Happiness Comes from Giving 快樂來自給予
A beautiful, expensively dressed lady complained to her psychiatrist that she felt that her whole life was empty; it had no meaning.
一位相貌美麗、衣著華貴的女士向她的精神醫師抱怨自己的人生空空如也、毫無意義。
So the counsellor called over the old lady who cleaned the office floors, and then said to the rich lady, "I'm going to ask Mary to tell you how she found happiness. All I want you to do is listening."
於是，這位諮詢師就叫來了打掃辦公室地板的老婦人，然後跟貴婦說：“我讓瑪麗來給你講講她是怎樣找到快樂的。我要你做的就是聽她講。”
So the old lady put down her broom and sat on a chair and told her story, "Well, my husband died of malaria and three months later my only son was killed by a car. I had nobody.... I had nothing left. I couldn't sleep; I couldn't eat; I never smiled at anyone; I even thought of taking my own life. Then one evening, a little kitten followed me home from work. Somehow I felt sorry for that kitten. It was cold outside, so I decided to let the kitten in. I got it some milk, and it licked the plate clean. Then it purred comfortably and rubbed against my legs, and for the first time in months, I smiled. Then I stopped to think; if helping a little kitten could make me smile, maybe doing something for people could make me happy. So the next day, I baked some biscuits and took them to a neighbour who was sick in bed. Every day I tried to do something nice for someone. It made me so happy to see them happy. Today, I don't know of anybody who sleeps and eats better than I do. I've found happiness, by giving it to others."
這個老婦人就放下掃帚，坐在椅子上講自己的經歷。“嗯，我的丈夫因為瘧疾病故了，三個月後我唯一的兒子也遭遇車禍死了。我失去了親人……我什麼都沒有了。我睡不著覺，吃不下飯；我不再對任何人微笑，我甚至想結束自己的生命。之後一天晚上，我下班的時候，一隻小貓跟著我回到了家。不知為什麼我覺得那隻小貓很可憐，當時外面很冷，我就決定讓它進屋來。我給它弄了些牛奶，它把盤子舔得一乾二淨。之後它舒服地發出了咕嚕咕嚕的聲，還在我的腿上蹭來蹭去。幾個月來，我第一次露出了笑容。後來我就開始想，如果幫助一隻小貓能讓我微笑，也許為人們做些事情就能讓我開心起來。所以第二天，我就烤了些餅乾，一個生病臥床的鄰居送去了。每天我都試著對別人做一些好事，看著他們高興，我就變得非常開心。如今，我再也找不到比我吃得更香、睡得更好的人了。通過把快樂帶給別人，我自己也找到了快樂。”
When she heard that, the rich lady cried. She had everything that money could buy, but she had lost the things which money cannot buy.
聽到這些，貴婦哭起來。她擁有錢可以買到的一切，卻失去了錢無法換來的東西。
