风声水起是什么意思:短缺亦乐在其中

The Joy of Scarcity

Post written by Leo Babauta.

短缺亦乐在其中

                                                                  --------  里奥·班巴塔

Often we think of having very little as a hardship.

大多情况下,我们将短缺等同于苦难。

It’s bad to be poor, right? It’s not easy struggling with low wages, with debt, with scarcity.

贫穷的日子难捱，对吧？深陷在收入微薄，负债累累，食不果腹的泥淖中，实属不易。

And while all that is true, it’s also not true.

是的，所有的那一切都不言而喻，但也不完全属实。

There can be joy in getting rid of things, in living with less, in freeing yourself of debt and possessions. It’s all in your mindset.

 在处理事务中，拮据的生活中，摆脱债务与财产中，你依然可以从中得到乐趣。这完全要取决于你的心态。

I grew up poor, and it wasn’t long ago that I was struggling with an income that was too low to meet my mounting bills and debt payments. One of the worst times of my life, actually.

But as I worked to eliminate my debt, I learned to live with less.  And I learned that it can be a wonderful thing.

我在贫穷的生活中长大成人，不久前，我还苦苦挣扎在微薄的工资中，这使我难以应付日益膨胀的账单和债务。事实上，这是我生命中最为艰难的时期。

Struggle is hard, no matter how you paint it. But living in scarcity doesn’t have to be struggle. That’s completely up to you.

无论如何描述这种生活，苦苦挣扎都并非易事。但是，短缺的生活中，你也没必要感觉辛苦。这要取决于你自己。

Reducing Debt

减少债务

When my wife and kids and I began reducing our debt, more than five years ago, it was a scary time. We were overloaded with bills, over our heads in debt, and it was one of the most stressful things we’d ever faced.

五年前，当我和妻子、孩子全家动员开始减少债务时，那段时间我们一直惊慌惊恐。账单缠身，债务沉重，我们面临着前所未有的压力。

So we cut back on spending, which meant learning a whole new way of living. Zap … we got rid of the cable TV, magazine subscriptions, mocha coffees, regular outings to the movie theaters and restaurants and the mall, and more. We changed our entire lives.

所以我们缩减了开支，这就意味着我们要过另一种完全不同的生活方式。嚯嚯··· 我们不再用有线电视，不再订阅杂志，不再喝摩卡咖啡，不再定期去电影院、餐馆、购物商场等等。我们彻底改变了我们的生活。

And yet, while we could have thought of this as sacrifice, in truth, we learned to enjoy it. We were living with less, but we were happier.

我们虽然可以将这视为一种牺牲，但是我们却去试着去享受它。我们生活拮据，但却快乐许多。

We were happier because we saw this as an opportunity to reconnect with each other, doing things that were cheap or free. We took the kids outside more, and played with them. Playing kickball and soccer and tag … these things cost nothing. We dusted off board games and decks of cards, played charades, and had a blast. We visited family and friends more.

我们之所以更加快乐，是因为我们将这看做一种机会，一种联系彼此，做些消费较低或免费的事情得机会。我们带孩子出去和陪他们玩耍的时间多了。玩儿童球呀，踢足球呀，捉迷藏···这些东西分文不花。我们重新开始玩起棋类游戏、扑克牌、猜字谜等，我们玩得不亦乐乎。我们拜访家人、朋友的次数多了。

We cooked at home and had better meals than ever, got healthier, enjoyed eating together.

我们在家做饭，吃到了更可口的饭菜，我们更加健康，更喜欢一家人在一起吃饭。

It wasn’t all roses and cream, but there were many, many positive things that came out of this scarcity. When you are forced to cut back, you can moan, or you can find joy. We chose the path that made us happiest.

尽管这样的生活中不尽称心如意，但短缺的生活中，许多积极的因素还是不断涌现。当你被迫缩减开支时，你可以抱怨不已，也可以从中寻找乐趣。我们选择使我们最为高兴的道路。

And once we were out of debt,  that was one of the most liberating things ever. So we reached an amazing destination, but the journey was just as wondrous.

一旦摆脱了债务的困扰，那使我们感到前所未有的自由。我们到达了新奇的目的地，但是这段旅程本身就是那样的美妙。

Reducing Clutter

减少紊乱

Clutter is another scary thing for a lot of people. Just facing the piles of clutter in your home can be overwhelming. In truth, clutter is a mountain of procrastination … putting off decisions and fears and emotional issues and shopping addictions and more. Facing those fears and issues is too much for most of us.    

紊乱对很多人来说是另一件恼人的事情。仅仅面对家里的杂乱不堪，你就可能会苦不堪言。实际上，紊乱是由拖延组成的一座大山····例如来不及实施决定,来不及消除恐惧,来不及克服心理问题,来不及消除购物嗜好等等。面临如此多的恐惧及问题，我们大多数人难以如此多的压力。

I faced them, and learned that when you deal with these fears and emotions, even a little at a time, it is freeing. You feel clean and spare, not just because you’re burdened with fewer possessions, but because you’re burdened with less emotional baggage that you’re hiding in the back of your mind.

