英语阅读：How to be a happy expat: Emperor Aurelius' secret revealed
By Patrick WhiteleyPremier Wen Jiabao is hooked on a 2,000-year-old book by the Roman Emperor
Marcus Aurelius, who believed the key to a happy life is in the way we think.
Wen's passion for Aurelius' teachings has triggered Marcus mania in China and
after reading the Roman's writings I can understand why. These pearls of wisdom
can help steer anyone into a positive state of mind, especially an expat like
me, who regularly needs a check up from the neck up.
I am often baffled by the differences in China and even rattled by
comparisons in the expat community. But good old Marcus, who was an expat
himself for many years as left Rome and conquered his foes, has set me
straight.
So friends, expats, countrymen (wherever you're from), lend me your
ears.
Marcus was emperor in AD 161 and in the latter part of his 20-year reign
wrote stoic philosophy. The stoics considered negative emotions, such as pride,
anger and envy, were the result of errors in judgment and a "stoic" person
didn't complain about life, because he or she should know better. In a nutshell,
Aurelius believed that folks were as happy as they made their minds to be.
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts:
therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions
unsuitable to virtue and a reasonable nature.
When things don't go my way in Beijing, or I cannot accept people or
situations as they are, the "why am I in China?" question starts to circle
around my gloomy mind. I allow the negative thoughts to gain momentum. So what's
Marcus' solution?
You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you
will find strength. Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what
you have already.
So I count my blessings: 1. I am not a banker; 2. I have an interesting job
in Beijing; 3. I'm paid in RMB and my Aussie dollar is tanking (whoopee!) 4. I'm
discovering more about a new culture I really enjoy; 5. I'm learning a new
language, which will serve me well for the rest of my life, and 6. I'm meeting
new friends I would never have met back home. I'm feeling better already.
China's expat community is a blast but sometimes I come across folks who
passionately tell me how it all works here and how I should think. They are such
terrible bores, but it's all meaningless as Marcus points out.
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a
perspective, not the truth.
To paraphrase my other favorite philosopher, Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry:
"Opinions are like bottoms, everybody's got one."
I tend to agree with the opinions of people walking on the sunny side of
the road, and avoid the negative types. If they complain so much, then why are
they still here? As my mate Marcus says:
If a cucumber is bitter, throw it away. There is a prickly bush in the
road, turn aside from it. This is enough. Don't say: "Why were such things made
in the world? How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which
happens in life!"
On the topic of learning Chinese, the bane of my being over the past 18
months, my good man Marcus is quick to advise.
Begin - to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this,
and you will have finished.
For a 40-something fellow like me, with a full-time job, who spends only 10
hours a week learning Chinese, it's going to take about three years, but as the
emperor says, I'm halfway through already.
My favorite quote from Marcus sets my mind right for the day and on this
note, ego vobis valedico (I say goodbye to you).
When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to
be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
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