[美文欣賞]

To a large degree, the measure of our peace of mind is determined by how much we are able to live on 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 variety of things -- all at once. We allow past problems and future concerns to dominate your 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 much 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 Lennone once said, "Life is what is happening while we are busy making other plans." When we are busy making 'other plans', our children are busy growing up, the 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 lives as if life is 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 enoughh money, our children will get into trouble, we will get old and die, whatever.

To combat fear, the best stradegy is to learn to bring your attention back to the present. Mark Twain said,"I have been through some terrible things in 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 effort will pay great dividends.

[參考譯文]

我們內心是否平和在很大程度上是由我們是否能生活在現實之中所決定的．不管昨天或去年發生了什么，不管明天可能發生或不發生什么，現實才是你時時刻刻所在之處。

毫無疑問，我們很多人掌握了一種神經兮兮的藝術，即把生活中的大部分時間花在為種種事情擔心憂慮上－－而且常常是同時憂慮許多事情．

我們聽憑過去的麻煩和未來的擔心控制我們此時此刻的生活，以至我們整日焦慮不安，委靡不振，甚至沮喪絕望．而另一方面我們又推遲我們的滿足感，推遲我們應優先考慮的事情，推遲我們的幸福感，常常說服自己“有朝一日”會比今天更好．不幸的是，如此告戒我們朝前看的大腦動力只能重復來重復去，以至“有朝一日”不會真的來臨．約翰．列儂曾經說過：“生活就是當我們忙于制定別的計劃時發生的事．”當我們忙于指定種種＂別的計劃＂時，我們的孩子在忙于長大，我們摯愛的人離去了甚至快去世了，我們的體型變樣了，而我們的夢想也在消然溜走了．一句話，我們錯過了生活。