第2章　消除憂慮的魔法公式

你是否想找到一種快速有效地消除憂慮的藥方——也就是那種你不必再往下多看之前，就能立即應用的方法？

那么，讓我告訴你威利斯·卡瑞爾發明的這個方法。卡瑞爾是一位聰明的工程師，他創建了空氣調節器制造公司，現在是世界聞名的紐約州塞瑞卡斯市卡瑞爾公司的負責人。這是我聽過的消除憂慮的最好辦法之一，我和卡瑞爾先生在紐約工程師俱樂部吃午飯的時候，從他那里得知的這個方法。

“我年輕的時候，”卡瑞爾先生說，“我在紐約州水牛城的水牛鍛造公司工作。有一次，我被派到密蘇里州水晶城的匹茲堡玻璃公司——一座花好幾百萬美元建造的工廠，安裝一臺瓦斯清潔機，以便清除瓦斯中的雜質，使瓦斯燃燒時不至于燒壞引擎。這是一種新的清潔瓦斯的方法，以前只試過一次，而且當時的情況很不相同。當我去密蘇里州水晶城工作的時候，沒有預料到的困難發生了。經過一番調整，機器總算可以用了，但并沒有達到我們所保證的程度。

“我對自己的失敗非常吃驚，覺得好像有人在我頭頂猛擊一下。我的胃和整個腹部開始疼痛起來。有好一陣子，我擔心得難以入睡。

“最后，常識告訴我，憂慮并不能解決問題；于是我想出了一個不需要憂慮就

using this same anti-worry technique for more than thirty years. It is simple. Anyone can use it. It consists of three steps:

“Step I. I analysed the situation fearlessly and honestly and figured out what was the worst that could possibly happen as a result of this failure. No one was going to jail me or shoot me. That was certain.True, there was also a chance that I would lose my position; and there was also a chance that my employers would have to remove the machinery and lose the twenty thousand dollars we had invested.

“Step II. After figuring out what was the worst that could possibly happen, I reconciled myself to accepting it, if necessary. I said to myself: This failure will be a blow to my record, and it might possibly mean the loss of my job; but if it does, I can always get another position.Conditions could be much worse; and as far as my employers are concerned—well, they realise that we are experimenting with a new method of cleaning gas, and if this experience costs them twenty thousand dollars, they can stand it. They can charge it up to research, for it is an experiment.

“After discovering the worst that could possibly happen and reconciling myself to accepting it, if necessary, an extremely important thing happened: I immediately relaxed and felt a sense of peace that I hadn't experienced in days.

“Step III. From that time on, I calmly devoted my time and energy to trying to improve upon the worst which I had already accepted mentally.

“I now tried to figure out ways and means by which I might reduce the loss of twenty thousand dollars that we faced. I made several tests and finally figured out that if we spent another five thousand for additional equipment, our problem would be solved. We did this, and instead of the firm losing twenty thousand, we made fifteen thousand.

可以解決問題的辦法，結果非常有效。我使用這個抗憂慮的辦法已經30多年。這個辦法很簡單，任何人都可以用。它有三個步驟：

“第一步：毫不害怕而且坦誠地分析整個情況，然后找出這一失敗將會導致的最壞的情況。沒有人會把我關起來，或者槍斃我，這一點可以肯定。不錯，我很可能會丟掉職位，我的老板也可能會拆掉整個機器，使投入的兩萬美元泡湯。

“第二步：找出可能發生的最壞情況之后，我就讓自己在必要時接受它。我對自己說：這次失敗對我的人生紀錄是一個打擊，我可能會丟掉工作。但即使是這樣，我還是可以找到另外的工作。而且事情可能更糟。至于我的老板，他們也知道我們現在正在試驗一種新的清潔瓦斯的方法，如果這個試驗要花兩萬美元，他們還付得起。他們可以把這筆賬記在研究費用上，因為這只是一種試驗。

“當分析到可能發生的最壞情況，并讓自己必要時接受它之后，一件非常重要的事情發生了：我馬上輕松下來，感受到了幾天以來未曾經歷過的平靜。

“第三步：從那以后，我就平靜地把我的時間和精力用于改善我在心理上已接受的最壞情況。

“我努力尋找各種辦法，以減少我們目前面臨的兩萬美元的損失。我做了幾次實驗，最后發現，如果我們再多花5000美元加裝一些設備，我們的問題就可以解決了。我們按照這個辦法去做，公司不但沒有損失兩萬美元，反而賺了15000美元。

“如果我一直擔心，恐怕再也不可能做到這一點。因為憂慮的最大害處，就是

“I probably would never have been able to do this if I had kept on worrying, because one of the worst features about worrying is that it destroys our ability to concentrate. When we worry, our minds jump here and there and everywhere, and we lose all power of decision. However, when we force ourselves to face the worst and accept it mentally, we then eliminate all these vague imaginings and put ourselves in a position in which we are able to concentrate on our problem.

