作者：Daniel Mathews
翻译：英语八卦菌
英语八卦菌
You’re struggling to find this elusive thing called “happiness.”
你在努力寻找“幸福”这个捉摸不定的事物。
Most days, you feel either overwhelmed, anxious, angry, depressed, or flat.
很多时候，你要么不知所措，感到焦虑，愤怒，沮丧，要么感觉了无生趣。
Or, maybe you experience quick shifts of mood.
或者你就会喜怒无常。
You can remember times when you were happy, but they seem distant, and your life circumstances are different now.
你记得那些快乐的日子，但是他们看起来是那么遥远，你如今的生活已大不一样。
But what if I told you that you can actually choose happiness? And, that it’s easier than you think?
但如果我告诉你，你其实可以选择幸福，你会怎么样？而且这比你想象的简单？
英语八卦菌
Happiness Isn’t an Idea, It’s an Experience
幸福不是一种概念，它是一种经历
How can you choose to be happy when someone has treated you so badly, when circumstances beyond your control are bombarding you with pain?
当你遭受恶劣对待，当情况变得不受控制让你饱受痛苦，你如何选择变得快乐？
Many people feel this way.
许多人都有这种感觉。
Each year, the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network releases the World Happiness Report.
每年，联合国可持续发展方案联盟会发布全球幸福报告。
This measures the overall happiness of different countries.
它会衡量不同国家的总体幸福。
The 2018 report finds that residents in Finland rank first place, while the residents in the United States are all the way behind in 18th place.
2018年的报告发现，芬兰居民幸福感排第一，但美国居民排到了第18位。
英语八卦菌
Understand the Easterlin Paradox
理解伊斯特林悖论
Americans have continuously made more money, yet we’re not reporting an increase in happiness.
美国人不断地在创造财富，但是报告中我们的幸福感并没有增加。
This disparity between income and happiness is called the Easterlin Paradox.
收入和幸福感之间的不对等就被称为伊斯特林悖论。
Chances are you see more money now than you ever have in your life, yet you’re still trapped in the paradox, struggling to understand why you’re unhappy.
你很有可能赚够了此生最多的钱，但你依然困在这个悖论里，不明白为什么自己不幸福。
What explains the paradox?
如何解释这个悖论？
The answer to this question can help you understand what happiness is.
问题的答案能帮你理解幸福的含义。
Solving this dilemma seems complex — it is a paradox, after all.
解决这个难题似乎很复杂——毕竟，这是个悖论。
Yet the answer is a lot simpler than you might expect: happiness is a choice.
但答案比你想象的要简单很多：幸福是一种选择。
英语八卦菌
It’s as Simple as Choosing Happiness
它就像选择幸福一样简单
Happiness is a state of being that you can seize, such as when a runner takes in air with her lungs.
幸福是一种能把握的状态，就好像跑步者可以用肺呼吸空气一样。
Each inhalation is essential, and with every inhalation, exhalation must follow.
每一次吸入都是必须，并且每一次吸入就必须有呼出。
If happiness is a state of being, then you could say that happiness is simply an experience, or a set of experiences.
如果幸福是一种存在状态，那你可以说幸福就是一种经历，或者是一组经历。
Amanda Pinnock is a college student at Arizona State University who experienced this type of happiness without ever expecting it.
阿曼达·皮诺克是亚利桑那州立大学的学生，她顺其自然地经历了这种幸福。
To earn her degree in global health, she needed to do a study abroad program, but she was worried she was going to be disconnected from her group as a nontraditional student earning her degree online.
为了获得全球健康的学位，她需要做一个海外学习项目，但是她担心自己作为在线学习的非传统学生，同跟所在的小组疏离。
To her surprise, the other students in her group were inclusive and eager to connect.
让她感到惊讶的是，小组的其他同学很有包容性，并且渴望交流。
Then there were the locals in Fiji, the country she’d chosen for the program.
他们都是斐济的当地人，阿曼达选择在斐济做项目。
They seemed to truly understand how happiness is a choice.
他们看起来真正理解幸福如何是一种选择。
According to Amanda:
阿曼达说：
“Fijians are probably the happiest and humblest people in the world. They welcomed us with open arms and made sure we were fed and had the accommodations we needed.”
“斐济人可能是全世界最幸福、最谦逊的人。他们用热情的怀抱欢迎我们，确保满足我们的住宿条件。”
Plenty of Fijians don’t have running water, but Amanda noted that they felt they lacked for nothing.
很多斐济人都喝不上自来水，但是阿曼达说他们看起来什么都不缺。
She says:
她说：
“They live off the earth and they all help one another … They may not have had nearly as much money as an average American, but they are wealthy in their lives, and I think Americans can learn a lot from that. It really put into perspective what’s most important: family, loved ones and the environment.”
“他们生活在地球上，他们互相帮助……他们赚的钱或许还没普通的美国人赚的多，但是在他们的生活里，他们是富足的，我觉得美国人可以从中学到很多。从这个角度来看最重要的是：家庭，爱人和环境。”
For the Fijians Amanda encountered, happiness isn’t a concept, it’s the act of supporting each other.
对阿曼达遇到的那些斐济人来说，幸福不是空洞的概念，它是相互支持的行为。
Happiness is the act of finding joy in everyday experiences with other people.
幸福是和别人在一起的日常经历，是去发现快乐的行为。
英语八卦菌
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