Work with the ?Now?　活在当下

◎ Jeff Grundy

There are some people who are completely happy with themselves, their lives, and their prospects for the future. While they can be considered to be more fortunate than most, most who do not fall into that category are not as bad off as they tend to believe. Instead, they are simply lacking something, or making mistakes, which are standing in the way of their lives being as fulfilling as they would prefer. Some even go as far as to not realize the immense potential they possess.
What is the main difference between those lucky individuals whose lives seem to be wonderfully on track and those who, often despite every step of trying on their part, appear to have all of the odds stacked against them? While in some cases it is a matter of some people having better luck than others, those whose lives are content in the moment and proceeding in the direction of their choice, do not live in the past.
Whether you are thinking about your personality or your life in general, success means focusing on the here and now. While it is important to acknowledge the choices and experiences which resulted in you being where you are today, it is equally important to not allow yourself to become so caught up in thoughts of the past that the present day passes by.
Self-motivation is the key to ensuring that you do not continue repeating the same mistakes. You may have had one or more errors in judgment which led you to take the wrong path, or to make mistakes that were not in your best interest. You can acknowledge this without rehashing them over and over again in your mind, and simply be determined to make different, better decisions today.
Then is over; this is now. The less time and effort you put into looking at the past, the more you will have for living and experiencing this day. You will also find that letting go of the past will give you a deeper sense of strength. Instead of allowing past mistakes and worries to drain your energies, you will have a renewed energy to live your life to the fullest and enjoy it more.
Being content with yourself and optimistic about your future is not difficult. Whatever is in the past is over; learn from it and move on. When you are self-motivated enough to do this, you will see that moving ahead is the best definition of living life.
With that said, what can you do now? Sure it is easy for me to tell you to forget the past, yet it is a whole different practice to actually do it. Life is a complex set of events much of which of course is real, yet a large amount is just your view of what really happened.
Let me explain with an example. I know not everyone is a football fan but I am guessing most have watched at least part of a game on TV. Most plays and almost all the important plays are played over and over on the TV screen right after the play happened.
How many times have you watched a play and were certain and I mean certain of the outcome, say the player caught a pass, then watching the instant replay you realize you were totally wrong, the player dropped the pass. What you were certain you saw never happened.
The first step in trying to minimize the effects of your past in order to concentrate on your future is to find out how much of the past that you are certain happened were just mistakes on your part.
A quick example might be as a teenager you tried to build a piece of furniture out of scrape wood in your father’s workshop. The piece of furniture looked good when you finished but fell apart before you could show your father and you assumed you were a lousy carpenter and the rest of your life you have avoided building anything. Yet the reality was the scrap wood you used was faulty and not your building ability.
Yet the rest of your life you have believed mistakenly you are a poor builder of things.


有些人对自己、对生活、对未来的期望都非常满意。但大多数人没那么幸运，不过他们也并没自己想得那么差劲，他们只是缺了点什么，或者常犯错误，导致生活没能像自己希望的那样顺遂。有些人甚至完全意识不到自己所拥有的巨大潜能。
一类是生命轨道堪称完美的幸运之子，一类是无论怎么调整脚步总是遇到各类挫折的倒霉家伙，他们之间有什么特别的不同呢？在有些情况下，确实有人比较幸运，然而另一些案例中，区别在于有的人不沉溺于过去，而活在此刻，选择自己的方向不断前进。
你认为成功在于个性也好，生活也好，但要成功，就要专注于此时此地。了解自己过去的抉择和经历固然很重要，因为过去造就了你的现在，但同样重要的是，不要让自己过度沉湎于过去，让今日白白流逝。
成功的关键在于自我激励。确保你不继续重复同样的错误。也许你一次或屡次判断失误，结果踏上错误的道路，或者犯错让自己吃亏。但即使不在内心一遍遍地重复想起，你也能认识到这些错误，你只要下定决心从今天开始，去作出和过去不同、比以往更好的决定就够了，就这么简单。
“过去”已经结束了，此刻才是“现在”。越少花时间和精力去回顾过去，你就会有越多的时间和经历留给今天。你还会发现，放手过去，你的内心会更坚强。与其让昔日的错误和懊恼耗尽你的精力，不如为生命注入新的能量，充实自己的生命，享受自己的生命。
要让自己满意自己，做到对未来充满希望并不难。过去的都过去了，从中汲取经验教训后，生活将继续前进。等你能自我激励到这种程度，就会看到生活的最佳诠释就是一往无前。
前面提到的是目标，但你现在能做什么？要你忘记过去，这说来容易，但真的做起来就完全是另一回事了。生命是由一系列复杂的事件组成的，大部分事件当然是真实的，但也有相当多的事件换个角度去看就完全不同了。
让我解释说明一下。我知道，不是每个人都是球迷，但我猜大多数人至少都在电视上看到过一点比赛。很多比赛都会在电视中重播，重要的比赛尤其如此。
有多少次看比赛时，你之前很确定的结果，比方说带球过人，在随后的回放中看到球员没能带球过人，你才意识到自己完全错了。你本来肯定你所看到的，其实根本没有发生过。
为了更加专注于未来，减少过去的影响，第一步，弄清楚哪些事情你过去信以为真。
举个简单的例子：十几岁时，你用爸爸工厂里的废木料做了一件家具。这件家具刚完工时看起来很不错，但是正当你要展示给爸爸看时，它却散了架，就这样你认定自己是个糟糕的木匠，决定一辈子再也不碰与建筑有关的任何东西。然而事实上，是那些废木料出了差错，而不是你的建筑能力有问题。
认识不到这一点，你一辈子都会误以为自己是个蹩脚的木匠。