“This incident that I have related occurred many years ago. It worked so superbly that I have been using it ever since; and, as a result, my life has been almost completely free from worry.”

Now, why is Willis H. Carrier's magic formula so valuable and so practical, psychologically speaking? Because it yanks us down out of the great grey clouds in which we fumble around when we are blinded by worry. It plants our feet good and solid on the earth. We know where we stand. And if we haven't solid ground under us, how in creation can we ever hope to think anything through?

Professor William James, the father of applied psychology, has been dead in 1910. But if he were alive today, and could hear this formula for facing the worst, he would heartily approve it. How do I know that? Because he told his own students:“Be willing to have it so... Be willing to have it so,” he said, “because... acceptance of what has happened is the first step in overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.”

The same idea was expressed by Lin Yutang in his widely read book, The Importance of Living.“True peace of mind,” said this Chinese philosopher, “comes from accepting the worst.Psychologically, I think, it means a release of energy.”

That's it, exactly! Psychologically, it means a new release of energy! When we have

毀掉我們集中精神的能力。當我們憂慮的時候，思想會到處亂轉，從而喪失所有的決策能力。然而，當我們強迫自己面對最壞的情況，并且從精神上接受它時，我們就能權衡所有可能的情形，使我們可以集中精力解決問題。

“剛才我所說的這件事發生在很多年以前，因為這種方法非常好，所以我一直使用它。結果，我的生活幾乎不再有煩惱了。”

為什么威利·卡瑞爾的魔法公式從心理的角度來講有這么大的價值，如此實用呢？因為它能夠把我們從那巨大的灰暗色云層中拉出來，使我們不再因為憂慮而盲目地摸索；它可以使我們腳踏實地，而我們也都知道自己身處何處。如果我們腳下沒有這塊結實的土地，又怎么能想通事情呢？

“應用心理學之父”威廉·詹姆斯教授于1910年去世，可是如果他今天還在世，聽到這個直面最壞狀況的公式的話，一定也會大加贊同的。我怎么會知道呢？因為他曾經對他的學生說：“你們要愿意接受這種情況……要愿意接受這種情況……因為接受既成事實，是戰勝隨之而來的任何不幸的第一步。”

林語堂在他那本廣被閱讀的《生活的藝術》中也表達了同樣的意思：“思想上的真正平和，”這位中國哲學家說，“來自接受最壞的情況。從心理而言，我認為這就意味著能量的釋放。”

這就對了，一點也不錯。在心理上，你就能發揮出新的能力。當我們接受了最壞的情況時，就不會再損失什么，自然也就是說一切都可以重新獲得。“在面對最

accepted the worst, we have nothing more to lose. And that automatically means—we have everything to gain!“After facing the worst,” Willis H. Carrier reported, “I immediately relaxed and felt a sense of peace that I hadn't experienced in days. From that time on, I was able to think.”

Makes sense, doesn't it? Yet millions of people have wrecked their lives in angry turmoil, because they refused to accept the worst; refused to try to improve upon it; refused to salvage what they could from the wreck. Instead of trying to reconstruct their fortunes, they engaged in “a bitter and violent contest with experience”—and ended up victims of that brooding fixation known as melancholia.

Would you like to see how someone else adopted Willis H. Carrier's magic formula and applied it to his own problem? Well, here is one example, from a New York oil dealer who was a student in my classes.

“I was being blackmailed!” this student began.“I didn't believe it was possible—I didn't believe it could happen outside of the movies—but I was actually being blackmailed! What happened was this: the oil company of which I was the head had a number of delivery trucks and a number of drivers. At that time, war regulations were strictly in force, and we were rationed on the amount of oil we could deliver to any one of our customers. I didn't know it, but it seems that certain of our drivers had been delivering oil short to our regular customers, and then reselling the surplus to customers of their own.

