got the deal of a lifetime. I gave my child a little time, and unexpectedly, ________, she reminded me that things taste ________ and love comes easier when you stop ________ through life.

Pausing to delight in the simple joys of daily life is the only way to truly live. Trust me, I learned from the world’s born ________ in joyful living.