“There” Is No Better Than ?Here? 知足者常樂

“There” Is No Better Than ?Here?　知足者常樂

◎ Claire Bidwell Smith


Live your life right now. By learning the lessons of gratitude and abundance, you can bring yourself closer to fulfilling the challenge of living in the present.
Gratitude. To be grateful means you are thankful for and appreciative of what you have and where you are on your path right now. Gratitude fills your heart with the joyful feeling and allows you to fully appreciate everything that arises on your path. As you strive to keep your focus on the present moment, you can experience the full wonder of “here.”
There are many ways to cultivate gratitude. Here are just a few suggestions you may wish to try
1. Imagine what your life would be like if you lost all that you had. This will most surely remind you of how much you do appreciate it.
2. Make a list each day of all that you are grateful for, so that you can stay conscious daily of your blessings. Do this especially when you are feeling as though you have nothing to feel grateful for. Or spend a few minutes before you go to sleep giving thanks for all that you have.
3. Spend time offering assistance to those who are less fortunate than you, so that you may gain perspective.
However you choose to learn gratitude is irrelevant. What really matters is that you create a space in your consciousness for appreciation for all that you have right now, so that you may live more joyously in your present moment.
Abundance. One of the most common human fears is scarcity. Many people are afraid of not having enough of what they need or want, and so they are always striving to get to a point when they would finally have enough.
Alan and Linda always dreamed of living “the good life.” Both from poor working-class families, they married young and set out to fulfill their mutual goal of becoming wealthy. They both worked very hard for years, amassing a small fortune, so they could move from their two-bedroom home to a palatial seven-bedroom home in the most upscale neighborhood. They focused their energies on accumulating all the things they believed signified abundance: membership in the local exclusive country club, luxury cars, designer clothing, and high-class society friends. No matter how much they accumulated, however, it never seemed to be enough. They were unable to erase the deep fear of scarcity both had acquired in childhood. They needed to learn the lesson of abundance. Then the stock market crashed in 1987, and Alan and Linda lost a considerable amount of money. A bizarre but costly lawsuit depleted another huge portion of their savings. One thing led to another, and they found themselves in a financial disaster. Assets needed to be sold, and eventually they lost the country club membership, the cars, and the house. It took several years and much hard work for Alan and Linda to land on their feet, and though they now live a life far from extravagant, they have taken stock of their lives and feel quite blessed. Only now, as they assess what they have left—a solid, loving marriage, their health, a dependable income, and good friends—do they realize that true abundance comes not from amassing, but rather from appreciating.
Scarcity consciousness arises as a result of the “hole-in-the-soul syndrome.” This is when we attempt to fill the gaps in our inner lives with things from the outside world. But like puzzle pieces, you can’t fit something in where it does not naturally belong. No amount of external objects, affection, love, or attention can ever fill an inner void. We already have enough, so we should revel in our own interior abundance.


從此刻起，開始生活吧。為了更好地面對(duì)當(dāng)前生活的挑戰(zhàn)，你要學(xué)會(huì)感激和滿足這兩課。
感激。感激意味著你對(duì)你現(xiàn)在所擁有的一切、你現(xiàn)在所在人生旅途的位置心存感激并懂得珍惜。感激會(huì)將歡樂填滿你的心房，讓你充分領(lǐng)會(huì)人生道路上出現(xiàn)的每個(gè)景致。在你聚焦“此時(shí)此刻”的時(shí)候，你就能體驗(yàn)到“這里”的全部妙思。
有很多種培養(yǎng)感激之情的方法。
下面這些建議你或許可以嘗試一番。
（1） 想象一下你變得一無所有，你的生活將是什么樣子。這一定會(huì)提醒你，你應(yīng)該多么感激和喜歡現(xiàn)有的一切。
（2） 每天列出那些值得你感激的事，這樣你會(huì)清醒認(rèn)識(shí)到自己每天都有“福氣”。特別是當(dāng)你覺得生活中好像沒什么可感激的時(shí)候，你更要這樣做。在睡前花幾分鐘時(shí)間感激你所擁有的一切。
（3） 花些時(shí)間去幫助那些沒有你幸運(yùn)的人，這樣你就可能會(huì)獲得新的認(rèn)識(shí)。
無論你如何去學(xué)習(xí)感恩，這都無關(guān)緊要。重要的是在你內(nèi)心留出一個(gè)空間，去感激你現(xiàn)在所擁有的一切，這樣你會(huì)更愉快地活在“現(xiàn)在”。
滿足。人類最普遍的恐懼就是不足。很多人都害怕自己所需要的或想得到的東西不能夠得到，所以每個(gè)人都會(huì)孜孜以求有朝一日能夠得到全部，達(dá)到他們認(rèn)為能夠讓自己滿意的程度。
艾倫和琳達(dá)總是夢(mèng)想能過上“美好的生活”。兩人都來自貧苦的工人家庭，年紀(jì)輕輕就結(jié)了婚，然后就開始為了變得富有這個(gè)共同目標(biāo)一起努力。很多年來他們一直拼命工作，積累了一筆財(cái)富，于是就能從原來的兩居室搬進(jìn)高檔住宅區(qū)的富麗堂皇的房子去。他們費(fèi)盡心思去積聚那些他們認(rèn)為象征富足的東西：當(dāng)?shù)匚ㄒ灰患腋呒?jí)會(huì)所的會(huì)員身份、豪華汽車、名牌服裝、上流社會(huì)的朋友。無論他們擁有了多少，似乎永遠(yuǎn)都還不夠。他們無法消除童年時(shí)期形成的對(duì)貧窮的深深恐懼。他們需要學(xué)會(huì)“知足常樂”這一課。1987年股市崩盤，艾倫和琳達(dá)損失了大量的財(cái)富。一場(chǎng)突如其來的官司更是花掉了他們大筆的積蓄。接二連三的壞消息使他們陷入財(cái)政危機(jī)。他們不得不變賣所有的資產(chǎn)，最終失去了高級(jí)會(huì)所的會(huì)員資格，失去了名車，失去了房子。艾倫和琳達(dá)更加努力地工作了好幾年才重新安頓下來。盡管他們現(xiàn)在的生活遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)談不上奢華，但他們更懂得生活了，他們感到很幸福。只有現(xiàn)在，當(dāng)他們審視自己剩下的財(cái)富——穩(wěn)固幸福的婚姻、健康活力的身體、穩(wěn)定可靠的收入、親密無間的好友——他們才意識(shí)到，真正的富足不是來自財(cái)富的積累，而是感恩的心。
不足的意識(shí)源自于“精神空虛綜合征”。這是指我們?cè)噲D用外部事物去填補(bǔ)內(nèi)心的空虛。但是，就像拼圖游戲一樣，你不能將錯(cuò)誤的拼塊硬塞進(jìn)本不屬于它的地方。任何身外之物、情感、關(guān)愛和關(guān)心都無法填滿內(nèi)心的空虛。我們擁有的已經(jīng)夠多了，所以我們應(yīng)滿足于內(nèi)心豐富的世界。