愛你所有，而非愛你所愿
Loving The Life You Have, Not The One You Think You Want
Do you love your life? Or do you sometimes feel dissatisfied, certain that you’d be a lot happier if you had a bigger home, better relationships, more money, exciting leisure activities, the respect of your peers(n.同齡人,同輩)…
So many of us keep striving for happiness, convincing ourselves that a new computer game or outfit, a pay rise(漲工資）or a vacation, will somehow bring us closer. Many of us equate(v.使…同等,把…看作相同的) happiness with success – and success with money. But plenty of rich people aren’t happy.
“Those with the highest incomes spend more time working, worrying, shopping, taking care of the kids and exercising, and less time relaxing with a book or an uplifting(adj.振奮的) news story.” - The rich aren’t that happy after all, researchers suggest; The Vancouver Sun
On the other hand, you’ll often find people who seem to remain happy, cheerful and positive against all the odds（不計(jì)成?。?/strong>. Perhaps they suffer long-term health problems, or they have little cash to spare(v.抽出,付出）for non-essentials, or life has dealt them some nasty(adj.令人厭惡的）blows(n.打擊）… but they’re always smiling, and they’re uplifting to be around.
Rather than buying more, make the most of some old favourites that have been forgotten. Here’s just a few ideas that work for me:
Dust off（抹去灰塵）your recipe books(食譜書）and find some new dishes to try
Dig to the back of your closet and wear something you’ve not worn in a while
Play old computer games and revel in(著迷于) nostalgia(n.懷舊）, rather than spending $40 on a new game
Scour(v.擦洗) your bookshelves for those books you bought and never got round to reading, and finish them before buying any new books
你熱愛你的生活嗎？你是否有時(shí)會(huì)感到不滿，并深信如果有更大的家、更好的人際交往、更多的金錢、讓人興奮的休閑生活、同齡人的尊重等等，你會(huì)遠(yuǎn)比現(xiàn)在更幸福？
蕓蕓眾生都在為幸福奮斗著。一個(gè)新電腦游戲或者一套裝備，一次漲薪或者一次度假，許多人堅(jiān)信這些東西能縮短我們和幸福之間的距離。還有許多人把幸福等同于成功——金錢上的成功。然而卻有很多富人并不感到幸福。
“那些拿著高薪的人把更多的時(shí)間放在了工作、擔(dān)心、購(gòu)物、照顧孩子和鍛煉身體上，卻無(wú)暇在書中或者激勵(lì)人心的新聞故事中放松自己。”——溫哥華太陽(yáng)報(bào)的研究員表示，富人一點(diǎn)也不幸福。
而另一方面，你也會(huì)經(jīng)常看到一些人，盡管身處困境，但卻仍然保持著積極快樂(lè)的心態(tài)。他們或許正忍受著長(zhǎng)期的健康問(wèn)題，或者正承受著無(wú)錢購(gòu)買奢侈品的拮據(jù)經(jīng)濟(jì)，或者生活已讓他們?cè)馐芰颂嗥D難的打擊……但他們總能笑對(duì)人生，逆流而上。
不是購(gòu)買新東西，而是最大化利用那些被遺忘的喜愛的舊東西。下面有些主意，對(duì)我很有用：
- 重新翻開你的烹飪書，找出一些新的菜譜，并嘗試著做下
- 翻看下你的衣櫥，穿戴起你已經(jīng)丟棄了有段時(shí)間的衣服
- 玩玩一些老電腦游戲，放縱自己于往日的回憶中，而不是再花40塊錢買個(gè)新游戲
- 擦亮你的書架，找到那些買了卻無(wú)暇閱讀的書，在購(gòu)買新書之前讀完它們
