心靈美文_跬步·千里 A Small Victory

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　　A Small Victory 跬步·千里
　　One of the most inspiring quotes I ever heardregarding ¹⁾perseverance was by ²⁾Brian Tracy. He said: “The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people fail many more times than unsuccessful people.”
　　I personally experienced the wisdom of that understanding right after my first book was published. Like many authors, I ³⁾envisioned hundreds of bookstore customers lining up for me to ⁴⁾benevolently sign copies for them.
　　I’m afraid to say, it didn’t quite happen like that.
　　I was living in ⁵⁾Atlanta at the time and arranged my first signing at ⁶⁾The Phoenix and Dragon, the largest inspirational bookstore in the city. The store was celebrating its 15th anniversary and had authors scheduled to appear throughout the three-day event. I was scheduled Sunday at 5pm, the last day and ⁷⁾time slot of the celebration.

　　我聽(tīng)過(guò)的關(guān)于“毅力”的最鼓舞人心的一句名言，出自布賴(lài)恩·特蕾西之口。他說(shuō)：“成功者和失敗者的區(qū)別是，成功者比失敗者要經(jīng)歷更多的失敗?！?
　　我的第一本書(shū)出版之后的親身經(jīng)歷讓我對(duì)這句名言的智慧有了深刻的理解。與許多作者一樣，我也曾想象有幾百個(gè)我的書(shū)迷朋友在書(shū)店里排起長(zhǎng)龍，期待著我親切地為他們簽名。
　　然而，我得說(shuō)，這一幕并沒(méi)有發(fā)生。
　　那時(shí)我住在亞特蘭大，正在為我的第一次簽名售書(shū)活動(dòng)做準(zhǔn)備。這次簽名售書(shū)活動(dòng)被安排在龍鳳書(shū)店舉行，那是亞特蘭大市最大的勵(lì)志書(shū)書(shū)店。為了慶祝書(shū)店開(kāi)業(yè)15周年，書(shū)店邀請(qǐng)了一些作家陸續(xù)在為期3天的慶祝活動(dòng)中亮相。我被安排在星期天下午5點(diǎn)出席活動(dòng)—那是三天慶祝活動(dòng)的最后一天，也是活動(dòng)的一段間隙。

　　⁸⁾Brimming with anticipation, I was put into a private signing room in the beautiful store, and for the next hour and a half, had little more to do than to read my own book and wonder for what purpose in the world I had felt so driven to spend four years writing it.
　　Despite a nice sign placed outside the room exhibiting images of both me and my book, The 9 Insights of the Wealthy Soul, not a single customer entered the room. As each minute passed, I became increasingly anxious.
　　Do they not like the title? I wondered. Do they not like the book cover?
　　After 90 minutes of this ⁹⁾torture, I was absolutely ¹⁰⁾distraught.
　　For the four years writing the book, I had felt a sense of mission and purpose like never before in my life. Working a full 8 to 9 hour day in my clinic, I had lived on a strict ¹¹⁾regimen during the four years of getting into bed by 9:30pm, so I could quiet my mind and feel a sense of ¹²⁾surrender before turning out the lights at 11. I would sleep with that silent potentiality, so I could wake up at 5:30 in the morning and have two ¹³⁾pristine hours of writing before heading into my clinic.
　　Before I ever began each writing session, I would close my eyes for 10 minutes and end my ¹⁴⁾meditation whispering, “Please ¹⁵⁾grant me the words to touch just one person’s life.”
　　I truly was inspired, and despite my ¹⁶⁾ascetic lifestyle, I knew that’s what I had to do to maintain the ¹⁷⁾grace in my words with which I wanted my readers to eventually be touched.

　　那天，我滿(mǎn)懷期待。我被安排在漂亮的龍鳳書(shū)店的一個(gè)專(zhuān)用簽名室里?？墒窃诮酉聛?lái)的一個(gè)半小時(shí)里，我除了百無(wú)聊賴(lài)地翻看自己的書(shū)之外，沒(méi)有其他事情可做。我不禁問(wèn)自己，究竟是什么促使我花了四年的時(shí)間來(lái)寫(xiě)作這本書(shū)。
　　簽名室的外面擺著一塊漂亮搶眼的廣告牌，上面展示著我的頭像，以及我的書(shū)——《富足靈魂的九大頓悟》，然而卻沒(méi)有一個(gè)客人走進(jìn)這個(gè)房間。隨著時(shí)間一分一秒地過(guò)去，我變得越來(lái)越焦慮不安。
　　他們不喜歡我的書(shū)名嗎？我充滿(mǎn)疑問(wèn)。還是不喜歡書(shū)的封面設(shè)計(jì)？
　　這種折磨持續(xù)了90分鐘以后，我徹底瘋掉了。
　　在著書(shū)的4年時(shí)間里，我有一種前所未有的使命感和目標(biāo)感。那時(shí)，我每天在診所工作8到9個(gè)小時(shí)。那4年里，我的作息時(shí)間極為嚴(yán)格，每天晚上9點(diǎn)半準(zhǔn)時(shí)上床，以便在11點(diǎn)熄燈之前的這段時(shí)間里，能使大腦平靜下來(lái)，體會(huì)一種拋開(kāi)雜念，交出身心的感覺(jué)。帶著這種沉默的潛在力量入睡，我就可以在早上5點(diǎn)半起床，利用完整的兩個(gè)小時(shí)來(lái)寫(xiě)作，然后再前往診所。
　　每次提筆寫(xiě)新內(nèi)容之前，我都會(huì)閉目沉思10分鐘，然后低聲說(shuō)：“請(qǐng)賜予我一種力量，讓我的文字能夠感動(dòng)一位讀者?！?
　　寫(xiě)作時(shí)，我確實(shí)是文思泉涌。雖然我過(guò)著苦行僧般的生活，但我深知為保持文字的優(yōu)美流暢我必須這么做，我希望我的文字最終能夠感動(dòng)讀者。

