歌曲海绵宝宝原唱:清空自己：生活中必须清理掉的七件事

作者：肯恩

Delighted to Delete

乐于清空

Lately I’ve become aware that I’m slowly developing what I call an inner delete button, a little voice that tells me when I’m wasting my time.

近来，我发现自己似乎内置了一个清空按钮一样，当我在某件事情上做无用功时，总有一个微弱的声音提醒着我。

I guess it’s more than just a little voice. It’s more like an overall sense of having my energy drained, and when I feel it, I start searching for the source with the intention of eliminating it.

我想也许不只是一个微弱的声音。更像是一种整体上的感觉：我耗尽了能量，且意识到了自己已经精疲力竭，于是开始试图寻找事情的根源，并企图将之扼杀。

Sometimes I discover the source is a negative thought I’ve been having, a limiting belief I’ve been holding, or a needless and exhausting rule I’ve been following. At other times, I dig around and uncover an old fear that’s been holding me back. And sadly, sometimes I discover the source is a person who seems intent on bringing themselves and everyone around them down a little, if not completely.

有时我发现，根源就在于自身拥有的某种负面思想，狭隘的信仰，或者是我一直遵循的某种无用且让人身心疲惫的规则。有时我四处探寻，发现了一直阻碍我前行的且存在已久的恐惧感。另外，可悲的是，有时我发现根源在于某些人，他们有意无意的企图把自己以及其身边的人击垮。

It’s an Energy Thing

心理能量

It wasn’t easy at first, but I think I’m getting used to hitting that delete button without feeling too much guilt. It hasn’t always been that way.

起初，也许即时的清空自己并非易事，但我已经习惯了去按心理那个清空按钮，且没有任何负罪感。有时事情并非总是如想象那样难。

You see, I’m a pretty nice guy most of the time. I like being a nice guy. I’d never make it as a hard ass and no one would buy it anyway. But I used to be nice at the expense of my own soul and I’ve kind of lost my patience with that. Maybe I just don’t have the energy.

你知道，大多数时候我都是一个不错的人，我也喜欢这样的自己。我不会因此成为一个狠角色，况且这样的人也没什么立足之地。但曾经，我是以牺牲自己的灵魂去做一个好人的。我已经有些受不了这一点了。可能是我还未拥有足够的心理能量。

In any event, I guess you could say I’ve started sending a few things in my life to the trash and, to be quite honest, I don’t seem to miss them all that much.

无论如何，我想你可能相信我已经开始清理掉生活中某些事情，而且，坦白的说，我似乎一点没后悔。

My List of Things to Undo

不要做的事

Here’s a list of some of the things I’ve started deleting from my life: 

以下列出一些我已经从生活中清除的事：

1) Putting up with disrespect. 

1）对无礼的宽容

I don’t allow people to insult or belittle me. I don’t get hostile; I just walk away.

我不允许人们侮辱或轻视我。我也不会怀有任何敌意；只是走开就好。

If you leave a nasty comment on my blog, I delete it. You can disagree with me, but you have to do so respectfully if you want your comment to be treated with any respect.

如果你在我的空间发表任何不雅言论，我会删除它。你也可以不同意我的观点，但如果你希望自己的言论被别人尊重，那么你所做的行为也要值得他人尊重。

If you repeatedly insult or belittle me on Facebook, I remove you from my friends’ list. Who needs friends like that?

如果你不断的侮辱或者贬低我，我就把你从朋友名单里清除。谁会需要这样的朋友呢？

If you send me ugly emails, I earmark your future letters for the spam folder.

如果你给我恶心的邮件，我就把邮件标记为垃圾邮件。

If you’ve consistently proven yourself to be hostile to my well being, I wish you a good life and go my merry way.

如果你仍反复的表示对我的敌意，那咱们从此你走你的阳光道我走我的独木桥。

Life is just too short to spend your energy on people who have no regard for you.

生活如此短暂，我们不应该把精力浪费在不尊重你的人的身上。

2) Debating anyone over their right to be unhappy.

2）与自甘不幸的人争辩

Sometimes people ask for help with a problem. I do my best to help them solve it, but if at some point I realize they’re more devoted to hanging onto the problem than finding a solution, I excuse myself.

有时，有些人遇到了某种困难需要帮助。我会尽力帮他们解决，但如果在某一刻我发现他们仍沉浸在困难情境中而不是全身心去寻找解决问题的方法，那不好意思，恕我无能为力了。

Why waste time arguing with someone over their right to be unhappy? Of course they have that right. And I have the right to choose happiness, which is how I’d rather spend my time.

