关于幸福的误解.doc

Happiness equates with fun
       关于幸福的误解

    I live in Hollywood. You may think people in such a glamorous, fun-filled place are happier than others. If so, you have some mistaken ideas about the nature of happiness.

    Many intelligent people still equate happiness with fun. The truth is that fun and happiness have little or nothing in common. Fun is what we experience during an act. Happiness is what we experience after an act. It is a deeper, more abiding emotion.

    Going to an amusement park or ball game, watching a movie or television, are fun activities that help us relax, temporarily forget our problems and maybe even laugh. But they do not bring happiness, because their positive effects end when the fun ends.

    I have often thought that if Hollywood stars have a role to play, it is to teach us that happiness has nothing to do with fun. These rich, beautiful individuals have constant access to glamorous parties, fancy cars, expensive homes, everything that spells "happiness".

    But in memoir after memoir, celebrities reveal the unhappiness hidden beneath all their fun: depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, broken marriages, troubled children, profound loneliness.

    The way people cling to the belief that a fun-filled, pain-free life equates happiness actually diminishes their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equated with happiness, then pain must be equated with unhappiness. But, in fact, the opposite is true: More times than not, things that lead to happiness involve some pain.

    As a result, many people avoid the very endeavors that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment, civic or charitable work, and self-improvement.
我住在迪斯尼、好莱坞和year-round sun附近。你可能会认为在如此富有魅力的、充满乐趣的地方住着的人比其它地方的人幸福。如果是这样子，那么你对于幸福的性质有一些错误的观点了。

    许多聪明的人仍然视幸福为乐趣。 事实是乐趣和幸福有一点点的共同或其实根本就没有不同。 乐趣是我们在一个行为期间经历的。 幸福是我们在一个行为之后经历的。 它是更深入更持久的情绪。

    去一趟游乐园或球赛,看一场电影或电视, 是帮助我们放松、暂时忘记我们的烦恼甚至放声大笑的有趣的活动。 但是它们并不能带来幸福，因为当乐趣结束时它们的效力没有了。

    我时常有个想法，如果好莱坞明星扮演一个角色,他将教我们幸福与乐趣无关。这些富有又美丽的人物举行持续的能够与其他上层阶级接触的富有魅力的宴会，名车，豪宅，每件事物都在拼写着“幸福”。

    但是在一本传记又一本传记, 名人揭露在他们所有的乐趣之下被隐着的不幸福: 忧郁，酗酒，毒瘾，破碎的婚姻，捣乱的孩子和深深的寂寞感。问一个单身汉，即使他发现约会比较少了，已经经常不满意了，他为什么仍拒绝婚姻。如果他是诚实的,他将会告诉你他对于作出一个承诺的害怕。 因为承诺事实上相当痛苦。 单身生活充满乐趣、冒险和刺激。 婚姻是如此的重大，但是它们不是它最有区别的特征。

    同样地, 选择不想要孩子的夫妇宁愿要痛苦少的乐趣而不要充满痛苦的幸福。 他们能到外面吃饭，他们能想要睡多晚就能睡多晚。而有孩子的夫妇有整个夜晚的安稳睡眠或一次三天的假期都会觉得是很幸运了。 我认识的任何父母都不会说养育孩子是有乐趣的。

    理解并接受真正的幸福和乐趣武官是最大的进步。我们能够从这个观点出发继续。 它从时间中解放了我们: 现在我们能花费更多的时间做真正带给我们幸福的事情了。它从金钱中解放了我们: 买新车或那些时尚的衣服是无意义的，这不能给我们带来更多的幸福。而且它从羡慕中解放了我们:我们现在了解，我们可以肯定的是那些富有的和富有魅力的人很快乐，因为他们总是有这么多的乐趣而实际上一点也不可能很幸福。