　　Now, sitting there alone at my first book signing, I wondered if my entire life wasn’t just a big joke. I watched the minutes ¹⁸⁾agonizingly tick by on a clock on the wall. At 6:25pm, just before the store’s closing, defeated, I began to get myself ready to leave.
　　At that moment, just when I couldn’t feel any worse, a middle-aged couple walked into the room. Trying to regain my ¹⁹⁾composure, I managed to hide my emotions and introduced myself and my book:
　　“Well,” I started hesitantly, “It’s called The 9 Insights of the Wealthy Soul, and it’s a story of a WWII pilot, my dad, and the lessons he was giving me in wealth ²⁰⁾accumulation while he was facing a ²¹⁾terminal illness. And each lesson in the story becomes a much deeper lesson about life and death, and finding the greatest spiritual meaning anytime we are facing our greatest²²⁾adversities.”
　　Both the man and the woman’s eyes were now ²³⁾glued on me. There was something different about the way they were looking at me that I couldn’t quite identify. But I didn’t know what else to say. However, additional words were unnecessary.
　　The couple turned to each other, and the husband nodded²⁴⁾solemnly to his wife. She then told me, “I think we’ll get the book.” My heart began to²⁵⁾pound. But²⁶⁾instinctively, despite the²⁷⁾impulse to jump in the air and²⁸⁾wring their hands to thank them for being my first readers, I realized the woman was trying to say something else.
　　“The reason we’re buying it,” she said hesitantly, “is because our son²⁹⁾committed suicide two years ago.” She took my hand. “Maybe your story will help us get over it.”
　　I felt my eyes³⁰⁾glisten. I was speechless.
　　In that moment, I knew if I never sold another copy of the book, my four years of writing it had served its purpose. My prayer of asking for the words to touch just one person’s life had already been answered.

　　然而現(xiàn)在，我孤單一人坐在這里，舉行自己的第一次簽名售書(shū)活動(dòng)。我開(kāi)始懷疑自己的人生是不是一個(gè)天大的玩笑。我苦悶地盯著墻上的時(shí)鐘，指針走了一圈又一圈。到了下午6點(diǎn)25分，書(shū)店馬上就要關(guān)門(mén)了。我備受打擊，開(kāi)始準(zhǔn)備離開(kāi)。
　　這時(shí)，就在我情緒低落到極點(diǎn)的時(shí)候，一對(duì)中年夫婦走了進(jìn)來(lái)。我一邊強(qiáng)作鎮(zhèn)定，極力掩飾失落的情緒，一邊向他們介紹我自己和我的新書(shū)。
　　“嗯，”我開(kāi)始解說(shuō)，語(yǔ)氣有些猶豫，“這本書(shū)的名字叫《富足靈魂的九大頓悟》，講述的是我父親—一位二戰(zhàn)飛行員，在患了晚期重病的時(shí)候，教我積累人生財(cái)富的故事。從這個(gè)故事里得到的每一個(gè)教誨，都成為一個(gè)對(duì)生死有更深刻理解的教誨，這些教誨也講到當(dāng)我們面對(duì)自己最大的不幸時(shí)，該怎樣尋求最大的精神慰藉?！?
　　夫婦倆的眼睛都緊緊地盯著我。他們看我的眼神有點(diǎn)異樣，至于怎么個(gè)異樣法，我說(shuō)不上來(lái)。但我又不知要說(shuō)些什么。反正此刻再說(shuō)什么，也是多余的。
　　夫婦倆對(duì)望了一下，然后丈夫嚴(yán)肅地朝妻子點(diǎn)了點(diǎn)頭。接著那位妻子對(duì)我說(shuō)：“我們想買(mǎi)下這本書(shū)。”我的心開(kāi)始“怦怦”地狂跳起來(lái)。盡管出于本能，我有種雀躍騰空的沖動(dòng)，并想緊緊握住他們的手以感謝他們做我的第一批讀者，但我意識(shí)到那位女士似乎還有別的話(huà)要說(shuō)。
　　“我們之所以決定買(mǎi)這本書(shū)，”她有些猶豫地說(shuō)，“是因?yàn)槲覀兊膬鹤觾赡昵白詺⒘恕！彼兆∥业氖??！耙苍S你的書(shū)能幫助我們撫平心靈的創(chuàng)傷。”
　　我感到自己的眼里泛著淚光，一時(shí)無(wú)語(yǔ)。
　　那一刻，我知道，即便我只賣(mài)出這一本書(shū)，我四年的寫(xiě)作也有了回報(bào)。我曾經(jīng)祈求自己的文字能打動(dòng)一個(gè)人，現(xiàn)在我如愿了。

　　Although I would have many more challenging years until my book caught on and saw³¹⁾substantial³²⁾distribution, this couple’s story was all the motivation I needed at that point to keep me moving ahead.
　　Thanks to them, I would come to the realization that the greatest of lives are made all in the same way: One challenge... one ³³⁾hurdle... one step... and one small victory at a time.
　　 
　　盡管經(jīng)過(guò)多年的挑戰(zhàn)和考驗(yàn)以后，我的書(shū)才終于引起人們的注意，成為暢銷(xiāo)書(shū)，但在當(dāng)時(shí)，這對(duì)夫婦的故事就是支撐我繼續(xù)前行的全部動(dòng)力。
　　感謝他們，我后來(lái)意識(shí)到，那些最偉大的人都有著相同的經(jīng)歷：一次挑戰(zhàn)……一次困難……一次突破……每次都是一小步的成功。