“When you try to control everything, you enjoy nothing. Sometimes you just need to relax, breathe, let go and live in the moment.” ~Unknown
「當你想掌控一切時，你便失去了所有的樂趣。有時你必須放鬆、喘口氣、放開，就只活在當下。」~ 無名氏
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By Megan Cain
I am a recovering doing addict. My whole life I have been committed to getting things done. I do, do, do until I can’t do no more.
我是一個在療癒中的「做事狂」。我畢生的目標就是要把事情做完。我不停地做、做、做，一直到我做不動為止。
I have a very clear memory of myself in college, sitting at an evening lecture. I am not paying attention at all. I am writing a huge, long to-do list on the back of a blue folder.
我清楚地記得有次我在大學裏上一堂晚課，但我根本沒在聽講。我忙著在一個藍色文件夾的背面製造一長串的待辦事項清單。
Things keep popping into my mind, things that must get done right away. I must capture them on this folder so they don’t escape me. All that matters is the list in that moment. I don’t listen to a word that is being said.
要做的事不斷在我腦海中出現，而且那些事必須馬上辦完。我必須在忘記前趕緊將它們寫在這個文件夾上。當時對我最重要的就是那張清單。老師講的課 - 我一句也沒聽進去。
Scraps of memories like this one, some from earlier in my life, remind me that I have always been like this. This way of moving (or running?) through my life is not new. It is woven into the fabric of my being. And it has worked well for me in a lot of ways.
這樣的記憶，包括一些更早期的往事，讓我發現我一直以來是這樣過日子的。這種趕鴨子的生活方式對我並不新鮮。它早已變成我性格的一部份，而且在很多方面其實對我還蠻有幫助的。
I have lived in different cities, held many jobs, traveled all over the world, and started my own business. But there’s a darker flip side to it too, one that drives me into a frenzy of action more often than not. I am growing weary of it. It’s exhausting—the doing and the shoulds and the have tos.
我曾經住過不同的國家，做過不同的工作，到世界各地旅行，甚至創辦了自己 的事業。但這一切卻有個黑暗面，因為我經常陷入馬不停蹄的瘋狂行動中。我開始覺得有些厭倦，對「做事」、「應該」和「必須」這種事感到疲乏。
About a year ago I decided I wanted to change the way I am in the world. I wanted to transform myself from someone who was always stressed out and striven toward the next thing to a centered, joyful, fun, and more loving person.
大約在一年前我決定要改變我存在這個世界的方式。我想把自己從一個常常緊繃，不斷追趕下一件事的人，變成一個淡定、開心、風趣和更有愛心的人。
I had recently started my own business and was feeling devastated that I wasn’t enjoying it. Just like every other job I’d had, I was working myself into a stressful mess each day. I was at the end of my rope and didn’t know what to do. When I spoke with my life coach that week, I shared that I felt like I needed to be broken wide open for things to change.
那時我才剛創業不久，但因為工作並不開心，讓我覺得很沮喪。就像之前的其他工作一樣，我每天都把自己搞得緊張兮兮，焦頭爛額。後來我覺得精疲力竭，不知道如何是好。那個星期我向我的生活教練請益，我告訴她我覺得我必須開腸破肚徹底改造，我才可能改變我的生活方式。
During our session that day she suggested I put everything on hold and carve out a week to just be. No work, no doing, no nothing—just being. “But,” I proclaimed, “what am I supposed to do?” And she replied, “Well, Megan, you’ll just have to figure that out.”
在那天的對話中，她建議我放下所有的事，騰出一星期讓自己安靜下來。不要工作，什麼都不要做，什麼都不要想，就只是單純地存在。「但是，」我很正色地問，「那我要做 什麼呢?」她回答:「梅可，那是你要去發覺的事。」
I trusted her deeply and she had never led me astray. Plus, I was desperate. So I decided to go along on this adventure and deemed it the “Week of Being.” I wasn’t sure what to do that first day, so I went to the movies. I figured I’d ease myself into the whole doing nothing thing with some mindless entertainment.
我對她十分信任，因為她從未讓我走過錯路。況且，我實在太需要幫助了。於是我決定放手一搏，把那個星期當作是我的「存在週」。第一天我不知道該做什麼，所以我去看了場電影。我想用一些不用大腦的娛樂活動讓自己慢慢進入那個什麼也不做的狀態。
I sat in silence a lot that week. I meditated, listened to music and Buddhist teachings, took walks, read, and laid on the floor of my living room doing absolutely nothing. Slowly, I felt the stress and anxiety fall away. It dawned on me that none of the things I told myself I had to do in life were real. They were all completely self-fabricated.
那一個星期我常常獨自安靜地坐著。我靜坐、聆聽音樂和佛學教導、散步、閱讀、躺在客廳的地板上，真的什麼都不做。慢慢地，我覺得身上的壓力和焦慮感開始消退。我發現過去我告訴自己必須要做的每一件事，沒有一件是真的。它們完全是我捏造的。
At the end of the Week of Being, I had a vision of myself in the middle of a labyrinth. I looked down and in my hand I was holding a smooth black stone. I had arrived at the center, and when I looked around I realized there was nothing there…nothing but me.
