If you want your life to stand for peace and kindness, it's helpful to do kind, peaceful things. One of my favorite ways to do this is by developing my own helping rituals（典礼，仪式）. These little acts of kindness are opportunities to be of service and reminders of how good it feels to be kind and helpful.
We live in a rural area of the San Francisco Bay Area. Most of what we see is beauty and nature. One of the exceptions to the beauty is the litter that some peop le throw out of their windows as they are driving on the rural roads. One of the few drawbacks to living out the boondocks is that public services, such as litter collection, are less available than they are closer to the city.
A helping ritual that I practice regularly with my two children is picking up litter in our surrounding area. We've become so accustomed to doing this that my daughters will often say to me in animated voices, "There's some litter, Daddy, stop the car!" And if we have time, we will often pull over and pick it up. It may seem strange, but we actually enjoy it. We pick up litter in parks, on sidewalks, practically anywhere. Once I even saw a complete stranger picking up litter close to where we live. He smiled at me and said, "I saw you doing it, and it seemed like a good idea."
Picking up litter is only one of an endless supply of possible helping rituals. You might like holding a door open for people, visiting lonely elderly people in nursing homes, or shoveling（铲除） snow off someone else's driveway. Think of something that seems effortless yet helpful. It's fun, personally rewarding, and sets a good example. Everyone wins.
相关单词：helping
helping解释：n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的
helping例句：
The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
相关单词：ritual
ritual解释：adj.例行的，老规矩的，惯常的
ritual例句：
This was the monthly ritual.这是每月一次的例规。
I realized that here the conventions required me to make the ritual noises.我意识到此时按照惯例我应该说些客套话。
相关单词：rituals
rituals解释：（宗教等的）仪式( ritual的名词复数 )； 例行公事，老规矩
rituals例句：
A cognac before bed is one of our little nightly rituals. 临睡之前喝点儿干邑是我们每天晚上的小习惯之一。
Many of the tribe's customs and rituals are as old as the hills. 这部落的许多风俗、仪式都极其古老。
相关单词：reminders
reminders解释：n.令人回忆起…的东西( reminder的名词复数 )；提醒…的东西；（告知该做某事的）通知单；提示信
reminders例句：
The film evokes chilling reminders of the war. 这部电影使人们回忆起战争的可怕场景。
The strike has delayed the mailing of tax reminders. 罢工耽搁了催税单的投寄。
相关单词：drawbacks
drawbacks解释：缺点，不利条件，障碍( drawback的名词复数 )
drawbacks例句：
The house had many drawbacks, most notably its price. 这房子有很多缺陷，尤其是它的价格。
This method has quite a few drawbacks. 这种做法弊病不少。
相关单词：animated
animated解释：adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的
animated例句：
His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。
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