“The first inkling I had of these illegitimate transactions was when a man who claimed to be a government inspector came to see me one day and demanded hush money. He had got documentary proof of what our drivers had been doing, and he threatened to turn this proof over to the District Attorney's office if I didn't cough up.

壞的情況之后，”威利斯·卡瑞爾說：“我馬上輕松下來，感受到了幾天以來未曾經歷過的平靜。然后，我就能思考了。”

這些話很有道理吧？但仍有千百萬人因為憤怒而毀了他們的生活，因為他們不想接受最壞的情況，不愿由此做出改進，不愿在災難之中盡可能地救出一些可以救出來的東西。他們不但不去重新創造財富，反而參與了“一次冷酷而激烈的斗爭”，終于變成了被稱為頹喪情緒的犧牲品。

你愿意看其他人如何利用威利斯·卡瑞爾的魔法公式來解決他們自己的問題嗎？好，下面就是一個例子。這個人是紐約的一位汽油經銷商，他是我班上的學員。

“我被勒索了！”他說，“我不相信這種事情會發生，更不相信會發生在電影以外的現實生活中——可是我真的被勒索了。事情的經過是這樣的：我當頭兒的這家石油公司有好幾輛運油的卡車和幾個司機。當時，戰時管理委員會的條例很嚴，我們只能運給每一個顧客有限的汽油。事情的真相我并不知道，可是確實有一些送油的司機克扣顧客的油量，然后再把多余的油賣給其他人。

“一天，一個自稱是政府調查員的人找到我，跟我索要紅包。他說他擁有我們送油司機違法舞弊的證據，還威脅說如果我不答應他的要求，他就把這些證據轉交給地方檢察官辦公室。我這才發現這些違法交易。

“當然，我知道我不必擔心什么，因為這事至少跟我個人無關。但是我也知道

“I knew, of course, that I had nothing to worry about—personally, at least. But I also knew that the law says a firm is responsible for the actions of its employees. What's more, I knew that if the case came to court, and it was aired in the newspapers, the bad publicity would ruin my business. And I was proud of my business—it had been founded by my father twenty-four years before.

“I was so worried I was sick! I didn't eat or sleep for three days and nights. I kept going around in crazy circles.Should I pay the money—five thousand dollars—or should I tell this man to go ahead and do his damnedest? Either way I tried to make up my mind, it ended in nightmare.

“Then, on Sunday night, I happened to pick up the booklet on How to Stop Worrying, which I had been given in my Carnegie class in public speaking. I started to read it, and came across the story of Willis H. Carrier.‘Face the worst', it said. So I asked myself:‘What is the worst that can happen if I refuse to pay up, and these blackmailers turn their records over to the District Attorney?'

“The answer to that was: The ruin of my business—that's the worst that can happen. I can't go to jail. All that can happen is that I shall be ruined by the publicity.

“I then said to myself:‘All right, the business is ruined. I accept that mentally. What happens next?'

“Well, with my business ruined, I would probably have to look for a job. That wasn't bad. I knew a lot about oil—there were several firms that might be glad to employ me... I began to feel better. The blue funk I had been in for three days and nights began to lift a little. My emotions calmed down... And to my astonishment, I was able to think.

“I was clear-headed enough now to face Step III—improve on the worst. As I thought

法律規定公司應該對員工的行為負責。我還知道萬一官司捅到法院，上了報紙，那么這種壞名聲就會砸了我的生意。我對自己的生意非常驕傲，那是我父親在24年前打下的基礎。

“我擔心得不得了，很快就病了，接連三天三夜吃不下睡不著。我一直擔心那件事。我是向那個人付5000美元，還是對那個人說隨他的便呢？我一直做不了決定，每天都做噩夢。

“后來，在一個星期天的晚上，我碰巧拿出一本小書《如何停止憂慮》，這是我上卡耐基公眾演講課時領到的。我開始閱讀它，讀到了威利斯·卡瑞爾的故事，里面提到了‘面對最壞的情況’。于是我問自己：‘如果我不肯向那家伙付錢，他把證據交給地方檢察官的話，可能發生的最壞情況是什么？’

“答案是：這將會砸了我的生意——最壞也就是這樣。但我不會被關起來。可能發生的事就是我將被這件事毀了。’

“于是我對自己說：‘那好吧，即使生意毀了，但我可以接受它。接下去又會怎樣呢？’

“是的，生意毀了之后，我也許得去找工作。這也不壞，我對石油了解很多——有幾家大公司可能會樂意雇用我……我開始覺得好多了。接連三天三夜以來，我的憂慮開始消除了一點。我的情緒也穩定下來……而讓我感到震驚的是，我能夠思考了。

of solutions, an entirely new angle presented itself to me. If I told my attorney the whole situation, he might find a way out which I hadn't thought of. I know it sounds stupid to say that this hadn't even occurred to me before—but of course I hadn't been thinking, I had only been worrying! I immediately made up my mind that I would see my attorney first thing in the morning—and then I went to bed and slept like a log!