在「存在週」接近尾聲時，我彷彿看到自己站在一個迷宮的中央。我低下頭，看到我手裏握著一顆光滑的黑石。我已經來到中心點。我舉目四望，發現周圍什麼也沒有，只有我自己。
In my journal from that day I wrote, “I had it backward these thirty-eight years. I thought the doing was what was most important. So the doing often led me down a path of anxiety and stress and even more doing. But it’s in the being where all of the answers lie. Taking care of myself, being in the present, accepting the now—that’s the answer. It’s the only thing I need to focus on. The rest of life will fall into place.”
在那天的日記裏，我寫下:「三十八年來我本末倒置了。我以為最重要的是去「做」，但不停地做只為我製造了焦慮、壓力和更多要做的事。而其實真正重要的是學會如何『存在』。照顧好自己，活在當下，接受現狀，這才是人生的至寶。我只需要做到這件事，其他一切自然就會各得其所。」
It was a powerful week. It has shifted me onto a path of allowing more being into my life and letting go of some of the doing. It’s a simple concept really, but it’s not always easy.
那是個讓我震撼的一週。因為那一個禮拜的經驗，我開始在生活中注入了更多「存在」的時間，把一些該做的事放掉了。這個概念聽起來很簡單，其實沒那麼容易。
It takes practice every day and sometimes I forget the lessons. But I am committed to this process, however long it may take. I know how to get things done, after all, even changing myself.
它需要不斷地練習和提醒自己。雖然有時我還是會忘記學到的這門功課，但我已經下定決心要學會它，不管需要花多長時間。畢竟，我是個「做事魔人」，改變自己這件事也難不倒我。
Lessons from the Week of Being
「存在週」給我的領悟
You can change yourself.
你可以改變自己。
If you have a vision of who you’d like to become and are committed to the work, change is possible.
如果你想重新塑造自己，並且下定決心去做，改變是可能的。
Do less. Be more.
少做點事，多點存在。
Practice the art of doing nothing. Take some time each day to lie on the couch or stare out the window. When waiting for a friend at a coffee shop or riding the bus, just sit and do nothing. Don’t fill every moment with action.
常常練習「無所事事」的藝術。每天花點時間躺在沙發上或凝視窗外。在咖啡店等朋友或坐公車的時候，就靜靜地坐在那裏，什麼也不要做。不要用行動將每分每秒填得滿滿的。
Change is not a linear process.
改變的過程不是線性的。
Sometimes you may find yourself reverting back to your old habits and patterns. This is normal. Change doesn’t happen all at once. The good news is that every time you have a relapse, it feels worse and worse. This means you are changing! Get back on course and be easy on yourself.
有時你會發現自己又落入過去的習性。這很正常，改變不會在一夕之間發生。不過好消息是，每次你故態復萌時，你的感覺會越來越糟糕。這表示你已經在改變了! 你只需要用一個善待自己的心態重新回到正軌就可以了。
When you take care of yourself, you are a better person.
當你把自己照顧好時，你會成為更好的人。
Taking time to care for yourself will help you have more energy for others. When you are calm and centered you are a better partner, sister, friend, and parent.
花點時間善待自己會讓你有更多的精力去面對別人。當你冷靜沈穩時，你會是一個更好的伴侶、姐妹、朋友和父母。
Allow your actions to arise from a place of centered being.
讓行動發自於一個平靜的內在中心點。
Mindful action is far more powerful than flitting from thing to thing. When you live your life from a deep place of peace you are able to bring about profound change.
覺察當下的每個行動會比快速地囫圇吞棗給你更大的力量。當你能憑藉內心深處那股平靜的力量面對生活時，你將會為周遭環境帶來深遠的影響。
* Judy H 譯 *
文章來源 / Source: https://tinybuddha.com/blog/let-go-shoulds-stress-let-yourself-do-nothing/
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Doing nothing calms the mind. When the mind becomes still, we can see our heart. It is the heart that knows who we are, how we feel, and what our calling is.
「無所事事」能讓頭腦安靜下來。頭腦安靜下來後，我們才能看到「心」。因為只有「心」能告訴我們 - 我們是誰、我們的感覺和我們存在的目的。
~ Judy H
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About Megan Cain
Megan Cain helps people create gardens that feed their bodies and souls through design, education and consultation. Her business, The Creative Vegetable Gardener, is a go-to resource for home vegetable gardening on the internet. Get her top 5 tips for growing more food with less work in a garden that inspires deep joy at creativevegetablegardener.com.
關於梅可‧坎恩
梅可‧坎恩透過庭園設計、教學和諮商幫助她的客戶得到身心靈的舒展。她建立的「創意蔬園」是一個專門提供家庭蔬菜園藝資源的網站。有什麼訣竅能夠增添菜園的樂趣，並讓它事半功倍呢? 到她的網站creativevegetablegardener.com 逛逛吧。
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挑花生教給我的平安 / What Picking Peanuts Taught Me About Inner Peace
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