How to Find Happiness: 7 Timeless Tips from the Last 2500 Years
尋找幸福：歷經(jīng)2500年荏苒時光凝練而出的7條建議
by Henrik Edberg
撰文：Henrik Edberg
翻譯：花の雪
你想要的是什么？ 一份好工作？ 一段美滿的感情？ 駕駛著私家豪華游艇到太平洋去暢游幾年？ 還是更好地善待自己？ 也許你想要的不限于上面所提到那幾個。 如果你思考得更深刻點(diǎn)的話，你就會在這些普遍的愿望之后發(fā)現(xiàn)另一個美好的愿望躺在那里：發(fā)現(xiàn)幸福。 1.由你來選擇。 Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. The world of those who are happy is different from the world of those who are not. 對于大多數(shù)人而言，自己內(nèi)心覺得有多幸福那他們就有多幸福。 ------ 亞伯拉罕·林肯 創(chuàng)造幸福生活所需不多；它就存在于你身上，在你思考萬物的方式里。 ------ 馬可·奧勒留·安東尼·奧古斯都 快樂的人和不快樂的人所生活的世界是兩個不同的世界。 ------ 路德維?！ぞS特根斯坦 你看待自身與世界的方式出自于你有意識的選擇和習(xí)慣。你所選擇的看待萬物的視角決定了你會對當(dāng)下正在發(fā)生的事件做出何種解讀。同時，它也出自于你自身所做出的行為反應(yīng)。而這一切組成了你的生活。 你可以從日常小事中去尋找幸福。你可以以一種積極的方式去解讀眼前所發(fā)生的一切。或者，以一種消極的心態(tài)去生活。而你所做出的選擇決定了你在生活中能發(fā)現(xiàn)或創(chuàng)造多大的幸福。 2.專注于當(dāng)下，而不是昨天，也不是明天。 When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet. 當(dāng)一扇幸福之門關(guān)閉時，另一扇就會打開，而我們常?；ㄙM(fèi)了太多時間注視著這扇緊閉之門，以至于忽視了那扇已為我們敞開著的幸福之門。 ------ 海倫·凱勒 愚蠢的人到遠(yuǎn)方去尋找幸福，智慧的人在自己腳下播種幸福。 ------ 詹姆斯·奧本海默 你只擁有當(dāng)下。昨天已成為一份記憶，你無法改變它。明天只不過是存在于你腦海中的一片幻景。所以，活在當(dāng)下，專注于眼前的時刻以及今天。少思慮、少擔(dān)憂昨天和明天。不然，一大筆幸福就會在此刻與你失之交臂。 3.不要忘了心存感激。 Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it. We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. 人們總是計(jì)數(shù)自己所遭遇的麻煩，卻不去計(jì)數(shù)自己擁有的歡樂。如果要人也數(shù)數(shù)快樂的話，就會發(fā)現(xiàn)，在每一份不開心的背后都隱藏著足夠多的幸福。 ------ 陀思妥耶夫斯基 我們忘了幸福感其實(shí)并不是因?yàn)槲覀兊玫搅宋丛鴵碛械臇|西而體會到的感受，它更多的是來自于發(fā)現(xiàn)并珍惜自己已經(jīng)擁有的東西。 ------ 佛雷德里克·科恩 讓我們以感激之心去面對使自己開心快樂的人吧，因?yàn)樗麄冋鞘刮覀兊撵`魂得以綻放的園丁。 ------ 馬賽爾·普魯斯特 一個將消極、愁眉苦臉的心境轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)榉e極的心態(tài)的最為簡單并快速的方法就是感激。 能夠讓你心懷感激的幾件小事有：陽光和好天氣。你的房子。你的健康。一檔精彩的電視節(jié)目、電影或一首歌。 你可以親身去試一下并看看它是如何改變你的感覺的。并且這也是個雙贏的解決方案。你感覺很棒是因?yàn)槟愀屑み@個世界，而你所感激的那些人也感覺很棒，因?yàn)樗麄兏惺艿搅吮蝗速p識的感覺。所以，不要忘了感激，不然你就會遺忘本來就已存在于你生活中的幸福。 4.幫助別人找到幸福。 Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give. Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap. Happiness is like a kiss. You must share it to enjoy it. 因?yàn)槟憧梢酝ㄟ^給予他人歡樂而獲得更多的歡樂，所以你應(yīng)該多花些心思在那些你能夠給予他人的幸福上。 ------ 埃莉諾·羅斯福 數(shù)千枚蠟燭都可以被一支蠟燭點(diǎn)燃，而且蠟燭的壽命也不會因此而減少。幸福感也不會因?yàn)榉窒矶鴾p半。 ------ 佛陀 如果你想要一小時的幸福感------那就打個盹吧。 如果你想要一整天的幸福感------那就去釣魚吧。 如果你想要一整年的幸福感------那就去繼承一筆財(cái)產(chǎn)吧。 如果你想要一輩子的幸福感------那就去幫助別人吧。 ------ 中國諺語 幸福就像是一個吻。你只有通過與他人分享才能享受它。 ------ 伯納德·梅爾澤爾 這無疑是我所找到的關(guān)于幸福的最流行的想法理念。也許它們聽上去有點(diǎn)天真和空洞。但它們確實(shí)很有效。當(dāng)你給別人帶去快樂時------比如幫助他們完成了某件事------你就可以感覺到、看到、聽到幸福。而那種幸福感會反饋給你。然后，假如你喜歡的話，你可以得意洋洋地想：“噢，我真的給他/她帶來了快樂！” 因?yàn)榛セ莘▌t非常強(qiáng)大，所以另外一個好處就是：人們會樂于給予你回報(bào)?；蛘咚麄儠酚趲椭渌娜耍⑴c他們分享這種快樂。這樣的話，就有兩個或兩個以上的人在分享幸福。 5.摒棄一些沒有價(jià)值的欲望。 If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires. You can never get enough of what you don’t need to make you happy. That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest. 如果你愿意成為一個快樂的人，那么就不要追逐財(cái)富并摒棄你的欲望。 ------ 伊壁鳩魯 你永遠(yuǎn)都無法通過獲得那些你不需要的東西來使你感到快樂。 ------ 艾瑞克·霍夫 那個最富有的人的歡樂是最低價(jià)的。 ------ 亨利·戴維·梭羅 如果你渴望得越是少而不是很多很多，那么你的欲望很容易就可以被填滿。而且，如果你能夠?qū)⒛切┠愀揪筒恍枰挠麃G掉的話，你就能夠少些憂慮與壓力。這樣你就會更享受每一天，而且你會發(fā)現(xiàn)那些早已存在于你生活中的幸福(第三條建議）。 6.做你所喜歡做的事。 Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. 成功并不是通向幸福的鑰匙。幸福才是通向成功的鑰匙。如果你熱愛你所做的事，那么你就會成功。 ----- 埃爾伯特·斯威茲格 幸福并不單單存在于財(cái)富里，它更多地存在于歡樂與創(chuàng)造性努力中。 ------ 富蘭克林·D·羅斯福特 這一條所將的道理是顯而易見的。但是你很容易就會讓自己陷于這樣的境地中：你花費(fèi)了許多的時間卻在做著你不喜歡做的事，而且你很少去做那些你真正熱愛的事。我猜想，這下你可以跳到第一條建議中去了。也許，你目前無法選擇去做那些你喜歡做的事，而且在一天或一周的大部分時間里你都無法去做你真正熱愛的事。但是，你一直都擁有多花點(diǎn)時間去做你真正喜歡的事情的權(quán)利。時間總是有點(diǎn)。挪出了點(diǎn)時間，你就自由了。你有選擇的余地。 7.至少要做點(diǎn)什么吧。 行動也許不會帶來幸福；但是沒有行動的話就一定不會有幸福。 ------ 本杰明·迪斯累里 從今天起到未來的二十年里，你所沒有做過的事比起那些你做過的事，會更讓你感到沮喪。所以，扔掉帆索，從安全的港灣揚(yáng)帆起航吧。勇敢向前，乘風(fēng)破浪。探索、夢想、發(fā)現(xiàn)。 ------ 馬克·吐溫 錯過幸福的最佳方式就是讓自己無所事事地停留在原地，很少去付諸行動，花太多的時間去做理論分析。采取行動并不是件容易的事，它充滿了艱辛與苦痛。但是，如果你不去行動的話，你會錯過許多，包括許多會給你帶來幸福的時刻、朋友以及經(jīng)驗(yàn)。（完）
What do you want?