“How did it end? Well, the next morning my lawyer told me to go and see the District Attorney and tell him the truth. I did precisely that. When I finished I was astonished to hear the D.A.say that this blackmail racket had been going on for months and that the man who chimed to be a‘government agent’was a crook wanted by the police. What a relief to hear all this after I had tormented myself for three days and nights wondering whether I should hand over five thousand dollars to this professional swindler!

“This experience taught me a lasting lesson. Now, whenever I face a pressing problem that threatens to worry me, I give it what I call‘the old Willis H. Carrier formula'.”

At just about the same time Willis H. Carrier was worrying over the gas-cleaning equipment he was installing in a plant in Crystal City, Missouri, a chap from Broken Bow, Nebraska, was making out his will. His name was Earl P. Haney, and he had duodenal ulcers. Three doctors, including a celebrated ulcer specialist, had pronounced Mr. Haney an “incurable case”. They had told him not to eat this or that, and not to worry or fret to keep perfectly calm. They also told him to make out his will!

These ulcers had already forced Earl P. Haney to give up a fine and highly paid position. So now he had nothing to do, nothing to look forward to except a lingering death.

Then he made a decision: a rare and superb decision.“Since I have only a little while to live,” he said, “I may as well make the most of it. I have always wanted to travel around

“我清醒地看到了第三步——改善最壞的情況。當我找到了解決辦法之后，一個全新的視角展現在我面前：如果我把整個情況告訴我的律師，他可能會幫我找到一條我從未想到的對策。我知道這聽起來似乎很笨，因為我剛開始確實沒有想到這一點——當然，我起先并沒有好好思考，只是一直在擔心。我馬上決定第二天一大早就去見我的律師——我上床之后，睡得很踏實。

“結果呢？第二天早上，我的律師叫我去見地方檢察官，并把真實情況告訴他。我真的那樣做了。當我說完之后，竟出乎意料地聽地方檢察官說這種勒索案已經連續出現幾個月了，那個自稱是‘政府調查員’的人，實際上是警方正在通緝的罪犯。當我因為無法決定是否該把那5000美元交給這個罪犯而擔心三天三夜之后，聽到這番話我真的松了一口氣。

“這次經歷給我上了永難忘懷的一課。現在，每當我面臨讓我憂慮的難題時，我就會應用所謂的‘老威利斯·卡瑞爾公式’。”

就在威利斯·卡瑞爾擔心他正在密蘇里州水晶城一家工廠安裝的瓦斯清除設備時，來自內布拉斯加州布羅肯堡的一位伙計也正在寫遺囑。他的名字叫艾爾·漢尼。他得了嚴重的胃潰瘍。三位醫生，包括一位非常有名的胃潰瘍專家，都說漢尼先生無藥可救了。他們告訴他什么都不必吃，什么都不必擔心；還告訴他確立遺囑。

胃潰瘍已經迫使艾爾·漢尼放棄了一高薪能位。現在他無事可干，什么都不指

the world before I die. If I am ever going to do it, I'll have to do it now.” So he bought his ticket.

The doctors were appalled.“We must warn you,” they said to Mr. Haney, “that if you do take this trip, you would be buried at sea.”“No, I won't,” I replied.“I have promised my relatives that I will be buried in the family plot at Broken Bow, Nebraska. So I am going to buy a casket with me'.

“I purchased a casket, put it aboard ship, and then made arrangements with the steamship company—in the event of my death—to put my corpse in a freezing compartment and keep it there till the liner returned home. I set out on my trip, imbued with the spirit of old Omar:

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend，

Before we too into the Dust descend;

Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie，

Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and—sans End!”

