There is a test for you. Which way is the wind blowing? How many kinds of wildflowers can be seen from your front door? If your awareness (意识) is as sharp as it could be, you’ll have no trouble answering these questions.

Most of us observed much more as children than we do as adults. A child’s day is filled with, newness and wonder. Curiosity gave us all a natural awareness. But differences that were sharp to us as children become unclear; we are numb (麻木的)to new stimulation (刺激), new ideas. Relearning the art of seeing the world around us is quite simple, although it takes practice and requires breaking some bad habits.

The first step in awakening senses is to stop predicting what we are going to see and feel before it occurs. This blocks awareness. One cold night when I was hiking in the Rocky Mountains with some students, I mentioned that we were going to cross a mountain stream. The students began complaining about how cold it would be. We reached the stream, and they unwillingly walked ahead. They were almost knee-deep when they realized it was a hot spring (泉水). Later they all admitted they’d felt cold water at first.

Another block to awareness is the obsession (痴迷) many of us have with naming things. I saw bird watchers who spotted a bird, immediately looked it up in field guides to check its name, and said, a “ruby-crowned kinglet”. They no longer paid attention to the bird and never learned what it was doing.

The pressures of “time” and “destination (目的地)” are further blocks to awareness. I met many hikers who were headed to a distant camp-ground with just enough time to get there before dark. It seldom occurred to them to wander a bit, to take a moment to see what’s around them. I asked them what they’d seen. “Oh, a few birds,” they said. They seemed bent on their destinations.

Nature seems to unfold to people who watch and wait. Next time you take a walk, no matter where it is, take in all the sights, sounds and sensations. Wander in this way and you will open a new dimension (维度) to your life.

Marjorie grew up with a sense of worthlessness. Again and again her father said she would never accomplish anything in life. He told her she was a loser and that anything she did was sure to end in failure. With these words constantly ringing in her ears she grew up looking for someone who would love her and see her as a person of worth. This led her into relationships that disappointed her, ending in pain yet, which was another proof that she was worthless and unlovable. Where does our sense of self-worth come from?

It is true that the foundation for a person’s self-worth is laid in the home. Words that we hear in our home can build or tear down our worth. Encouraging words are words of life to us while words of criticism are words of death. Other people like teachers, friends and employers add to the collection of life-giving death words in a person’s heart. Over time a person begins to see themselves in the light of these words. In this situation can one develop a sense of worth?

Feeling worthless is possibly the most obvious symptom of low self-esteem（自尊心）. But it’s easy to overcome. However tough your childhood is, you can still choose to enrich the world every day simply by the way you interact with others and make caring decisions. Whether we contribute anything or not is a choice. Feeling worthless means that you’re not doing as well in the areas that matter to you and therefore you need to try to increase your self-esteem. To feel worthwhile, you’ll have to really work at it and never give up on yourself.

All human beings are capable of adding value to society, including you. Thus there are no excuses for saying things like “I’m worthless, stupid, useless” because you have the choice not to be any of these things.

Do the right Thing

In life, people feel most satisfied when they choose options that side with their most deeply values. Here's how to stay true to yours.

If you hope to have your life shaped according to your ideals, you have to know what those ideals are. Perhaps begin sessions by identifying the concepts that are most important from a list: honesty, structure, family and so on. Those qualities are influenced by your parents, your culture and society as a whole, but you have to take ownership of your own decisions.

Almost all of these qualities are things most of us desire to hold dear. To determine which principles are more than just desires, reflect on situations that resonate(共鸣) with yourself.

Identifying your values will guide you in the right direction, but a few strategies can help you follow through. Before you make a big decision, do something that will put you in high spirits: exercise, socialize with friends, volunteer. Researchers theorize that such activities improve our mood, which promotes dopamine levels in certain areas of the brain, improving our cognitive abilities and helping us weigh different options.

Trouble is the toughest decisions often arrive at the most inconvenient times. When you’re under force, ask a family member, a friend or in certain cases, a professional for advice. They can provide advice that’s not slightly influenced by the work deadline, or leaky roof gradually weakening your mental energy.

Of course, people make decisions that contradict their ideals all the time. There are lots of values we hold dear and they frequently come into conflict with one another. It’s not so much that people don’t know what they want: it’s that there are many things we desire, and we don’t always know how.

While a single decision can seem like a tug-of-war between competing desires, broader life choices don’t need to be a definitive either/or question. One who likes traveling worldwide might temporarily put off a grand trip to explore locations closer to home or commit to setting aside time for vacation with their family every summer, no matter what else comes up.

Surround yourself with people who, besides sharing your passion, can also prevent you from hesitating. A group can remind you, “Hey, we’re doing this because we love it. ”If you’re still struggling, even after seeking out community support, there’s no shame in revising your core values. If you’re determined to take part in a charity program but spend the evening with friends instead, it may be time to accept that friendship is more important to you than volunteerism. Better yet, find opportunities to continue the charity program with your friends.

You may learn that what you believed was a core priority actually has much more to do with living: up to what your parents, co-workers or others expect. If your values agree with who you really are, no one will have to ask you to make those choices.