In Praise of Quiet Moments 赞美安静的时刻

Jessica Dang 杨舟

We tend to measure life by our memories. The most joyful or devastating1， exciting or stressful， interesting or hard fight for milestones from one to the next， stand out the most in our minds.

These are the things we go out of our way to do， to plan for， to work for， to pay for. Advertising encourages us to fit as many “experiences” as we can cram into our lives. When the big moment arrives， we take photos on our smartphones， upload to social media， even journal or tell our friends and children about it.

We remember these events for years， but everything else in between is forgotten.

What did you do on a typical Tuesday afternoon？ Or a quiet Thursday evening？ Or a routine Sunday morning？ It may seem unimportant， but what if the ordinary in-between moments are just as powerful as the extraordinary ones？

Who knew that a regular day sitting on the sofa with my grandmother，  watching TV while sharing some fruit would be the last time I saw her alive？ Nothing lasts forever， not even the mundane2. Everything will pass， whether you notice it or not.

Indeed， it is a practice to be as grateful for the journey as the destination. Its not easy to give our limited attention to the unremarkable moments， but they probably make up about 90% of our daily lives. If we live a good life with multiple journeys to multiple destinations， what kind of fulfillment would we have if we only appreciated 10% of it？

So maybe in a months time I wont remember this moment—sipping3 my coffee as I write this， the smell of it waking me up to the sound of the city going by outside my window on this sunny July morning—but I can enjoy it right now， thoroughly and gratefully， for everything its worth.

我

们往往用记忆来衡量生活。最快乐或最震惊的、最激动或最紧张的、最有趣或最艰苦的，从一个到下一个里程碑的奋斗，在我们脑海中最为突出。

这些是我们不遗余力地去做、去计划、去效力、去付出的事情。廣告鼓励我们去尝试用尽可能多的“体验”填满生活。当重要的时刻到来时，我们用智能手机拍照，上传到社交媒体甚至日志，或者告诉我们的朋友和孩子。

这些事情我们能记住很多年，但是在这些事情间隙里的其他事情都被遗忘了。

你在一个典型的星期二下午做了些什么呢？或者是在一个安静的星期四的晚上呢？又或者是在一个常规的星期日早晨呢？这似乎不重要，但是如果这些平凡的间隙和非凡时刻有一样大的影响力呢？

谁会知道在普通的一天和祖母一起坐在沙发上，一边看电视一边分享水果，是我在她生前最后一次看到她？没有什么是永恒，甚至平凡的。不管你是否注意到，一切都会过去。

事实上，对旅途和目的地同样心存感激是一种习惯。我们很难将有限的注意力投向那些无足轻重的时刻，但是它们可能占据了我们日常生活的百分之九十。如果我们的日子过得很好，可以多次旅行去多个目的地，如果我们只欣赏其中的百分之十，我们会得到什么样的满足感呢？

因此，也许在一个月的时间里，我不会记得这个时刻——这个阳光明媚的七月早晨，我写这篇文章时，正啜饮着咖啡，咖啡的香味使我意识到窗外城市的声音——但是我现在可以尽情地、满怀感激地享受这一切，一切都是值得的。