为什么要跟那些自甘不幸的人争论呢，不过是浪费时间罢了。他们有权选择怎么活。我也有权选择幸福的活，这是我愿意为之努力的。

3) Listening to a list of reasons why I shouldn’t enjoy something or love someone.

3）听别人说一系列我不能做某事或者爱某人的原因

Every now and then I’m enjoying a dish and someone across the table from me starts rattling on and on about how horrible it is. I ask them to stop eating it and let me enjoy it. What’s the point?

总有些时候，正当我享受美味，某人从桌边经过，并开始喋喋不休地跟我说这东西是多难吃。我通常会告诉他们，那你以后不要吃了，但不要影响我的胃口。你明白我意思吧？

At other times, people seem intent on telling me how stupid the things I enjoy doing really are. I just shrug my shoulders and find a reason to excuse myself. Let me know when there’s something to celebrate.

另外，人们总是试图告诉我我所做的事有多愚蠢，而事实上，我却非常享受。这种情况通常我只是耸耸肩，找个借口就宽慰自己了。当有开心的事的时候再跟我说吧。

And worst of all is when someone finds it necessary to “warn” me about a friend or someone I admire. They start giving me a list of reasons why that person is not as wonderful as I might think. To be honest, this really pisses me off.

最糟糕的是，当某人认为有必要警示我小心某个朋友或者是我所崇拜的人，他们就开始给出一系列这些人并非如我想象那么好的理由，坦白的说，这真会让我感到非常厌烦。

The longer their list of grievances becomes, the smaller they become in my mind. I can literally see them shrinking. It’s a disappointing thing to experience.

他们牢骚越久，他们在我心中的形象就越渺小，我甚至可以看到他们的形象在逐步的缩小。这是种失望的感觉。

Why on earth, I wonder, would they want to decrease the amount of love someone has for another human being? Do they think the problem with the world is that there’s too much love and respect floating about, or do they think there’s not enough to go around? In any case, I try to not to listen before they shrink any further.

我想知道，到底他们为什么要削弱一个人心中对另一个人的爱呢？他们不会认为世界众多问题的根源在于有太多的爱和尊重吧？还是认为爱和尊重太过集中于某些人身上？除非他们不再说三道四，否则我是不会听他们的话的。

4) Interacting with people who are constantly selling me something.

4）跟那些总是向你推销的人打交道

I have no problem with someone trying to sell me something they truly believe I could use, but there’s a time and a place for everything.

有些人，总是试图像你推销一些他们认为你能用得到的东西，对于这些我没什么偏见，但做事要分场合。

I’ve encountered people on the internet who have some really great products to sell, but everything they say is a sales pitch. It’s boring, it’s exhausting, and it’s insulting. I want to shout out, “Hello! Is there a human being in there?” It’s as if they’ve turned into an out of control salesbot with no off switch.

在网上我遇到过一些人，他们卖的商品可能确实不错，但他们所说的每一句话都像推销词似的。这不仅无聊、让人疲惫，还有些不尊重人。我甚至想冲他们大吼：喂，你们还有人性吗？他们就像变成了失了控的销售机器一样，还没关闭按钮。

Just last night, I chose to end my subscription to a membership site, not because it wasn’t useful but because the constant barrage of sales letters they were emailing me had become just too annoying.

就在昨晚，我注销了一个网站的会员注册，不是因为它没用，而是它持续的推销邮件攻击让我很困扰。

I’m a person. If you want me to do business with you, treat me like one, not like a psychological trigger you can constantly pull.

我是一个人，如果你想和我做生意，就像人一样待我，而不是像某个任你牵引的心理因素。

5) Listening to sales pitches based on scarcity.

5）听信货品短缺这类的推销词

I haven’t just started deleting messages from people who never stop selling. I’ve also begun to tune out sales pitches designed to frighten me by telling me I could be missing out on my last chance ever to know true happiness.

我早就开始删除那些不断向我推销的人的信息，并开始不理会某些推销词，这些推销词营造出一种千万不要错失良机的氛围，进而让人产生一种恐慌感。

Yes, I know they’re effective. Yes, I know that people are more motivated to avoid pain than they are to seek rewards. Yes, I know at some point I’ll probably be motivated to make a purchase based on this principle, but every time I do I feel yucky.

是，我知道产品效果很好。是，我知道，与寻求回报相比，人们更倾向于回避痛苦。是的，我还知道某种程度上这样的销售方法会让我产生购买冲动，但是，每一次我都有厌恶感。

I feel much better when I purchase something because a friend told me how great it was. I like being excited. I don’t like being scared.

当因为某个朋友告诉我某件东西多么好用我去购买，这样就感觉舒服多了。我喜欢惊喜兴奋的感觉，而不是被吓到的感觉。

Stop trying to scare me. Keep it up and sooner or later you’re going to wind up in my trash folder. I hope that frightens you.

