by Leo Babauta

Have you ever felt that we are rushing through life， that we get so caught up in busy-ness[忙碌] that life is passing us almost without notice？

I get this feeling all the time.

The antidote[解毒劑] is simple： sitting and watching.

Take a minute out of your busy day to sit with me， and talk. Take a moment to imagine being in the middle of traffic—youre driving， stressed out[有壓力的] by the high amount of traffic， trying to get somewhere before youre late， angry at other drivers who are rude or idiotic[愚蠢的]， completely focused on making your way through this jungle of metal on a ribbon[帶狀物] of asphalt[瀝青]. Now youve gotten to the end， phew[呸]， you made it， wonderful， and youre only a few minutes late…but did you notice the scenery you passed along the way？ Did you talk to any of the other people along your path？ Did you enjoy the ride？

No， probably not. You were so caught up in getting there， in the details of navigating[駕駛]， in the stress of driving， that you didnt have time to notice your surroundings， the people nearby， or the wonderful journey. This is how we are in life.

你是否有過(guò)生活很倉(cāng)促的感覺？我們被忙碌綁架，而不知不覺間，生命在流逝。

我一直有這種感覺。

其實(shí)解藥很簡(jiǎn)單：靜靜地坐著，看著。

從你那忙碌的一天中抽出一分鐘，坐下來(lái)陪我聊聊天吧。花一點(diǎn)時(shí)間想象自己正處于車流中：你開著車，無(wú)盡的車流讓你倍感壓力，你試圖在遲到前抵達(dá)某地，對(duì)其他無(wú)禮、愚蠢的司機(jī)感到憤怒，完全專注于如何穿過(guò)這瀝青路上的金屬叢林?，F(xiàn)在你到達(dá)目的地，輕呸一聲，你做到了，好在你只遲到了幾分鐘……但你有沒有注意到沿途的風(fēng)景？你有沒有和任何一個(gè)路人搭話？你是否享受這段旅程？

大概沒有。你沉浸于駕駛的細(xì)節(jié)和壓力之中，完全沒有時(shí)間去注意周圍的事物、身邊的人，或美妙的旅程。這就是忙碌生活中的我們。

Now imagine that you pulled over， got out of the car， and found a grassy[多草的] spot to sit. And you watched the other cars zoom[飛馳] by. And you watched the grass blown gently by the wind， and the birds making a flocking[簇?fù)韂 pattern overhead， and the clouds lazily watching you back.

Sit and watch.

We dont do this， because its useless to do something that isnt productive[有生產(chǎn)價(jià)值的]， that doesnt improve our lives. But as Alan Watts注1 wrote in The Way of Zen[禪]：

“As muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone， it could be argued that those who sit quietly and do nothing are making one of the best possible contributions[貢獻(xiàn)] to a world in turmoil[動(dòng)蕩].”

Its interesting， too， what we see when we sit and watch. We will notice others rushing， and worried， and angry， and in them see a mirror of ourselves. We will notice children laughing （or crying） with their parents， and remember what were missing when we rush to improve our lives.

More interesting is what you see when you sit and watch yourself. You learn to step outside yourself， and act as an observer. You see your thoughts， and learn more about yourself than you ever could if you were rushing to take action. You see your self-doubts[缺少自信]， and self-criticism[自我批評(píng)]， and wonder where they came from（a bad incident in childhood， perhaps？） and wonder if you are smart enough to let them go. You see your rationalizations[合理化]， and realize that they are bullshit[胡扯]， and learn to let those go too. You see your fears， and realize what hold they have over you， and realize that you can make them powerless[無(wú)力的]， by just sitting and watching them， not taking action on them.

現(xiàn)在想象一下，你把車停在路邊，走出車子，然后找到一處長(zhǎng)滿青草的地方坐下。你看著其他車子飛馳而過(guò)，看著小草在風(fēng)中輕搖，看著鳥兒在空中簇?fù)沓扇?，再看著云朵慵懶地與你對(duì)望。

靜靜地坐著，看著。

我們不這樣做，是因?yàn)樽鰶]有價(jià)值的事是無(wú)謂的，它不會(huì)改善我們的生活。但正如艾倫·瓦茨在《禪之道》中所言：

“就像讓渾水變清最佳方法是讓它自己沉淀，可以說(shuō)，那些靜坐無(wú)為的人為這動(dòng)蕩的世界做出了最合適的一種貢獻(xiàn)。”

坐看之時(shí)，我們之所見也很有趣。我們會(huì)注意到他人的匆忙、憂慮、憤怒，還有從他們身上映照出來(lái)的自己。我們會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)孩子與父母在一起時(shí)的歡笑（或哭泣），然后記起我們?cè)诟纳粕畹拇颐χ兴鶃G失的東西。

更有趣的是在坐看中你所看到的自己。你學(xué)會(huì)跳脫自我，像觀察者般打量自己。你看到自己的想法，對(duì)自己的了解超過(guò)了以往倉(cāng)促行動(dòng)的自己。你看到了自己的不自信、自我批評(píng)，想知道它們從何而來(lái)（或許是孩童時(shí)期的事故？），而且懷疑自己是否足夠聰明地把它們放下。你看到了自己的“有理有據(jù)”，意識(shí)到那不過(guò)是胡扯，并且也學(xué)會(huì)了拋棄。你看到了自己的恐懼，知道它們產(chǎn)生的來(lái)源，然后相信自己能無(wú)視它們，只需要坐看它們，不需要采取任何行動(dòng)。

By sitting and watching， you come to know yourself.

You learn the most valuable lessons about life， by sitting and watching.

And as we know from the observer effect注2 in physics， by watching， we change what we watch.

Take a few minutes today， to sit and watch. It might change your life.

通過(guò)坐和看，你開始認(rèn)識(shí)你自己。

通過(guò)坐和看，你學(xué)到了關(guān)于生命的最有價(jià)值的一課。

正如我們所知的在物理學(xué)中“觀察者效應(yīng)”一樣，通過(guò)觀看，我們改變我們之所見。

今天，請(qǐng)花幾分鐘靜靜地坐看。它可能會(huì)改變你的生活。