Learn to Live in the Present Moment

理查德 · 卡里 / Richard Carison

Practicing for Better Learning

First listen and then answer the questions.

1. We often say “Someday，I can succeed.”.Will the “someday” really happen according to the passage？ Why？

2. What’s author’s opinion about “the present”and “the future”？

To a large degree， the measure of our peace of mind is determined by how much we are able to live in the present moment. Irrespective of what happened yesterday or last year， and what may or may not happen tomorrow， the present moment is where you are — always！

Without question， many of us have mastered the neurotic art of spending much of our lives worrying about a variety of things — all at once. We allow past problems and future concerns to dominate our present moments， so much so that we end up anxious， frustrated， depressed， and hopeless. On the flip side， we also postpone our gratification， our stated priorities， and our happiness， often convincing ourselves that “someday” will be better than today. Unfortunately， the same mental dynamics that tell us to look toward the future will only repeat themselves so that “someday” never actually arrives. John Lennon once said， “Life is what’s happening while we’re busy making other plans.” When we’re busy making “other plans”， our children are busy growing up， and people we love are moving away and dying， our bodies are getting out of shape， and our dreams are slipping away. In short， we miss out on life.

Many people live as if life were a dress rehearsal for some later date. It isn’t. In fact， no one has a guarantee that he or she will be here tomorrow. Now is the only time we have， and the only time that we have any control over. When our attention is in the present moment， we push fear from our minds. Fear is the concern over events that might happen in the future — we won’t have enough money， our children will get into trouble， we will get old and die， whatever.

To combat fear， the best strategy is to learn to bring your attention back to the present. Mark Twain said， “l(fā) have been through some terrible things in my life， some of which actually happened.” I don’t think I can say it any better. Practice keeping your attention on the here and now. Your efforts will pay great dividends.

在很大程度上，能否活在當(dāng)下是衡量我們內(nèi)心世界是否平和的一個(gè)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。不論昨日或去年發(fā)生了什么，也不管將來(lái)會(huì)發(fā)生什么，此刻才是我們的真正所在——并且始終都是！

誠(chéng)然，許多人把生命耗費(fèi)在焦慮之中，我們同時(shí)對(duì)一連串的事情憂心忡忡，因此導(dǎo)致的神經(jīng)過(guò)敏幾乎成了一種我們熟稔的藝術(shù)。對(duì)過(guò)去的困惑和對(duì)未來(lái)的憂慮占據(jù)了我們當(dāng)前的每時(shí)每刻。于是，我們整日憂心忡忡，灰心喪氣，情緒低落，甚至悲觀絕望。另一方面，我們不斷推遲讓自己獲得滿足感的時(shí)間，推遲應(yīng)當(dāng)優(yōu)先考慮的事，推后自己的幸福感，并常用最有力的理由說(shuō)服自己，“有一天”將會(huì)比今天更加美好。遺憾的是，如此期待未來(lái)的精神安慰只會(huì)周而復(fù)始地重復(fù)。所以，“有一天”永遠(yuǎn)都不會(huì)真正到來(lái)。約翰·列農(nóng)曾經(jīng)說(shuō)過(guò)：“生活就是我們忙于制訂其他計(jì)劃時(shí)所發(fā)生的一切。”當(dāng)我們正制訂“其他的計(jì)劃”時(shí)，孩子們正迅速地成長(zhǎng)，愛人或離開或死亡。我們的身體開始變形，夢(mèng)想開始消逝。總之，我們正在失去生活。

許多人沉迷于對(duì)未來(lái)的幻想中。對(duì)他們而言，現(xiàn)在的生活就像是未來(lái)生活的彩排。然而，生活絕非如此。事實(shí)上，任何人都不能保證自己明天仍存于世間。此刻是我們擁有的唯一時(shí)間，也是唯一能控制的時(shí)間。當(dāng)我們的注意力集中于此刻時(shí)，就會(huì)將恐懼拋至腦后。恐懼是我們對(duì)未來(lái)可能發(fā)生之事的擔(dān)憂——我們沒(méi)有足夠的錢，我們的孩子會(huì)陷入麻煩，我們會(huì)變老甚至死亡，等等。

戰(zhàn)勝恐懼最好的策略是，學(xué)會(huì)將注意力轉(zhuǎn)回當(dāng)下。馬克·吐溫曾說(shuō)：“我一生經(jīng)歷過(guò)許多恐怖的事，但有一些純粹是偶然。”我想，沒(méi)有比這說(shuō)得更好的了。把你的注意力集中在當(dāng)下，你的付出終將有碩果回報(bào)。

心靈小語(yǔ)

昨天的夢(mèng)想需要今天的行動(dòng)去實(shí)現(xiàn)，明天的謎底需要今天的行動(dòng)去揭曉，生活只在今天。今天的我們才是存在的我們、今天的努力才是存在的努力、今天的改變才是存在的改變。讓昨天的我們和明天的我們、讓昨天的努力和明天的努力、讓昨天的改變和明天的改變都統(tǒng)統(tǒng)屬于今天吧。活在當(dāng)下，感受屬于我們最真實(shí)的存在。

Ace in the Hole

Keywords and expressions

allow

作動(dòng)語(yǔ)：允許；給予；認(rèn)可；容許；考慮

短語(yǔ)：allow for 考慮到，慮及

allow of 容許

例：I don’t think he would allow it.

我想他不會(huì)允許的。

Chunks in Practice

Listen to the following passage twice and then fill in the blanks with

appropriate words.

1. To a large degree， the measure of our peace of mind is _ by how much we are able to live in the _ . Irrespective of what happened yesterday or last year， and what may or may not happen _ ， the present moment is where you are—always！

2. Fear is the _ events that might happen in the future—we won’t have enough money， our children will get into _ ， we will get old and die， whatever.

Now a Try

Please fill in the blank with the proper words according to the given

sentences.

1. We _ obstacles in order to get repose.

為了獲得歇息，我們與困難斗爭(zhēng)。

2. Should America bomb Iran or _ Iran to get the bomb？

美國(guó)是應(yīng)該轟炸伊朗還是讓伊朗得到炸彈。

3. If so， does this _ defaults of some kind？

那么，這能為某種違約提供擔(dān)保嗎？