Do you want to be happy? Of course you do, but according to new research, resting and relaxation are no way to go about it。
想要快樂嗎?你當然想啦,不過最新研究顯示,休息放鬆可不能讓你快樂起來。
You『re better off going to the theatre or exercising; even a visit to the library beats lounging around on the sofa。
你最好去劇院看場劇,或者去做運動,即使是去圖書館看書也比躺在沙發上無所事事要強。
Such were the findings of a joint study by the University of Sussex and the London School of Economics, which has come up with a list of 33 activities that make us happy。
One thing『s for certain, texting and social media come at the bottom of the list, only increasing our happiness by a puny 0.45 per cent。
可以肯定的是,簡訊和社交媒體只能讓我們的快樂感增加微不足道的0.45%,排在了列表的末尾。
But happiness doesn『t have to come from other people。 It can come from within - and connecting with the world around you。
但是快樂不一定是來自別人的,它還可以源於自身,與你周圍的世界有著緊密的聯繫。
DIGGING IN THE GARDEN
園藝的快樂
By Sally Brampton
莎莉?布蘭普頓
A few years ago I went through a period of such severe depression that life didn『t seem worth living。 It was like permanent winter, so bleak and cold that the sun would never shine。
Then I saw snowdrops pushing through the freezing, iron-hard ground。 I looked at them every day until I felt that if they could come back to life, then so could I。
後來我看到雪花蓮從冰冷堅硬的泥土裡鑽出來了。我每天看著它們,心想,如果它們可以挺過這個寒冬,那我也可以。
Those green shoots gave me hope in a way that nothing else had。
唯獨是這些綠色的嫩芽,用獨特的方式給我帶來了希望。
As spring came, I started to put in more and more plants, until the garden was ablaze with colour。 Life was growing through my hands; gentle, peaceful, but, above all, optimistic。 If I gave love, it was returned, a hundredfold。
I could spend hours lost in gardening。 The form of depressive illness I have is biological。 It has affected generations of my family and follows no rhyme, reason nor circumstance。 I can be depressed when the sun is shining or I am surrounded by a group of loving friends。
Of course, fresh air and exercise help to alleviate depression, but for me gardening is more than that。 It represents endurance as well as hope。
當然,呼吸新鮮空氣和做運動能夠減輕抑鬱的癥狀,但對我來說,園藝不僅僅是一種治療的手段。它代表著忍耐和希望。
At the end of the first garden I made stood a tree, huge and magnificent。 It withstood freezing temperatures and gale-force winds。 It bent but never broke。
The leaves dropped until it looked no more than a stark skeleton, but it always, always came back to life。 And so I learned that we may be battled and bruised, but hope is a living thing。