雙語美文 向前走、不後悔

We know what people most often regret before they die:

我知道人們去世前經常後悔的.幾件事：

I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

希望曾有勇氣活出自己，而不是依他人心意而活。

2. I wish I didn't work so hard.

希望曾不要玩命工作。

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

希望曾敢於表達自己。

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

希望曾與朋友保持聯繫。

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

希望曾讓自己更快樂。

So what can you do to live a life without regret?

那你如何才能活得無怨無悔？

First, stop worrying. You anticipate regret will be much more painful than it actually is. Studies show we consistently overestimate how regret affects us.

首先，不要擔憂，因爲事實總是沒有我們想的那麼糟。研究顯示我們總是高估了悔恨給我們帶來的影響。

Leaving options open is not the answer. Ironically, leaving options open makes you dwell on whether you should change your mind. Once the situation is no longer reversible, cognitive dissonance works to your advantage and you're more likely to be at peace. Stop trying to maximize everything. It gets you better results but makes you miserable.

不要因爲怕錯失其他機會就不做選擇。當你決定後，總是爲錯過其他選擇後悔不已，於是又改變主意。其實，一旦想好，你會漸漸投入進去，也不會再胡思亂想。不要把每件事都無限放大，這樣雖有更好的結果，但你總是在猶豫中糾結，有點得不償失。

As with anything related to happiness, perspective is most of the battle. Stop comparing your situation to a lofty, perfect one and compare it to something far worse that you could have opted for. In studies this is consistently associated with lower regret intensity.

至於幸福，很大程度上取決於你的心態。不要把你的情況和天堂或地獄比較，研究發現知足常樂會讓我們更少感到後悔。