However, he didn't make the trip “sans wine”.“I drank highballs, and smoked long cigars on that trip,” Mr. Haney says in a letter that I have before me now.“I ate all kinds of foods—even strange native foods which were guaranteed to kill me. I enjoyed myself more than I had in years! We ran into monsoons and typhoons which should have put me in my casket, if only from fright—but I got an enormous kick out of all this adventure.

“I played games aboard the ship, sang songs, made new friends, stayed up half the night. When we reached China and India, I realised that the business cares that I had faced back home were paradise compared to the poverty and hunger in the Orient. I stopped all my senseless worrying and felt fine. When I got back to America, I had gained ninety

望了，只等著末日到來。

然后，他做了一個決定，一個很罕見卻很大膽的決定：“既然我只有一點時間可活了，”他說，“不如好好利用它。我一直想在死之前環游世界。如果我還打算做的話，那就現在去做。”于是他買了票。

醫生得知了消息。“我們必須警告你，”他們對漢尼先生說，“如果你去旅游，將會葬身大海。”“‘不，我不會的。’我回答說。‘我已經答應我的親友，我要葬在內布拉斯加州我們家族的墓地中，所以我打算買副棺材隨身帶著。’

“我去買了一副棺材，把它運上船，然后和輪船公司約定好，如果我去世的話，就把我的尸體放在冷凍艙中，一直運到我的老家。我踏上旅程，心里只想著奧瑪·凱恩的一首詩：

啊，在我們化作泥土之前，豈能辜負人生？

不拼搏一番，物化為泥，永寐黃泉之下，

沒酒沒弦沒歌伎，而且沒有明天！”

但是，他這次旅行可不是沒酒為伴。“旅途中我喝了老酒，抽了長長的雪茄，”漢尼先生在給我的信中說，這封信現在就在我的面前。“我吃了各種東西——甚至包括當地許多奇奇怪怪的食品，而這些據說都是我吃了一定會送命的。多年以來，我從來沒有這樣享受過生活。我們碰到過季風和臺風。這些事情如果內心害怕的話，也會讓我躺進棺材，可是我卻從這次冒險中得到了極大的樂趣。

pounds and I had almost forgotten I had ever had a stomach ulcer. I had never felt better in my life. I went back to business and haven't been ill a day since.”

Earl P. Haney told me he realizes now that he was unconsiously using the selfsame principles that Willis H. Carrier used to conquer worry.“But I realise now,” he told me quite recently, “that I was unconsciously using the selfsame principle. I reconciled myself to the worst that could happen—in my case, dying. Third, I tried to improved the situation by getting the utmost enjoyment out of life for the short time I had left... If,” he continued, “if I had gone on worrying after boarding that ship, I have no doubt that I would have made the return voyage inside of that coffin. But I relaxed—and I forgot all my troubles. And this calmness of mind gave me a new burst of energy which actually saved my life.”

So, Rule 2 is: If you have a worry problem, apply the magic formula of Willis H. Carrier by doing these three things—

1.Ask yourself, “What is the worst that can possibly happen?”

2.Prepare to accept it if you have to.

3. Then calmly proceed to improve on the worst.

“我在船上做游戲、唱歌、結交新朋友，晚上一直待到深夜。到了中國和印度之后，我發現回去之后需要處理的私事，比起我在東方所見到的貧窮與饑餓簡直是天壤之別。我拋棄了所有無聊的擔憂，覺得非常舒服。回到美國時，我的體重增加了90磅，我曾患過胃潰瘍的事也幾乎全忘了。我這一生中從沒有這么舒服過。我重新回去工作，此后再也沒有病過。”

艾爾·漢尼告訴我，他是在無意識中應用了威利斯·卡瑞爾征服憂慮的辦法。“但是我現在認識到，”他最近告訴我，“我是無意識中用到這種方法。我讓自己做好最壞的打算，準備接受死亡。第三，我盡力想辦法改善這種情況。我開始盡量享受我所剩下的這一點點時間……如果我上船之后還繼續憂慮的話，毫無疑問，我一定會躺在棺材里完成這次旅行。可是我放松下來，我忘掉了所有的麻煩。而這種心理上的平靜，使我產生了新的力量，挽救了我的生命。”

所以，克服憂慮的第二條規則是：如果你有擔憂的問題，就應用威利斯·卡瑞爾的魔法公式，做好下面三件事情：

第一，問你自己：“可能發生的最壞情況是什么？”

第二，如果你必須接受的話，就準備接受它。

第三，鎮定地想辦法改善最壞的情況。