首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
A Simple Truth about Happiness After I gave a talk on the subject of happiness, a woman in the audience stood up and said, "
A Simple Truth about Happiness After I gave a talk on the subject of happiness, a woman in the audience stood up and said, "
admin
2010-04-12
37
问题
A Simple Truth about Happiness
After I gave a talk on the subject of happiness, a woman in the audience stood up and said, "I wish my husband had come." "Much as I loved him." she explained, "it wasn’t easy being married to someone so unhappy." This woman enabled me to put into words what I had been searching for—altruistic, as well as the personal, reasons for taking happiness seriously. I told her that each of us owes it to our spouse, our children, our friends to be as happy as we can.
I was not a particularly happy child, and like most teenagers, I took pleasure in my anguish. One day, however, it occurred to me when I was taking the easy way out. Anyone could be unhappy, it took no courage and efforts. True achievement lay in struggling to be happy. The notion that we have to work at happiness comes as news to many people. We assume it’s a feeling that comes as a result of good things that just happen to us, things over which we have little or no control. But the opposite is true: happiness is largely under our control. It is a battle to be fought and not a feeling to be awaited. To achieve a happy life, it’s necessary to overcome some stumbling blocks, three of which are:
Comparison with Others Most of us compare ourselves with anyone we think is happier—a relative, an acquaintance or, often someone we barely know. I once met a young man who struck me as particularly successful and happy. He spoke of his love for his beautiful wife and their three daughters, and of his joy at being a radio talk-show host in a city he loved. I remember thinking that he was one of those lucky few for whom everything goes effortlessly right. Then we started talking about the Internet. He blessed its existence, he told me, because he could look up information on multiple sclerosis the terrible disease afflicting his wife. I felt like a fool for assuming nothing unhappy existed in his life.
Images of Perfection Almost all of us have images of how life should be. The problem, of course, is that only rarely do people’s jobs, spouses and children live up to these imagined ideals. Here’s a personal example: no one in my family had ever divorced. I assumed that marriage was for life. So when my wife and I divorced after five years of marriage and three years after the birth of our son, my world collapsed. I was a failure in my own eyes. I later remarried and confided to my wife that I couldn’t shake the feeling that my family life had failed. She asked me what was wrong with our family now (which included her daughter from a previous marriage and my son). I had to admit that, aside from the pain of being with my son only half the time(my ex-wife and I shared custody), our family life was wonderful. "Then why don’t you celebrate it?" she asked. That’s what I decided to do. But first I had to get rid of a "perfect" family.
"Missing the" Syndrome One effective way of destroying happiness is to look at something and focus on even the smallest flaw. It’s like looking at the tiled ceiling and concentrating on the space where one tile is missing. As a bald man told me, "whenever I enter a room, all I see is hair." Once you’ve determined what your missing tile is, explore whether acquiring it will really make you happy. Then do one of the three things: get it, replace it with a different tile, or forget about it and focus on the tiles in your life that are not missing.
We all know people who have had a relatively easy life yet are essentially unhappy. And we know people who have suffered a great deal but generally remain happy. The first secret is gratitude. All happy people are grateful. Ungrateful people cannot be happy. We tend to think that being unhappy leads people to complain, but it’s truer to say that complaining leads to people becoming unhappy.
The second secret is realizing that happiness is a byproduct of something else. The most obvious sources are those pursuits that give our lives purpose—anything from studying insects to playing baseball. The more passions we have, the more happiness we are likely to experience. Finally, the belief that something permanent transcends us and that our existence has some larger meaning can help us be happier. We need a spiritual faith, or a philosophy of life. Whatever your philosophy is, it should include this truism: if you choose to find the positive in virtually every situation, you will be blessed, and if you choose to find the awful, you will be cursed. As with happiness itself, this is largely your decision to make.
The first secret of being happy is gratitude.
选项
A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案
A
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/BUj7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
A、Havetobuyaspecialelectronicticket.B、Havetotravelalongwaytovisittheuniversity.C、Needanexpensivedevicedesig
Althoughtheenjoymentofcolorisuniversalandcolortheoryhasallkindsofnamestoit,colorremainsaveryemotionalands
A、Becauseithasalotofmeanings.B、Becauseitisanuncommonword.C、Becauseitsmeaningsareconfusing.D、Becausenoonehas
A、Becauseitwastheonlywaytobringaboutchanges.B、Becauseitofferedmoreopportunitiesforjobs.C、Becausewomendidnot
A、50minutes.B、45minutes.C、15minutes.D、35minutes.B根据选项,对话的内容与时间相关。根据“You’vejustmissedbyfiveminutes.Trainsleaveever
A、Inalibrary.B、Inabookshop.C、Inarestaurant.D、Inadepartmentstore.A根据选项,推测提问是关于对话发生的场所。对话中谈到了借书的一些规则,据此可以判断答案是A。
Fromthefirstparagraph,whatisakeypointinpersuasivecommunication?WhyisVirginentrepreneurRichardBransonpopular?
Scientistshavedevelopedanewcancerdrug.Sofar,theyhavetesteditonlyon【B1】______animals.Thedrugisdesignedto【B2
Napoleondeclared,"Victorybelongstothemostpersevering."Uponcarefulstudywefindperseverancedependsuponthreethingsp
A、Hewascheerfulandexcited.B、Hewastired.C、Heseemedverysad.D、Heseemedfrightenedbyhisstrangesurroundings.A
随机试题
痰是从_______排出的喉以下呼吸道和肺泡的分泌物。
理论上移植前离体的。肾脏保存在UW液内最长多少时间仍获得良好的功能()
痿证的主要病理是
男,56岁。2年来表现为烦躁多食、多饮、多尿,体重下降,疲倦无力,注意力不集中,失眠,情绪低落,主动性差,反应迟钝。1周前出现兴奋不安,言语紊乱而住院。该患者最可能的诊断是
根据《担保法》的规定,下列关于保证的表述中正确的有()。(2008年多项选择第58题)
一个社会有希望,有可以让人讴歌与向往的前景,关键就在于公民既有权利追求自由,又有义务担负责任。“只讲自由,不讲责任”和“只讲责任,不讲自由”一样,都因为权利与义务的不对等而使社会迷失于个人和集体两个极端,使社会最终失去前途,而身处其中的任一何个人也因此难以
下面关于膀胱癌的叙述,正确的有
Doyouwakeupeverydayfeelingtootired,orevenupset?Ifso,thenanewalarmclockcouldbejustforyou.Theclock,c
君は度に美しくなるね。
TwosimplebuteffectivetipsforhavingabusinesstalkPrepareGatherasmuchinformationasyoucanbeforethebusiness
最新回复
(
0
)