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有人说：小时候，幸福是件简单的事，长大后，简单是件很幸福的事。本文作者告诉我们：就算是身处交通严重堵塞的车流，动弹不得，也不失为一件幸福的事。这也许正是我们应该追求的境界。
It was one of those days. The children were getting on my nerves and I was in the 1)doghouse with my wife. Nothing seemed to be going my way. I was staring at a stack of bills on the desk and hadn’t yet heard from my agent in what seemed like months. I had errands to run, the car was making funny noises and I was sitting in the middle of Los Angeles traffic. I wasn’t looking for a fight, but if anyone else was, I was more than happy to oblige. It was just one of those days.
My wife describes joy as two steps above happiness and two steps below divine. I think of it as an 2)elevated state of happiness. Joy is possible even in the midst of tragedy because it is 3)unencumbered by time or place. It’s not dependent on money or power. It’s a state of spiritual 4)contentment. While sitting in traffic, I began to crave that contentment. But where does joy live? How do you find it each and every day? Well, though it’s true that I do not have a talent for happiness, I certainly don’t spend every waking hour with a frown on my face ready to kick a little tail if provoked. There have been times in my life when I was two steps below divine. My marriage was one of those times; likewise, watching the birth of my sons.
I’ve also felt joy in much smaller moments: sitting in the grass, watching the sun set; walking through the woods; and many other seemingly insignificant moments. But there are two things that my joyful moments have in common: a feeling of being grateful, and a sense that my life had been called to a deeper purpose. My minister shared these figures with me to put my blessings in perspective. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of the world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than one million people that will not survive this week. If you’ve never experienced the dangers of battle, the loneliness of prison, the 5)agony of torture or the 6)pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
You see, we can find reasons to be grateful even while sitting in rush-hour traffic. But we can’t be truly joyful unless our gratitude is expressed in our behavior. The joy in marriage is not just a blessing of companionship, but in marriage’s demand of sacrifice. Children are a joy because they demand we discover a more patient and boundless love than we thought possible.
You know, I often forget how blessed I am and how many opportunities I have to deepen my human experience. And that’s the key to joy and it’s not so7)farfetched to believe joy can be a constant in our lives, even while having one of those days.
这又是一个不顺心的日子。孩子们让我很心烦，妻子又跟我闹别扭。似乎啥事儿都不如意。我双眼盯着桌上厚厚的一叠账单，而我的经纪人似乎已经有好几个月没找我了。我有许多琐事要做，但车又发出那种古怪的声音，而我正身处洛杉矶堵塞的车流中。我并不想跟谁干一架，但如果有谁没事儿找事儿的话，我可是一点就着。这只不过是那种不顺心的日子罢了。
我妻子把快乐定义为比幸福高两级，但又比神仙境界低两级的状态。而我则觉得那是更高层次的幸福。即使处于悲剧当中也可以感受到快乐，因为它不受时间地点的限制，与金钱和权力无关，是一种精神上的满足。身处堵塞的车流中，我开始对那种状态产生了一种渴望。可是，快乐在哪里？一个人怎么样才能在每天的生活中找到它呢？这么说吧，虽说我不具备寻找幸福的天赋，可我也不是整天面带愠色，好寻衅吵架的人。在我的人生经历中，比神仙境界低两级的时候也还是有的。结婚就是其中一次，同样，看着我的儿子出生也是。
在一些不那么重大的时刻，我也能感觉到快乐：坐在草地上、看着太阳下山、在树林里穿行，还有许许多多似乎无足轻重的时刻。不过，在我感受到快乐的众多时刻中，有两点是相同的：心存感激；明白自己深层次的人生意义。为了让我明白自己眼前的幸福，我的牧师跟我说了这样一组数字：如果你的冰箱里有吃的，身上有衣穿，有地方住，有地方过夜，那你比世界上75%的人富裕。如果你在银行里有存款，钱包里有钞票，可以上一次馆子，那你就属于世界上8%最富有的人。如果你今天早上起床的时候感觉身体正常的话，那你就比世界上活不过这一周的一百万人幸运得多。如果你从来没有经历过战争的威胁、监狱里的孤独、严刑拷打的痛苦，或者饥饿的折磨，那你就比世界上五亿人的生活都要优越。
你看，即使是身处高峰期堵塞的车流中，我们也可以找到心存感激的理由，但如果我们的感激之情不能体现在行动中，那我们就不能真正地感到快乐。婚姻中的快乐不仅仅是伴侣关系带来的好处，它还要求我们作出牺牲。孩子带给我们欢乐，那是因为我们从中发现自己之前也不曾意识到的耐心与无边的爱。
你们知道吗，我常常会忘记自己有多幸运，忘记自己有那么多的机会加深自己的人生体验。这也正是快乐的关键，相信快乐是我们生活中永恒不变的因素并不是什么难事——即使是在不顺心的日子。
It was one of those days. The children were getting on my nerves and I was in the 1)doghouse with my wife. Nothing seemed to be going my way. I was staring at a stack of bills on the desk and hadn’t yet heard from my agent in what seemed like months. I had errands to run, the car was making funny noises and I was sitting in the middle of Los Angeles traffic. I wasn’t looking for a fight, but if anyone else was, I was more than happy to oblige. It was just one of those days.
