How to Find Happiness: 7 Timeless Tips from the Last 2500 Years
寻找幸福：历经2500年荏苒时光凝练而出的7条建议
by Henrik Edberg
撰文：Henrik Edberg
翻译：花の雪
你想要的是什么？ 一份好工作？ 一段美满的感情？ 驾驶着私家豪华游艇到太平洋去畅游几年？ 还是更好地善待自己？ 也许你想要的不限于上面所提到那几个。 如果你思考得更深刻点的话，你就会在这些普遍的愿望之后发现另一个美好的愿望躺在那里：发现幸福。 1.由你来选择。 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. 对于大多数人而言，自己内心觉得有多幸福那他们就有多幸福。 ------ 亚伯拉罕·林肯 创造幸福生活所需不多；它就存在于你身上，在你思考万物的方式里。 ------ 马可·奥勒留·安东尼·奥古斯都 快乐的人和不快乐的人所生活的世界是两个不同的世界。 ------ 路德维希·维特根斯坦 你看待自身与世界的方式出自于你有意识的选择和习惯。你所选择的看待万物的视角决定了你会对当下正在发生的事件做出何种解读。同时，它也出自于你自身所做出的行为反应。而这一切组成了你的生活。 你可以从日常小事中去寻找幸福。你可以以一种积极的方式去解读眼前所发生的一切。或者，以一种消极的心态去生活。而你所做出的选择决定了你在生活中能发现或创造多大的幸福。 2.专注于当下，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. 当一扇幸福之门关闭时，另一扇就会打开，而我们常常花费了太多时间注视着这扇紧闭之门，以至于忽视了那扇已为我们敞开着的幸福之门。 ------ 海伦·凯勒 愚蠢的人到远方去寻找幸福，智慧的人在自己脚下播种幸福。 ------ 詹姆斯·奥本海默 你只拥有当下。昨天已成为一份记忆，你无法改变它。明天只不过是存在于你脑海中的一片幻景。所以，活在当下，专注于眼前的时刻以及今天。少思虑、少担忧昨天和明天。不然，一大笔幸福就会在此刻与你失之交臂。 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. 人们总是计数自己所遭遇的麻烦，却不去计数自己拥有的欢乐。如果要人也数数快乐的话，就会发现，在每一份不开心的背后都隐藏着足够多的幸福。 ------ 陀思妥耶夫斯基 我们忘了幸福感其实并不是因为我们得到了未曾拥有的东西而体会到的感受，它更多的是来自于发现并珍惜自己已经拥有的东西。 ------ 佛雷德里克·科恩 让我们以感激之心去面对使自己开心快乐的人吧，因为他们正是使我们的灵魂得以绽放的园丁。 ------ 马赛尔·普鲁斯特 一个将消极、愁眉苦脸的心境转变为积极的心态的最为简单并快速的方法就是感激。 能够让你心怀感激的几件小事有：阳光和好天气。你的房子。你的健康。一档精彩的电视节目、电影或一首歌。 你可以亲身去试一下并看看它是如何改变你的感觉的。并且这也是个双赢的解决方案。你感觉很棒是因为你感激这个世界，而你所感激的那些人也感觉很棒，因为他们感受到了被人赏识的感觉。所以，不要忘了感激，不然你就会遗忘本来就已存在于你生活中的幸福。 4.帮助别人找到幸福。 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. 因为你可以通过给予他人欢乐而获得更多的欢乐，所以你应该多花些心思在那些你能够给予他人的幸福上。 ------ 埃莉诺·罗斯福 数千枚蜡烛都可以被一支蜡烛点燃，而且蜡烛的寿命也不会因此而减少。幸福感也不会因为分享而减半。 ------ 佛陀 如果你想要一小时的幸福感------那就打个盹吧。 如果你想要一整天的幸福感------那就去钓鱼吧。 如果你想要一整年的幸福感------那就去继承一笔财产吧。 如果你想要一辈子的幸福感------那就去帮助别人吧。 ------ 中国谚语 幸福就像是一个吻。你只有通过与他人分享才能享受它。 ------ 伯纳德·梅尔泽尔 这无疑是我所找到的关于幸福的最流行的想法理念。也许它们听上去有点天真和空洞。但它们确实很有效。当你给别人带去快乐时------比如帮助他们完成了某件事------你就可以感觉到、看到、听到幸福。而那种幸福感会反馈给你。然后，假如你喜欢的话，你可以得意洋洋地想：“噢，我真的给他/她带来了快乐！” 因为互惠法则非常强大，所以另外一个好处就是：人们会乐于给予你回报。或者他们会乐于帮助其他的人，并与他们分享这种快乐。这样的话，就有两个或两个以上的人在分享幸福。 5.摒弃一些没有价值的欲望。 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. 如果你愿意成为一个快乐的人，那么就不要追逐财富并摒弃你的欲望。 ------ 伊壁鸠鲁 你永远都无法通过获得那些你不需要的东西来使你感到快乐。 ------ 艾瑞克·霍夫 那个最富有的人的欢乐是最低价的。 ------ 亨利·戴维·梭罗 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满。而且，如果你能够将那些你根本就不需要的欲望丢掉的话，你就能够少些忧虑与压力。这样你就会更享受每一天，而且你会发现那些早已存在于你生活中的幸福(第三条建议）。 6.做你所喜欢做的事。 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钥匙。幸福才是通向成功的钥匙。如果你热爱你所做的事，那么你就会成功。 ----- 埃尔伯特·斯威兹格 幸福并不单单存在于财富里，它更多地存在于欢乐与创造性努力中。 ------ 富兰克林·D·罗斯福特 这一条所将的道理是显而易见的。但是你很容易就会让自己陷于这样的境地中：你花费了许多的时间却在做着你不喜欢做的事，而且你很少去做那些你真正热爱的事。我猜想，这下你可以跳到第一条建议中去了。也许，你目前无法选择去做那些你喜欢做的事，而且在一天或一周的大部分时间里你都无法去做你真正热爱的事。但是，你一直都拥有多花点时间去做你真正喜欢的事情的权利。时间总是有点。挪出了点时间，你就自由了。你有选择的余地。 7.至少要做点什么吧。 行动也许不会带来幸福；但是没有行动的话就一定不会有幸福。 ------ 本杰明·迪斯累里 从今天起到未来的二十年里，你所没有做过的事比起那些你做过的事，会更让你感到沮丧。所以，扔掉帆索，从安全的港湾扬帆起航吧。勇敢向前，乘风破浪。探索、梦想、发现。 ------ 马克·吐温 错过幸福的最佳方式就是让自己无所事事地停留在原地，很少去付诸行动，花太多的时间去做理论分析。采取行动并不是件容易的事，它充满了艰辛与苦痛。但是，如果你不去行动的话，你会错过许多，包括许多会给你带来幸福的时刻、朋友以及经验。（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.
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