别在吓我了。如果继续这样你迟早会被我放在垃圾文件夹中。我希望这能震慑到你。

6) The belief that I must know precisely what I’m doing before I start doing it.

6）认为“开始一件事之前必须要清楚的知道自己所做的一切”

I understand the value of preparation and planning, but my experience has been that there’s only so much that can be perfected on paper. You find out how to do things as you’re doing them and discovering all the ways they can’t be done.

我知道准备和计划的重要性，但我的经验告诉我，一件事情要想在纸上尽善尽美，那要准备的实在太多了，只有去实践，才能了解事情可行或不可行的方法。

It took Thomas Edison thousands of attempts to find the right filament to create a working light bulb, but he saw each failure as a new discovery of what wouldn’t work which brought him one step closer to the thing that would. This didn’t happen on paper. Edison made the light bulb and then he made it better again and again and again until he made it work.

爱迪生试验了几千次才找到合适的灯丝，进而发明了电灯。他把每一次失败都看作一次新的发现，这让他知道了什么方式是不可行的，也因此让他离正确的方式更进了一步。只有实践才能达到这样的效果。爱迪生发明了电灯，并反复实践直到达到更好的效果。

This is how I’m beginning to live my life and tackle my dreams. My former way wasn’t working, so I’m deleting it.

这就是我怎样抛却幻想开始踏实生活的。先前的方法不奏效，那我就清除掉它。

7) The belief that I don’t deserve success.

7）认为“我不配获得成功”

This belief used to keep me from even trying. I’d ask myself who I thought I was. Now I ask myself who I think I’m not and why.

这样的想法曾让我放弃去为目标尝试，我曾问自己：我认为我是谁？而现在，我会问自己：我不是谁，我为什么不是那个样子？

When I created a fan page on Facebook, I felt a little embarrassed until someone said they didn’t feel comfortable being my fan. They’d rather just be my “friend”. I don’t know what it was, but there was something about hearing that person express out loud what I’d been failing to hear myself saying. Who do I think I am to create a fan page? Why would anyone want to be my fan?

当我在社交网站上设立了一个粉丝主页，直到有人告诉我说，做你的粉丝有些不自在，我才感到有点尴尬。他们更愿意成为我的朋友。我不知道这是种什么感觉，但当听到别人说出你没说出的话时，感觉很奇妙。我以为我是谁啊还建立个粉丝主页，为什么别人要当我粉丝？

Now I ask why not. Now I ask why would anyone not want to be my fan? What’s wrong with being someone’s fan?

现在，我可能会问自己：事情为什么不是这样的？为什么其他人不想成为我的粉丝？做别人粉丝有什么不对么？

I’m a fan of many people. I’m a fan of many musicians, artists, entrepreneurs, writers, actors, humanitarians and so forth. But I’m also a big, big fan of my wife and my children and all of my friends. That’s why I love them. I’m a fan of who they are. Why is it wrong for someone to be mine?

我是许多人的粉丝，许多音乐家、艺术家、企业家、作家、演员、人文学者等等都令我崇拜。同时我也是我妻子、孩子、朋友们的忠实粉丝。那正是我爱他们的原因。那别人为什么不可以是我的粉丝呢？

Having said all of that, I do intend to create a fan page for Mildly Creative and eventually phase out the one for me, but not because I think I don’t deserve to have any fans. It’s just too confusing for me to see my name on both a home page and a fan page. I’m assuming it’s confusing for my friends (and fans) too.

说了这么多，我确实打算建立个粉丝互动主页叫Mildly Creative，但最终淘汰掉了我的粉丝专属页面，不是因为我认为自己不该有粉丝，只是看到我的名字出现在主页以及粉丝页面上感觉非常奇怪，我想我的朋友（以及粉丝）也会感觉很疑惑。

But I’m glad I first tried it the way I did, because I learned a valuable lesson. I can be a fan and I can have fans, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

但我很高兴，我第一次按自己的方式做出了尝试，因为我学到了很有意义的东西。我可以是成为别人的粉丝，也可以有自己的粉丝，这是很正常的。

What Are You Deleting from Your Life?

你从自己的生活中移除了哪些东西呢？

I’m sure if I thought about it, I could come up with a host of other things to delete, but I’m more interested in hearing about what you’ve been deleting from yours or at least thinking about deleting. What is your inner delete button telling you to trash?

我想，如果我再仔细想，还能找出许多其他需要从生活中移除的事情，但我更想听你们说说，你让哪些事情远离了你的生活或者至少是正在考虑打算移除掉的事情，你内心的那个清空按钮告诉你要移除哪些东西呢？