My wife describes joy as two steps above happiness and two steps below divine. I think of it as an 2)elevated state of happiness. Joy is possible even in the midst of tragedy because it is 3)unencumbered by time or place. It’s not dependent on money or power. It’s a state of spiritual 4)contentment. While sitting in traffic, I began to crave that contentment. But where does joy live? How do you find it each and every day? Well, though it’s true that I do not have a talent for happiness, I certainly don’t spend every waking hour with a frown on my face ready to kick a little tail if provoked. There have been times in my life when I was two steps below divine. My marriage was one of those times; likewise, watching the birth of my sons.
I’ve also felt joy in much smaller moments: sitting in the grass, watching the sun set; walking through the woods; and many other seemingly insignificant moments. But there are two things that my joyful moments have in common: a feeling of being grateful, and a sense that my life had been called to a deeper purpose. My minister shared these figures with me to put my blessings in perspective. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of the world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than one million people that will not survive this week. If you’ve never experienced the dangers of battle, the loneliness of prison, the 5)agony of torture or the 6)pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
You see, we can find reasons to be grateful even while sitting in rush-hour traffic. But we can’t be truly joyful unless our gratitude is expressed in our behavior. The joy in marriage is not just a blessing of companionship, but in marriage’s demand of sacrifice. Children are a joy because they demand we discover a more patient and boundless love than we thought possible.
You know, I often forget how blessed I am and how many opportunities I have to deepen my human experience. And that’s the key to joy and it’s not so7)farfetched to believe joy can be a constant in our lives, even while having one of those days.
这又是一个不顺心的日子。孩子们让我很心烦，妻子又跟我闹别扭。似乎啥事儿都不如意。我双眼盯着桌上厚厚的一叠账单，而我的经纪人似乎已经有好几个月没找我了。我有许多琐事要做，但车又发出那种古怪的声音，而我正身处洛杉矶堵塞的车流中。我并不想跟谁干一架，但如果有谁没事儿找事儿的话，我可是一点就着。这只不过是那种不顺心的日子罢了。
我妻子把快乐定义为比幸福高两级，但又比神仙境界低两级的状态。而我则觉得那是更高层次的幸福。即使处于悲剧当中也可以感受到快乐，因为它不受时间地点的限制，与金钱和权力无关，是一种精神上的满足。身处堵塞的车流中，我开始对那种状态产生了一种渴望。可是，快乐在哪里？一个人怎么样才能在每天的生活中找到它呢？这么说吧，虽说我不具备寻找幸福的天赋，可我也不是整天面带愠色，好寻衅吵架的人。在我的人生经历中，比神仙境界低两级的时候也还是有的。结婚就是其中一次，同样，看着我的儿子出生也是。
在一些不那么重大的时刻，我也能感觉到快乐：坐在草地上、看着太阳下山、在树林里穿行，还有许许多多似乎无足轻重的时刻。不过，在我感受到快乐的众多时刻中，有两点是相同的：心存感激；明白自己深层次的人生意义。为了让我明白自己眼前的幸福，我的牧师跟我说了这样一组数字：如果你的冰箱里有吃的，身上有衣穿，有地方住，有地方过夜，那你比世界上75%的人富裕。如果你在银行里有存款，钱包里有钞票，可以上一次馆子，那你就属于世界上8%最富有的人。如果你今天早上起床的时候感觉身体正常的话，那你就比世界上活不过这一周的一百万人幸运得多。如果你从来没有经历过战争的威胁、监狱里的孤独、严刑拷打的痛苦，或者饥饿的折磨，那你就比世界上五亿人的生活都要优越。
你看，即使是身处高峰期堵塞的车流中，我们也可以找到心存感激的理由，但如果我们的感激之情不能体现在行动中，那我们就不能真正地感到快乐。婚姻中的快乐不仅仅是伴侣关系带来的好处，它还要求我们作出牺牲。孩子带给我们欢乐，那是因为我们从中发现自己之前也不曾意识到的耐心与无边的爱。
你们知道吗，我常常会忘记自己有多幸运，忘记自己有那么多的机会加深自己的人生体验。这也正是快乐的关键，相信快乐是我们生活中永恒不变的因素并不是什么难事——即使是在不顺心的日子。