What does it mean to relax? Despite hearing this term thousands of times during the course of our lives, very few people have deeply considered what it's really about.

放松是什么意思？盡管一生中我們會成千上萬次地聽到這個詞，但是幾乎沒有什么人好好琢磨過它到底意味著什么。

When you ask people (which I have done many times) what it means to relax, most will answer in a way that suggests that relaxing is something you plan to do later  you do it on vacation, in a hammock1, when you retire, or when you get everything done. This implies, of course, that most other times (the other 95 percent of your life) should be spent nervous, agitated2, rushed, and frenzied3. Very few actually come out and say no, but this is the obvious implication. Could this explain why so many of us operate as if life were one great big emergency? Most of us postponerelaxation until our “inbasket4” is empty. Of course it never is.

當你問別人(我曾問過許多次)放松意味著什么，大多數人的答案不外乎是，放松就是某些有朝一日你會做的事——那些你計劃在假期里，躺在吊床上，退休以后，或把該干的事都做完之后才有時間做的事。這自然意味著大部分時間(你生命中95%的時間)應該是在緊張、焦慮、匆忙、瘋狂中度過。沒有什么人會站出來說不是這么回事，而事實就是那么回事。這是否能解釋為什么我們那么多的人把人生看作是一件連續不斷的緊急事件而奔忙不停？我們很多人把放松推遲到我們的“收文籃”清空之后。但我們的“收文籃”當然是永遠不會空的。

It is useful to think of relaxation as a quality of heart that you can access on a regular basis rather than something reserved for some later time. You can relax now. It's helpful to remember that relaxed people can still be superachievers and, in fact, that relaxation and creativity go hand in hand5. When I'm feeling upright, for example, I don't even try to write. But when I feel relaxed, my writing flows quickly and easily.

不妨把放松理解成一種心態，是你可以時常受用、而不是什么非要留到以后才能享受的東西。你現在就可以放松。記住，會放松的人依然可以取得輝煌的成就。事實上，放松和創造往往如影隨形。比如說，當我感到繃得緊緊的時候，我甚至不會試著去寫點什么。但是我放松時，會感到下筆流暢自如。

Being more relaxed involves training yourself to respond differently to the dramas of life  turning your melodrama6 into a mellowdrama7. It comes, in part, from reminding yourself over and over again (with loving kindness and patience) that you have a choice in how you respond to life. You can learn to relate to8 your thinking as well as your circumstances in new ways. With practice, making these choices will translate into a more relaxed self

要想變得更為放松，需要訓練自己換一種方式對待生活中出現的種種事件——把生活中的“情節劇”變成一出溫馨的戲劇。要做到這一點，在一定程度上就需要不斷地用愛心和耐心提醒自己：對于生活的挑戰做出何種反應的決定權在你自己手中。你可以學著去用新的方式對待自己的心緒和周遭情形。只要多實踐，這些選擇會幫你造就更放松的自我。