讀點好英文:Power in Gratitude　感恩的力量

Power in Gratitude　感恩的力量

·Meade·

When my older son was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, my first reaction was relief-I finally knew the reason for his behavior. However, I was also overwheImed with sadness, fear and anger.I felt sorry for my son and for myself.Like many others in similar circumstances, my question to God was“Why me?”

Through the grace of God, I am now able to focus on my gratitude. I believe God chose me to raise my son because He knew that I would give him the best I have.He will teach me to love and understand him for who he is.I am grateful that I have my son, and grateful that God chose me to be his mother.

There is power and healing in gratitude.

How can gratitude help us in our everyday lives as moms?Think about the difference you can make in your family's life just by noticing and being thankful for all the great things they do. When you express gratitude, you show your love and appreciation.Everyone needs to feel these things every day.Sometimes as moms we feel that no one appreciates us-and it is true that moms are usually last on the list to be thanked.One way you can teach gratitude is by example.Even on the days when it seems your children or husband are doing everything wrong, find a reason to thank them.Take the time and energy to look for the good.Think about the things that your family does and that deserve a“Thank you”.You might say to your husband，“Thank you for working so hard for our family，”or, to your child，“I really appreciate your sense of humor-it feels good to laugh.”Expressing your gratitude helps family members to understand how it feels to be appreciated.And if they still don't catch on, let them know when you feel unappreciated.You can also tell them how great it makes you feel when they do express gratitude.

Gratitude is a wonderful motivator when you need cooperation. When enlisting the help of my two-year-old, I praise him often and with enthusiasm.I let him know that he is a great helper.I know I am teaching him appreciation because he expresses it to me.The other day I brought a bunch of multicolored roses home.For five days, at least once or twice a day, my son thanked me for the flowers.

Sometimes we get so busy and caught up in daily life that we forget to be grateful. We expect everyone to do their share without being asked.The only time anyone hears anything is when a chore has not been completed.This attitude, over the long haul, will develop very resentful and uncooperative family members.

When life is good, gratitude is easy. It becomes more challenging to be grateful when we are experiencing hard times.Financial hardship, long-term illness, the death of a loved one and maritaI strife can all be trying and difficult.It is hard to find anything to be grateful for.But while pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.We have a choice in how we view our circumstances.We can turn our hearts to God and trust that he has a plan for us.We can be thankful for the lessons we learn and the opportunities for personal growth and transformation.Look at all the people in this world who share the gifts they received during especially difficult times of their life.It is the painful times of my life that have made me stronger, wiser, and more loving today.

I recently attended a powerful seminar on the various levels of energy that a human being emanates. The presenter identified seven different levels of energy.The first level of energy is defined by feelings of apathy and thoughts of victimization.A person at a level-two energy has feelings of anger and thoughts of confIict.As a person moves up the energy scale, their feelings and thoughts are more positive.At level seven, one would experience unconditional love and no judgmental thoughts.Only God radiates at level seven.The average person emits energy at a level of 2.5.To experience peace and joy, an individual must raise his energy level to 5 or 6.

So how can we raise our energy level and open our heart to joy?One powerful way is to develop an attitude of gratitude. Look at everyone with grateful eyes.Listen to your heart and the heart of your loved ones.Speak words of affirmation every day of your life.Be grateful for your life with all its lessons and blessings.The more grateful thoughts and feelings you experience and express the more instrumentaI you will be in healing the world.And your outlook on life will improve in the process.

米德

當(dāng)我的大兒子被確診為“注意力缺陷多動癥”時，我的第一反應(yīng)就是放松——我終于知道他那些行為舉止的原因所在了。然而，我也陷入了悲傷、恐懼和憤怒的深淵。我既為兒子也為我自己感到難過。像其他很多處于相似境況的人一樣，我也禁不住要問上帝：“為什么是我？”

老天保佑，我現(xiàn)在可以把心思集中在感恩上了。我相信，老天選擇我來養(yǎng)育我的兒子，是因為他相信我會把我最好的東西給予兒子。老天教導(dǎo)我去愛、去理解兒子的一切。我很感激老天選擇我做我兒子的母親。