A great job?
A fulfilling relationship?
Go sailing around the Pacific for a few years in your very own luxurious boat?
Or just to get along better with yourself?
Perhaps you want one of more of those things.
But beneath those and many common wishes, if you take it a step further, often lies a wish to find happiness.
One good way to find a few useful, life-improving and time-tested tips is to look back. To look way back through history. To find ideas that have arisen in minds over and over the last few thousand years. Here are seven such ideas about how you can find happiness. Maybe you?′ll find them helpful.
1. You choose.
Abraham Lincoln
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Ludwig WittgensteinHow your view yourself and your world are conscious choices and habits. The lens you choose to view everything through determines how you will interpret what is happening. And from your interpretation you act. And all of this becomes your life.
You can choose to find happiness in small, everyday things. You can choose to interpret what happens in a positive way. Or in a negative way.
And your choices controls much of how much happiness your will find and create in your life.
2. Focus on the present, not yesterday or tomorrow.
Helen Keller
James OppenheimYou only have now. And now. And now. Yesterday is a memory and you cannot change it. Tomorrow is just a fantasy in your mind right now. So live more in the now, focus on the present moment and today. Think and worry less about yesterday and tomorrow. Otherwise you might miss a great deal of happiness that is available to you right now.
3. Don’t forget to be grateful.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Frederick Keonig
Marcel ProustOne of the simplest and quickest ways to turn a negative and sour mood into a more positive one is to be grateful.
A few things you can feel gratitude for are for instance: The sunshine and the weather. Your roof. Your health. A good TV-show, a movie or a song.
Your friends, family, co-workers and just about anyone walking down the street.
Just try if for a minute and see how it changes how you feel. And it’s a win/win solution. You feel great because you are grateful about your world and the people you are grateful for feel great too because they feel appreciated. So don?′t forget about gratitude or you may forget about the happiness that is already in your life.
4. Help someone else find happiness.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Buddha
If you want happiness for a day — go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year — inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime — help someone else.
Chinese Proverb
Bernard MeltzerThis is certainly one of the most popular ideas I’ve found about happiness. And it might sound clich??d and empty. But it works very well. When you make someone else happy – by, for example, helping them with something – you can sense, see, feel and hear it. And that happy feeling flows back to you. And then, if you’d like, you can boost you own ego by thinking something like: ”Wow, I really made him/her happy!”.
And since the Law of Reciprocity is strong there is another upside. People will feel like giving back to you.
Or they might feel like helping/sharing it with someone else.
And so the two – or more – of you keep spreading the happiness.
5. Get rid of a couple of your less valuable desires.
Epicurus
Eric Hoffer
Henry David ThoreauIf you want less instead of more, more, more then your desires are more likely to be fulfilled. And if you
throw away a few of those desires that you may not really want or need that much anyway you’ll probably start to feel less stressed and worried. This is a calmer and better place to be to enjoy your day (tip #2) and to take the time discover the happiness that is already in your life (tip #3).
6. Do what you like to do.
Albert Schweitzer
Franklin D. RooseveltA pretty obvious one. But it’s still easy to trap yourself into doing what you don’t want to for many, many hours. And seldom do what you really love to do. And I guess this one ties into tip #1. You may not be able to choose to do what you want to do right now. Or for many hours each day or week. But you almost always have a choice to do more of what you really want to do. There is always time. Or time you can free up. You have a choice.
7. Or at least do something.
Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.Benjamin Disraeli
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain
One of the best ways to not find happiness is just to hold yourself back and do nothing. Seldom show up. Paralyze yourself through over analysis. It’s not always easy to take action, it can be scary and hard and difficult. But if you don’t take action you’ll be missing out on a lot. Including many moments, people and experiences that can bring you a lot of happiness.
