譯自：Need Some Great Advice? Ask Death
Death is a subject that few are comfortable with. Yet, making death your best friend can enhance your life in ways you might not otherwise imagine.
很少人能舒適地看待"死亡"。但當你覺得走投無路時，把死當作是你的最好的朋友，也許可以幫助你的生活。
One of the most effective practices recommended by traditional Toltec teachers, is called, “Using death as an adviser”. Deceased author of over ten books of Toltec wisdom, Carlos Castaneda said…
托爾特克文化中有一個傳統療法叫作「以死為師」。著作超過10本有關托爾特克傳統智慧的作家卡洛斯．卡斯坦達說道：
「死亡是我們唯一的人生智者。不管你當下感覺事情如何搞砸了，或是所有東西都出了錯，而你就要完全毀滅的當下，回頭問問你的「死亡」怎麼看這件事。你的死亡會說：你錯了。所有外在的事並不重要。因為我還沒去找你。在這世界上，死亡就像獵人，我的朋友。沒有懷疑或後悔的時間，你只有作決定的時間而已。」“Death is the only wise adviser that we have. Whenever you feel, as you always do, that everything is going wrong and you’re about to be annihilated, turn to your death and ask if that is so. Your death will tell you that you’re wrong; that nothing really matters outside its touch. Your death will tell you, ‘I haven’t touched you yet….In a world where death is the hunter, my friend, there is no time for regrets or doubts. There is only time for decisions.”
Decisions are the key.
作決定才是關鍵
Every moment of every day of your life, you are making decisions. How many of those decisions are based on the fact that you are a being who is not only going to die, but could die at any moment? For example…
你生活中的每一天每一刻你都在作決定。但是，你的思考因素中裡有多少是基於你可能會死，而且是隨時會死的基礎下來作的決定？舉個例子…
If most people knew they were going to die tomorrow, or next week, or even in a year, they would probably focus on just a few things…
如果大多數的人知道他們明天; 或下週、或明年時將會死去。那可能他們只有專注在以下幾件事…
- Spending time with their loved ones
- 花時間陪他們愛的人
- Forgiving and seeking forgiveness
- 原諒或尋求原諒
- Taking actions that they feel would make the world a better place
- 作些會讓這個世界更美好的事
- Doing the things they most enjoy doing — DON’T IGNORE THIS ONE
- 作平常最享受的事-絕對不要跳過這一項。
- Tying up loose ends
- 把握時間
- Careful planning to make every moment count
- 仔細規劃你剩下的時間
Can you imagine what your life would be like if you were living like this now?
你現在可以想像你會這麼作嗎？
We don’t do this though. Instead we make decisions based on fear. We tell ourselves we don’t have time to do those things — that we have to take care of what is “important”. It’s a sad fact that oftentimes what we think is most important, is least important.
我們不是這樣思考的，反之，我們是基於恐懼來作決定。我們告訴自已我們沒有空去作這些事-那些我們覺得「重要」的事。但可悲的事實是，多數我們覺得重要的，往往都是最不重要的。
Don Juan Matus, Castaneda’s benefactor, said, “Your problem is that you think you have all the time in the world.” He told him that because he never took death into account, he didn’t bother to take care of what was important — living as if he was going to live forever.
卡斯坦達的贊助者裘．馬特先生說：「你的問題是你以為你還有全部的時間」他對他這麼說，是因為他從來就不把死亡放在心上，他從不關心那些真的重要的事-就好像他會永遠活著一樣。
If you knew you would die tomorrow, would you spend your day off taking your daughter horseback riding as you promised, or would you let your boss talk you into getting some overtime? Who would you feel more comfortable letting down? Ohhhhh, but you say, “That would be irresponsible. I could get fired, and then where would my daughter be?”
如果你知道你明天就會死去。你會休假答應陪你的女兒騎馬還是讓你的老闆叫你留下來加班工作？那個一個聽起來比較好呢？噢~但你說：那太不負責任了吧！我可能會因此丟了工作，到時候我女兒怎麼辦？」
Well, I don’t know about your daughter, but I can suggest that you might do well to consider that your job may not be the most harmonious one for you.
好吧，我並不知道你的女兒該怎麼辦，但我讓你好好地思考你的工作的並不是你生活中最完整的部分。
May I be so bold as to suggest that you may be wasting your time?
容我大膽地說你可能在浪費你的時間？
Ask your death what you are here to do. You’ll be surprised to find out that people, including you, are most prosperous when they find and develop their own unique and special gift, or talent — their life mission. You will discover that your life mission is also your passion. In other words, you will love doing this more than any other work. It’s what you were made for.
問問你的死亡，你自已現在這裡到底在作些什麼？你會訝異於每個人包括你自已的豐富性，當人們能發展他們特別而與眾不同的才華或天賦--他們的天職時。你會發現你的天職所在就是你的熱情所在。換句話說，與其他工作不同，你會愛上它。而這才是我們人生的目的。
Here’s something you will hear me say over and over…
這些話你會聽我一直重覆一直重覆。
You And Your Path Are One
你與你的道路是一體
There’s no time for fear based decisions, and there’s no time to keep putting off dealing with the things you need to deal with.
沒有時間用恐懼來作決定，而且也沒有時間把該作的事放在一邊不管。
I can’t count how many times I have delayed making a decision simply because I didn’t want to look at the issues I would have to examine first. We all do that all the time. We put things off because they are overwhelming, annoying, or confusing. We tell ourselves, “I will take care of that later”.
我不能去算有多少決定被我延遲了。只因為我沒有第一時間好好思考檢視。而我們也總是這麼作。
Want to know what all of those things hanging over your head like black clouds do to you?…
你知道這些就像是烏雲一樣把你團團包圍了嗎？
…They cause STRESS!
…而壓力就在這個時候產生了。
They also cause depression, anxiety, and low self esteem as you judge yourself for your ineffectiveness and inefficiency.
這些還是讓你抑鬱、焦慮還有因為你的效率低落而降低自已的信心。
Want some good advice?…
想要好的建議嗎？
- Take some time to sit down with your best adviser, your death, and ask what would be the best actions you can take in your life. Keep this valuable friend always in the back of your mind to keep you from slipping back into unawareness or complacency.
找個時間坐下來與你最好的老師「死亡」談談，問它你目前生活中能作出的最好的決定是什麼。與你這位最有價值的朋友保持好關係，以免讓自已落入了無自覺或自以為是。 - Start working through these self esteem worksheets to discover and eliminate the self defeating beliefs that cause you to make fear based choices and decisions.
開始作這些自我評鑑量表去找出來影響自已本身決定的恐懼所在，並化解它們。
Have a nice journey,
祝你旅途愉快
Sky Abelar, creator of the Self Esteem Guru website
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