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Living in the Here and Now / 活在当下

By Jeffrey Hollender


Six years ago, my younger brother Peter, who was my closest friend and the only remaining member of my immediate family, ended his life.
六年前，我的弟弟彼得——我最亲密的朋友，我唯一的直系亲属——自杀了。

Nothing I have ever experienced, or have experienced since, has had such a powerful impact on what I believe.
这件事对我的思想和信仰造成的巨大影响超过了此前及之后我所经历的任何一件事情。

Until then, life often slid by me, my mind lost in reviewing what had just happened or anticipating what was to come. 在那之前，我的生命似流水般日日滑过，整天不是沉浸在对过去的回味，就是迷失在对未来的憧憬之中。

The present seemed to disappear between the past and the future.
 “现在”似乎在过去与未来之间消失了。

The life most of us lead is short to begin with; the more we miss, the shorter it gets.
对于我们中大多数人来说，生命本来就很短暂；随着我们错过的越多，它就变得愈加短暂。

I vowed to myself that I would honor my brother's death by being present in my own life.
我对自己发誓，我要用活在当下的生活态度来祭奠死去的弟弟。

I found a new world opened up before me — a life of richer detail, both wider and wilder.
从那之后，我发现一个全新的世界展现在面前——一种内涵更加丰富，更加宽广，更加热烈的生活。

The autopilot I'd been running on for God knows how long finally shut off.
天知道我在自动驾驶状态下已经生活了多久，但我终于走出了那种状态。

I began to see new possibilities for thought, vision, caring and action: to say what too often remains unsaid, to admit that often I have no idea what to do.
我开始看到在思想，远见，关注点和行动上存在的各种新的可能性。于是我有勇气说出了通常不敢说的话，有勇气承认了我经常会不知所措。

Being present isn't easy.
活在当下并非易事。

On a good day, I'd say I'm conscious 1 to 2 percent of the time.
不得不承认，我一天有1%到2%的时间是意识清醒时，就算很不错了。

The rest of the time I'm reacting.
其余的时间我都在条件性地对周围事物做出反应。

Usually those reactions are not particularly thoughtful. They're just responses, old patterns or the repetition of what I did yesterday.
多数情况下，那些反应都不曾经过特别的深思熟虑，而只是条件反射式的，旧的套路，或是我以前做过的事情的重复。

Now I try to ask questions, not give answers. This isn't easy for me to do.
现在，我试着多提问，而不是回答。这对我来说并非易事。

I'm someone with a lot of answers. I have to restrain myself.
我这个人总是有很多固定的套路，我需要克制自己。

Not reacting takes a lot of work, but the more I'm able to do it, the more I feel like I'm being the person I aspire to be. 我需要花费很大的功夫才能控制自己不要总是根据固定套路做事情，但是当我能成功地改变时，我就会感觉这样的自己才是我想要的。

I see that my own mind can be my greatest limitation (and on bad days, it always is), or the gateway to what matters most to me — the big stuff — environmental sustainability, world peace, the end to hunger, the beginning of true social justice for all.
我终于发现我自己的头脑可以成为我最大的局限（运气不好时，经常都是这样），也可能成为通向我所关注的大问题的道路——如环境的可持续性，世界和平，如何解决饥荒，如何实现真正的社会公正等。

I used to think that these possibilities were beyond our reach; impossible to hope for, silly to believe in.
以前我以为这些事情都是我们力所不能及的——不可能实现的，傻瓜才相信。

But if we don't believe in our own ability to make them happen, they never will.
但是，如果我们不相信我们可以通过自己的努力实现这些，那么这些美好的愿望就永远不可能实现了。

I've found that my decision to be present — that is, filled with attention to what is — is foundational.
我发现我决定要活在当下这个态度是最基本的，即把精力集中在当前的状况。

I often cry when I think about my brother.
每当想起弟弟，我都不禁落泪。

It's one of the few things I let myself cry about.
我很少放任自己为一些事情流泪，这是其中一件。

I missed opportunities with him because I wasn't present — missed opportunities I will never have again.
因为我没有活在当下，我错过了和他在一起的最后机会——我永远都不会再有机会了。

In some ways, he was almost always fully present. He didn't know any other way to be.
在某些方面，我的弟弟是个全身心投入现在的人。他没有考虑过要用别的方式生活。

I don't want to miss any more of my life than I already have.
我已经浪费了很多时间，不想继续浪费了。

By being present and conscious, aware and awake, I believe that I can honor my brother, just a little bit, every day. 我相信我可以每天用活在当下，有意识，明事理，并保持头脑清醒的态度和做法来一点点纪念我的弟弟。



Jeffrey Hollender is President and CEO of Seventh Generation, a producer of environmentally safe household products. His previous ventures included adult education and audio publishing businesses. Hollender and his family live in Charlotte, Vt.