📖 Book Don't Sweat the Small Stuff … and It's All Small Stuff by Richard Carlson, PhD. Synopsis: Simple ways to keep little things from taking over your life. The book consists of 100 short articles -- we'll go through them week by week. This week’s # 10: Learn to Live in the Present Moment Here's what you need to do: 1. Read it yourself, take time to reflect on it and make notes. 2. Join the live reading on Wednesday. We'll read and listen to the article together, line by line. 3. Share your thoughts. Keep your answer under 4 minutes. Be clear, and focus on expressing your ideas about the topic to practice real English speaking. No debates, just sharing thoughts. Article # 10 Learn to Live in the Present Moment To a large degree, the measure of our peace of mind is determined by how much we are able to live in the present moment. Irrespective of what happened yesterday or last year, and what may or may not happen tomorrow, the present moment is where you are -- always! Without question, many of us have mastered the neurotic art of spending much of our lives worrying about a variety of things -- all at once. We allow past problems and future concerns to dominate our present moments, so much so that we end up anxious, frustrated, depressed, and hopeless. On the flip side, we also postpone our gratification, our stated priorities, and our happiness, often convincing ourselves that "someday" will be better than today. Unfortunately, the same mental dynamics that tell us to look toward the future will only repeat themselves so that "someday" never actually arrives. John Lennon once said, "Life is what's happening while we're busy making other plans." When we're busy making "other plans," our children are busy growing up, the people we love are moving away and dying, our bodies are getting out of shape, and our dreams are slipping away. In short, we miss out on life. Many people live as if life were a dress rehearsal for some later date. It isn't. In fact, no one has a guarantee that he or she will be here tomorrow. Now is the only time we have, and the only time that we have any control over. When our attention is in the present moment, we push fear from our minds. Fear is the concern over events that might happen in the future -- we won't have enough money, our children will get into trouble, we will get old and die, whatever.

Friday NAVI meetups -- a warm space for greetings, community news, and English time together. Today is December 12, 2025 -- the 346th day of the year, with 19 days left. We're glad you're here @Erica Chen, @Virgilia Lin, @Lucas Li, @Huang Pandora, @Cmin Cheung, @Kiki Jiang, @Ahmed Yossef, @Ashulle Peng, @Dannie Li, @Hassania Hassania, @Rory Yuan, @Wendy Bach, Wu xinlei, Lucky wang, Fan! And a special shout-out to Mr. @Qingping Jiang our "Old Jian," whose 88th birthday is coming up in just two weeks -- a wonderfully lucky, infinite number! @Shane Peterson Thank you all for sharing 2 hours, 13 minutes, and 23 seconds of your life -- time you'll never get back, so we hope it was worth it! Let's keep making every moment count. Useful Highlights: 1️⃣ CLASSROOM -- Learn from Coach Shane, record yourself, and get feedback. 2️⃣ CALENDAR -- Join live AMA sessions and practice with our coaches. 3️⃣ COMMUNITY -- Use your English with others: post, comment, and speak in the live hangouts. Thanks to everyone for your energy and open hearts. See you next time! ❤️