评论
打印
A few days ago, I wake up to the coldest and snowiest day we've had.
几天以前，我醒来后经历了最寒冷、雪最大的一天。
I go outside to warm up the car, and my first thought is "This sucks!"
我出去热车，首先想的就是“糟糕透了！”
But after a few seconds, another thought enters my head:
但过了几秒钟，另一个想法进入了我的脑海：
"How cool is it that you're going to warm up the car, so that when your girlfriend comes down,
“你去热车是多么酷的一件事，那样等你女朋友下来后，
she won't be cold? You couldn't do that if it wasn't freezing."
她就不会冷了不是吗？如果不结冰你都没机会那么做。”
And I thought, "Wow, this is an opportunity for me to really live the ideas
我就想，“哇，对我来说这是一个机会，让我真的践行了
I've been reading about in positive psychology lately."
最近读过的积极心理学的观点。”
So I get into the car and turn the key, but now it won't start.
所以我上车转动钥匙，但是发动不了。
I'm freezing and the battery is dead. And again,
我冻僵了电池也用完了。然后我又想，
my initial instinct kicks in and I want to say, "This is the worst morning I've ever had!"
第一直觉想说。“这是我经历的最糟糕的早晨！”
And then another thought comes to my mind: "This is awesome.
然后另一个想法浮现：“这太棒了。
It's another opportunity for you to show that you can fix any problem, especially something this small.
这对你来说是另一个机会，能够展现出你可以处理任何问题，尤其是小问题。
Can you convince a stranger to help you jump start the car?"
你能说服一个陌生人帮你发动车子吗？”
And I thought, "Okay, that's kind of cool."
我想，“好的，那太酷了。”
And by that time, my girlfriend comes out, and of course I use her to convince a male stranger to help us.
就在那时，我女朋友出来了，当然了我让她去说服一位陌生男性来帮助我们。
When he pulled up his car, he might have been slightly disappointed to see that the cute girl also had a boyfriend,
当他停下车的时候，看到这个可爱的女生有男朋友了可能有点小失落，
but we actually got to know each other, and it turns out I have a really cool neighbor.
但我们开始了解对方，事实证明我有个如此酷的邻居。
So I hook up the cars, and in two seconds I have a working car.
所以我套好车子，两秒后我的车子发动了。
And for some reason, when I get back in the car, I feel like the happiest man alive.
不知为什么，回到车里后，我感觉自己是最幸福的人。
That is, until I start driving the Mustang and realize that I'm swerving and sliding everywhere like crazy.
直到我开着野马，意识到我的车疯了一样在到处打滑。
And at this point, I really really want to be negative,
此时，我真想发疯，
but I look over at my girlfriend and surprise myself with what I say,
但是看了看女友，我对自己说的话都很好奇，
"How cool is it that I get to practice driving a Mustang in this weather?
“在这种天气里练习驾驶野马是多么酷的一件事？
If I can drive this, I can drive anything." And she said, "Yeah, that's a really cool way to look at it,"
如果在这种情况下我都能驾驶，那我就可以驾驶任何东西了。”她说，“耶，这么看待这件事简直太好了，”
and that turned out to be one of the happiest mornings I've ever had.
事实证明那是我经历的最幸福的一个早晨。
And even though I mess up with this constantly,
虽然我经常处理不好这种事情，
even with stupid little things like spilling something on my shirt, I had done it right that morning.
甚至笨拙到会把东西洒在衬衫上，但那天早上我是做对了。
I had turned the worst possible morning into one of the happiest mornings of my life.
我把人生中最糟糕的早晨变成了最幸福的早晨。
Every great thinker will tell you that there is only one way,
每个伟大的思想家都会告诉你只有一种途径，
literally only one way to attain happiness and positivity,
只有一种获得幸福和积极性的途径，
and here it is in the words of Eckhart Tolle from A New Earth,
以下是艾克哈特·托勒在《灵性的觉醒》里的说过的话，
"The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it."
“不幸的主因从来不是你的处境而是你对它的看法。”
I have seen this applied to everything from my example to my friends who lose their job to my friends who get cancer.
从我的例子到我失业的朋友患癌的朋友，我看到这句话适用于所有事情。
Viktor Frankl's masterpiece, Man's Search for Meaning,
维克多·弗兰克的杰作，《活出生命的意义》
has similar ideas of how some people are capable of doing this even in concentration camps.
里面有一些相似的观点，讲述了人们在集中营里是如何做到这一点的。
It's pretty safe to assume that almost every one of us has much better circumstances than found in a concentration camp,
我们大部分人的处境都比在集中营里要好，这个假设是可以肯定的，
so there is no excuse! There is literally no excuse for why we shouldn't all have happiness in our lives!
所以没有理由！我们的生活没有理由不幸福！
No matter how much we optimize our lives, we will never have control over the stimulus;
不管我们如何优化生活，都无法控制一些刺激因素，
however, the one thing no one can ever take away from us is our ability to choose our response.
然而，有一样别人不曾拿走的东西那就是我们的态度选择。
