第1195期：Life is a gift
停更了两个星期，我也没想到会这样。
期间很多读者给我留言、发邮件询问和关心，在此一并感谢。
生活就是这样，正当你以为一切顺利都是那么理所应当时，命运之神往往就会叹口气或翻个身，在我们平淡的日子里掀起一场风暴，让我们经历一些从未设想过的场景。
中断写作的这两个星期里，我有过很多个不眠之夜，想了很多与生命和人生有关的问题。
深夜坐在病房里，第一次近距离地看着熟睡中的父亲，苍老的脸，插着输液管的手，长满老人斑的皮肤，懊悔自己之前所有对他发过的脾气和表现的不耐烦。
原来我们对父母亲的爱不仅仅是敬爱，更多的是一种怜爱。
原来做儿女的对父母也像父母对儿女那样愿意为了他们抛下一切。
只有到了人生的重大关头，我们才会懂得那种爱，和那种痛。
但我们不应该这样等待，不应该等到他们住进了病房的那天才懂得去爱，去陪伴他们。
人生中没有什么事是理所应当的，没有什么是可以永远拥有的。
Don’t take anything for granted. Enjoy life while you can.
Live it up every day.
今天早上读到一篇小文章，分享给你：
*原文地址：https://www.thebrightpath.com/en/articles/gratitude-dont-take-anything-granted/
Gratitude – Don’t
take anything for granted
I once heard about an experiment a school teacher did with
the children in her class. They made
three groups of plants which they watered exactly the same. To the first group they lavished attention
and nice words upon; to the second they did nothing but made negative comments
about. To the third group they ignored
as much as possible. As you might expect
the first group of plants thrived, the second were small and stunted. The third group was even worse than the
second group. Small, tatty, weak and
dying.
Without realising it, this is the way people live their
lives – by taking huge chunks of it for granted, by ignoring it. We wake up in the morning without a second thought
for the fact that we are alive, that throughout the night our hearts kept
beating, our lungs kept filling with air without us having to do a thing. Our feet are on the floor and we’re off to
the shower without even considering the magic involved in walking, the balance,
the coordination. We turn on the water
and never marvel at the mechanical genius that means we can have hot water
delivered to us, without us having to do more than turn our wrist (…and pay the
bill… which we never really appreciate how good it is to have a job or source
of money -whatever it may be- that means we can). We eat our breakfast and drink our coffee and
arrange our day and juggle our appointments with our loved ones rarely without
even noticing how amazing it is to do all these things at once, without
appreciating the good people around us, without knowing how wonderful it is
even to have food in our bellies and a roof over our heads.
We ignore so much of the goodness in our life, only missing
it when it is gone. The only time I
would not take my body for granted was when it was sick – when I couldn’t just
jump out of bed without sneezing and wheezing and blowing my nose all the
way. The only time I appreciated the
fact that I had a washing machine was when it broke down and I couldn’t just
throw my clothes in and walk away. The
only time I was really grateful for the things my girlfriend did for me was
when she went away on holiday and I had to do them myself. I also routinely ignored the fact that I had
someone who loved me, that I loved too, despite the little things that annoyed
me that I seemed set on focusing on. I
remember reading a story from the bombing of the twin towers in New York; a
woman refused to kiss her husband goodbye on the morning he set off for a
meeting in one of the buildings because her lipstick was fresh on. It was the last time she saw him. We take it for granted that our loved ones
are coming back home to us, that we’ll get a chance to say goodbye, to tell
them how much they mean to us.
And then we wonder why our lives aren’t as we wish, why they
aren’t matching our ideal. But if we
ignore what we do have, it never has a chance to grow, to become perfect.
The answer?
Gratitude, the opposite of taking things for granted. By being thankful for what you do have,
exactly as it is, you give it the space and the nourishment to become more. You transform your perspective on life. No longer are you a victim, lost as life
pushes you in whatever direction it wishes.
You cannot judge and be grateful at the same time. Perfect.
Envision a child when you give them a present. When they are truly grateful and excited for
what you have given them, you want to give more and more. Now consider the same child who is not
grateful, who complains about what you have just given. The last thing you want to do is give more. Life is a giver of gifts, large and small,
and you are that child. Be grateful for
what you do have, don’t ignore the blessings under your nose.
But we sit at our boring, unfulfilling jobs, dreaming of
being on holiday. “I’ll only be
happy when I’m there, on the beach. Only
then can I relax and do the things I want to do. I’ll be peaceful on holiday. It’s actually this job, the people are
stupid, no one realises how amazing I am, how much this place needs me. Without me, everything would fall to pieces. I definitely need a new job, only then I’ll
be able to shine, only then I’ll be able to live my purpose.” We look at our partners and the way they
talk, walk, sit, eat. “I’ll never
find true love with her, I need someone else, someone more able, more refined,
more intelligent. Only then will I be
content.” We look at our bodies and
the way they wobble and go grey and how bits don’t work. “When I lose that weight I’ll be
perfect, only then can I love myself fully.”
Later, later… always later, always somewhere, something,
someone else.
Don’t do it.
Happiness, satisfaction, peace, true love is only found right now, right
here, within you. You don’t need to look
any further. Don’t ignore the beauty of
what you do have, right now; of who you are right now; of the fact that you are
alive, right now, able to make any choice you wish, able to do anything you
want, right now. Find satisfaction right
now and everything is given the space to change, to grow.
All is well, right now.
