活在當(dāng)下 Learn to Live in the Present Moment

理查德·卡里森/Richard Carison

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, and 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.

To combat fear, the best strategy is to learn to bring your attention back to the present. Mark Twain said, “l(fā) have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”I don't think I can say it any better. Practice keeping your attention on the here and now. Your efforts will pay great dividends.

在很大程度上，能否活在當(dāng)下是衡量我們內(nèi)心世界是否平和的一個標準。不論昨日或去年發(fā)生了什么，也不管將來會發(fā)生什么，此刻才是我們的真正所在——并且始終都是！

誠然，許多人把生命耗費在焦慮之中，我們同時對一連串的事情憂心忡忡，因此導(dǎo)致的神經(jīng)過敏幾乎成了一種我們熟稔的藝術(shù)。對過去的困惑和對未來的憂慮占據(jù)了我們當(dāng)前的每時每刻。于是，我們整日憂心忡忡，灰心喪氣，情緒低落，甚至悲觀絕望。另一方面，我們不斷推遲讓自己獲得滿足感的時間，推遲應(yīng)當(dāng)優(yōu)先考慮的事，推后自己的幸福感，并常用最有力的理由說服自己，“有一天”將會比今天更加美好。遺憾的是，如此期待未來的精神安慰只會周而復(fù)始地重復(fù)。所以，“有一天”永遠都不會真正到來。約翰·列農(nóng)曾經(jīng)說過：“生活就是我們忙于制訂其他計劃時所發(fā)生的一切?！碑?dāng)我們正制訂“其他的計劃”時，孩子們正迅速地成長，愛人或離開或死亡。我們的身體開始變形，夢想開始消逝。總之，我們正在失去生活。

許多人沉迷于對未來的幻想中。對他們而言，現(xiàn)在的生活就像是未來生活的彩排。然而，生活絕非如此。事實上，任何人都不能保證自己明天仍存于世間。此刻是我們擁有的唯一時間，也是唯一能控制的時間。當(dāng)我們的注意力集中于此刻時，就會將恐懼拋至腦后?？謶质俏覀儗ξ磥砜赡馨l(fā)生之事的擔(dān)憂——我們沒有足夠的錢，我們的孩子會陷入麻煩，我們會變老甚至死亡，等等。

戰(zhàn)勝恐懼最好的策略是，學(xué)會將注意力轉(zhuǎn)回當(dāng)下。馬克·吐溫曾說：“我一生經(jīng)歷過許多恐怖的事，但有一些純粹是偶然?！蔽蚁?，沒有比這說得更好的了。把你的注意力集中在當(dāng)下，你的付出終將有碩果回報。

詞匯筆記

dominate [?d?mineit] v. 支配；占優(yōu)勢

例 How can you dominate oneself sentiment?

怎樣能控制自己的情緒？

postpone [p?ust?p?un] v. 延期；推遲

例 We will have to postpone the meeting until next week.

我們不得不將會議推遲到下周舉行。

priority [prai??r?ti] n. 優(yōu)先；優(yōu)先權(quán)；優(yōu)先考慮的事

例 Road building is on the list of priorities.

道路建設(shè)應(yīng)是予以優(yōu)先考慮的事。

guarantee [?ɡ?r?n?ti:] n. 保證書；抵押品；保證

例 The guarantee of quality and the strong design team lays solid foundation for good prestige and market foreground.

質(zhì)量的保證和強大的設(shè)計隊伍為良好的信譽和市場前景奠定了堅實的基礎(chǔ)。

小試身手

在很大程度上，能否活在當(dāng)下，是衡量我們內(nèi)心世界是否平和的一個標準。

譯_______________

生活就是我們忙于制訂其他計劃時所發(fā)生的一切。

譯_______________

戰(zhàn)勝恐懼最好的策略是，學(xué)會將注意力轉(zhuǎn)回當(dāng)下。

譯_______________

短語家族

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.

peace of mind：明鏡止水；平靜心靈；平靜

造_______________

……the best strategy is to learn to bring your attention back to the present.

learn to：學(xué)會做；動手做；學(xué)習(xí)做某事

造_______________