我正视它们，并发现当你去克服这些恐惧及情绪时，即使一次克服一点，自由会慢慢来临。你会感觉神清气爽，这不仅仅是因为你财物所累，更因为你潜藏在内心的心理负担减轻了。

Reducing our clutter meant tough choices, it meant a lot of discussion about what we wanted and why we really need things, it meant learning a whole host of new habits.

减少紊乱意味着要面对艰难的抉择，意味着更多的去探求我们想要什么及其中的原因，意味着培养更多新的习惯。

But it also meant getting rid of things that were weighing us down, that we didn’t need but that were still costing us time and energy and mental cycles. We learned to love a spare-looking room, and the amazing feeling of sitting or lying around in a room that was clean and uncluttered.

但是，它也意味着清除那些困扰我们的事情，清除那些我们不必在意，但却在消耗我们时间、精力，让我们大伤脑筋的事情。我们试着去喜欢看起来宽敞的房间，试着去喜欢那种围坐在或躺在一尘不染、井然有序的的房间。

Living with fewer possessions can be a pure joy that is unmatched by anything you can buy.

财物少的情况下，生活可能成为一种纯粹的愉悦，这种愉悦是任何你买得起的东西所不能相比的。

Less Food

少些食物

Losing 70 lbs. has been a journey of exploring my relationship with food. In days of fatness, I ate because everyone else was eating, I ate because I was bored or stressed out and needed the comfort of food, I ate because I didn’t want to confront my health issues, I ate because it was one of the only ways I knew of finding pleasure.

体重减轻70磅的过程，是我探求自己与食物关系的过程。身体较重的日子里，我吃食物是因为别人在吃食物，因为我感到无聊或压力过大，需要在食物中寻找慰藉，因为我不想拿自己的健康冒险，因为它是我所知道的唯一的寻找乐趣的途径。

Now I know that less food can also be a joy. Eating simple foods, rather than fast foods or convenient foods or sweet or fatty or fried foods, can be a joy.

现在，我知道少吃些食物也是一种乐趣。吃些简单的食物，而不是速食或便利食物或甜食或高脂肪食物或油炸食物，这也是一种乐趣。

I’ve learned the simple pleasures of drinking a cup of unsweetened tea made from whole tea leaves. I’ve learned the deliciousness that comes from eating a single fresh fig, half a handful of berries, a few raw almonds. When you stop putting so much sugar and sauces on things, you learn their real beauty. When you stop killing animals and learn to appreciate the natural taste of plants, you feel incredible and alive.

我已经领悟到了喝杯清茶的单纯乐趣。我就已经体味到了吃个新鲜无花果、半个浆果、几颗杏仁的美味。当你停止在食物中放入过多的糖和调味料时，你将会找到真正的美。当你停止捕杀动物并学着去欣赏植物的自然味道时，你感到一切是那么的不可思议、充满活力。

I now skip breakfast so I can remember what it’s like to feel a little hungry — something I never did when I was fat. I eat two meals a day because it’s easier to prepare, and I like a little scarcity in my life. I eat what I want, but I find that I enjoy the simple foods more than ever now.

我现在不吃早饭，这可以使我能记得稍微感到饥饿的感觉 — 那是我在身体较重时从未体会的。我一天吃两顿饭，因为这样比较好准备，我也喜欢在生活中有些短缺。我吃我想吃的东西，但是我发现自己比从前更能享受简单的食物。

Fewer Choices

少些选择

We think we want a lot of choices, but really we want freedom. There’s a difference, and the overwhelming number of choices in our lives these days leads to confusion, paralysis, and unhappiness.

我们认为自己想要更多的选择，但实际上，我们真正想要的是自由。它们有所不同，生命中过多的选择会导致迷茫、麻痹和不快。

Scarcity choices can be seen as a bad thing, but I see it as liberating. I’m not saying we should have no choices, but fewer is better.

少些选择可能会被认为是坏事情，我却认为这是自由。我不是说我们应该别无选择，而是说适当有些选择会好一点。

Try narrowing down your choices, in as many ways as you dare. Watch fewer TV shows by picking just three you watch every week. Pick just one book and read that until you’re done. Have a to-do list that’s only three items long each day. Make a weekly menu that only has two or three meals you cook in big batches, and eat those all week. You might worry that you’re making the wrong choices — you’re not. There are no wrong choices, there’s only the fear of making the wrong choices.

试着去想尽各种方法去缩小自己的选择范围。少看些电视节目，一周挑选自己要看的三个节目。选择一本书，一直读下去。每天，自己列出一个做事清单，只需三件事即可。列出一个周备忘录，你只需从众多的选择中列出两、三到你要做的菜，然后这一周全吃这些菜。没有错误的选择，有的仅是害怕做出选择的恐惧。

I find limiting my choices to be an opportunity to let go of the worries about making the wrong choices, and to focus on enjoying the choices I do make. As I’ve explored scarcity, I’ve been left with this one truth: every path I take is perfect.

我发现限制自己的选择是消除面临选择时恐惧的机会，这也可以使自己专注自己做出的选择。在自己探索短缺的过程中，我已经证实：我所走过的每条路都是完美的。