Reading_B2_Why I Always Sign My Mail Like This
Read the article below and be sure to highlight and note any new vocabulary words.
Complete the exercises at the end of the article to further improve your English vocabulary and skills.
Prepare a 2 minute presentation about the details of the story for the beginning of next class.
Why I Always Sign My Mail Like This
Have you ever wondered what to use as your email signature? Take a look at the excerpt below from doctor Steven C. Hayes who tells us all about his unique ideas around email signatures.
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For many years, I have signed emails with this simple closing line: "peace, love, and life". These words hang in hand-crafted signs on the wall of my home. I've never said why I sign things that way – but I will do that now because it seems very relevant to this moment of rapid worldwide change. I think those three words provide a guide for what to do.
Peace of mind is planted by openness to experience and the wholeness of awareness itself. You get to practice that in your waking day – but as you calm your mind and release your grasping you train the more ancient parts of you to see your current situation as psychologically safe. The alarm systems are quieted. Needless brain activity and interconnectivity that emerges from excessive attempts at verbal regulation or defense of a narrative "self" all begin to fade. The parts of your nervous system that turn down arousal kick in. You are less busy while asleep. Your body begins to reflect the peace of mind you've learned to produce.
You do not control this process the way you control which section of the morning paper to read first. Your influence is by focusing on the ability you have to respond while awake. You take "response-ability” for your life in the areas you are able to respond.
Love is about purpose. It's who and how you want to be in the world – with yourself and with others. It's a choice, not so much a feeling. It's your values in action – the commitments you make to create positive, healthy, caring habits, instead of indulging yourself in cynicism, judgement, resentment, hopelessness, anger, and victimhood as your daily diet. When you feed your whole self – your whole body, heart, and mind – a diet of loving purpose that you choose, you are also programming your more ancient neurobiological systems to be prepared for a positive challenge. It's going to be a great day the next day. Even if that day is filled with chaos and things you do not like, you can love the challenge of being the best you – that person who can love and care for others (and yourself) even amidst a chaotic and challenging world.
And life is the process of putting all of that together and creating your problems on purpose, just as a game – as a puzzle to play with. You already have won the game – the first two steps make that a certainty, regardless of the situation. But now you get to change situations, not as a "fix" (meant either as a repair or as a grasping attempt to hold positive feelings in place) but as an expression of a life worth living. You can decide to create that business, or start that contemplative practice, or to read that book, or to learn that guitar piece, or to call that sick friend, or to try to create the good trouble that may meet that human need or solve that injustice or change that unfair situation you see in the world. That whole process is called "life."
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Peace, love, and life.
REFLECTIONS:
Do you use a special email signature for your work? How about your personal emails? Why did you choose your signature? Would you ever consider changing it?
Take a look at the email signatures below - what message do they convey?
Informal or Personal Alternatives to Sincerely
1. With Love
2. Happy Summer!
3. I hope you have a great day!
4. Warmest Regards,
5. Bye for now…
6. Gotta Boogie!
7. Lots of Love,
8. Your Friend,
9. Yours ‘til the Cat Meows!
10. Yours Respectfully,
Formal or Business Alternatives to Sincerely
11. Cordially,
12. Yours Respectfully,
13. Best Regards,
14. With Appreciation,
15. Warmly,
16. Thank you for your assistance in this matter,
17. Thank you for your time,
18. Your help is greatly appreciated,
19. Thank you for your recommendation,
20. In Appreciation,
Alternatives to Sincerely for a Cover Letter
21. Thank You,
22. Thank You for Your Consideration,
23. Respectfully,
24. Respectfully Yours,
25. Most Sincerely,
26. With Best Regards,
27. Kind Regards,
28. Best,
29. Happy Regards,
30. Best Regards,
Full excerpt at Psychology Today