感恩的力量和療傷的作用是不可忽視的。

作為母親，感恩在日常生活中又能如何幫助我們呢？想想吧，只是通過注意和感謝家人所做的一切好事，你就能為家庭生活帶來變化。當(dāng)你表達感恩的時候，你的愛心和感激之情也就表露無遺。每人每天都需要這些感受。作為母親，有時候會感到?jīng)]有人感激我們——事實也是如此，母親總是最后一個被感謝的人。傳授感恩的一個方法就是自己樹立榜樣。即便有一天你的孩子和丈夫把所有的事情都做錯了，你也要找個理由感謝他們。你可以花些時間和精力，尋找他們做得好的地方。想想你的家人所做的事情，有哪些值得你說一句“謝謝”。你可以對丈夫說一句：“謝謝你為我們的家努力工作?！被蛘邔⒆诱f：“我非常欣賞你的幽默感——笑一笑真好。”表達你的感激會幫助你的家人理解被他人感激的心情。如果他們還是無法領(lǐng)悟，那就在你需要感激的時候提醒他們。你也可以告訴他們，當(dāng)他們向你表達感激時，帶給你的美好感受。

在你需要合作的時候，感激之情就是一股巨大的推動力。當(dāng)我獲得我兩歲兒子的幫助時，我經(jīng)常滿懷激情地表揚他。我要讓他知道他幫了我很大的忙。我知道，我教他學(xué)會了感激，因為他也開始向我表示感謝了。幾天前，我?guī)Щ丶乙皇伾鳟惖拿倒寤ǎ贿B五天，他幾乎每天都要說一兩次謝謝。

有時，我們過于繁忙，忙于蕪雜的生活瑣事，連感激都忘記了。我們期望每個人都能夠自覺地盡職盡責(zé)。每個人的耳朵里總充斥著因一件小事未能被如愿完成而引發(fā)的爭論。這種態(tài)度日積月累，在家人之間就會發(fā)展為抱怨與不和。

生活安穩(wěn)的時候，表達感激就會很簡單。但是，當(dāng)我們面對艱辛?xí)r，表達感激就很難了。經(jīng)濟困難、長期患病、親人過世和婚姻糾紛都可能讓人心煩，給生活帶來困難。這時候，甚至連找一個感激的理由都很難。雖然痛苦無法避免，但我們有權(quán)選擇是否接受痛苦，有權(quán)選擇如何看待周圍的環(huán)境。我們可以相信老天，相信老天會給我們做好安排的。我們感激已有的經(jīng)驗教訓(xùn)，感激那些讓自己成長和變化的機遇。看看大千世界中的蕓蕓眾生，他們將自己獲得的恩賜分享給其他人，即使他們自己的處境也很艱難。正是生活中的那些痛苦時期讓我如今變得更加堅強、更加聰明、更加慈愛！

最近，我參加了一個很有影響力的研討班，討論的主題是人類產(chǎn)生的多級能量。與會者把能量分成了七級。第一級能量被定義為感情冷漠和加害他人的思想；第二級能量的人懷有憤怒的感情和對抗的思想。人的能量級別越高，他的感情和思想也就越積極。在第七級，人就會充滿無條件的愛，絕無批判的思想。只有上帝才能達到第七級。人類平均擁有的能量級別為2.5級。要想擁有和平和歡樂，個人的能量級別必須達到五級或六級。

那么我們該如何提高能量級別呢？該如何敞開胸懷擁抱歡樂呢？一個有效的方法就是養(yǎng)成感激的態(tài)度。用感激的眼神看待所有人，聆聽你的內(nèi)心和你所愛的人內(nèi)心的聲音，每天說些肯定的話，感激你生命中所擁有的教訓(xùn)和祝福。你擁有的和表達出的感激的思想和感情越多，你對社會的補益就越大，對生命的見解也就越深。

Practising&Exercise　實戰(zhàn)提升篇

核心單詞

diagnose['dai?gn?uz]v.診斷

overwheIm[,?uv?'（h）welm]v.戰(zhàn)勝；征服；壓倒

notice['n?utis]n.公告，通知；貼示v.注意

maritaI['m?ritl]adj.婚姻的；夫妻的

emanate['em?neit]v.（氣體等）發(fā)出，散發(fā)；放射

confIict['k?nflikt]n.沖突，抵觸，分歧v.矛盾，沖突

radiate['reidieit]v.（光、熱等）散發(fā)，輻射；顯出

instrumentaI[,instru'mentl]adj.可作為手段的；有幫助的

實用句型

The first IeveI of energy is defined by feeIings of apathy and thoughts of victimization.

第一級能量被定義為感情冷漠和加害他人的思想。

①這是一個被動句，be defined by……由（以）……定義。

②think of想到，考慮。類似的表達還有think about考慮，think over仔細考慮。

翻譯練習(xí)

1.她正在尋找丟失的孩子。（look for）

2.這首歌很好，我認為它會很快流行起來的。（catch on）

3.你不管怎樣也該給個答復(fù)吧。（at least）