感覺生活沒有熱情，所做的所有事都籠罩著一層暗灰色，了無生趣？

　　Is work boring or empty, or just plain awful? Do you lack adventure and fun in your life? Do you feel stuck but have no idea how to get unstuck?

　　是工作太空虛乏味？找不到生活的樂趣和刺激？你是否感到自己陷入困境卻不知如何擺脫呢？

　　A life passion isn’t something that drops on you from the heavens or appears from thin air. Discovering your passion is a process of self-discovery and detective work. It requires stripping yourself bare and examining the “real you.” This is the you without limiting beliefs, old wounds, ego-based pursuits, and fear.

　　生活熱情不會平白無故從天而降，抑或浮現在稀薄的空氣中。它是自我發現的過程，需要你真誠面對自己，仔細審查內心的“真我”。這個“真我”沒有信仰限制，沒有過去的傷疤，更沒有自我為中心的追求和畏懼。

　　If you want to begin today to bare your true self and reveal your own passion in life, here are 15 small actions you can take to get started:

　　如果你希望從今天起，展現真實的自己找回對生活的熱情，以下15招教你踏上轉變之旅：

　　1. Shift your thinking. If you believe, like I did, that you aren’t great at something, or you don’t feel excited about anything and therefore have no passion — then release that notion. If you believe that you are too old, reject that falsehood. Those are excuses which will keep you stuck.

　　轉變思維。如果你像我曾經一樣，認為自己做不好任何事或對任何事提不起勁兒而導致你失去熱情，那馬上擺脫這樣的想法。你認為學新知識太遲？甩掉這些假話吧，它們是你讓自己繼續淪陷的藉口罷了。

　　2. Become aware of joy. Get a small pocket notebook and keep it with you. Keep track of the times when you feel happy and fulfilled. What are you doing when you feel good? Write it down in your notebook. Pay attention to what feels good to you.

　　留心發現快樂。隨身攜帶一個小筆記本，記下當你感到快樂和滿足時的每一刻。當你感覺開心時你正在做什麼呢？用筆記下來，並且留意那些讓你感到美好的事物。

　　3. Pinpoint the major drag. What’s causing you the most frustration? Your job? A relationship? Your leisure time? A general lack of purpose? Isolate the primary cause and the elements of it that bring you down.

　　查明讓你停滯不前的主要原因。是什麼特別使你萎靡不振？工作？感情？你的閒暇時間？沒有目標？將最主要的那個原因和其他次要原因分開寫出來。

　　4. What were your dreams? When you were younger, or even now, what did you dream of being, doing, achieving, discovering? Write those down in your notebook. Dredge them up and reignite those dreams.

　　你曾經的夢想是什麼？當你年少時或就是現在，你想成為什麼人，做什麼事，獲得何種成就或者發現什麼？努力回憶這些內容，將它們寫在本子上，重新點燃你的夢想！

　　5. Acknowledge your skills. Maybe you aren’t a virtuoso at something, but you have many skills. You may not recognize them as skills, but others do. Ask your friends and family what you are good at — no matter how small. Make a list of your skills, and make note of the skills you really enjoy.

　　肯定自身的才能。或許你不是一名藝術鑒賞家，但你有許多其他才能。你可能沒把那些看作是自己的一技之長，但其他人卻恰恰相反。問問你的朋友家人你擅長什麼——不管多麼微不足道，將這些才能列成清單，並將自己所青睞的幾個打上記號。

　　6. Let go of shoulds. Many people hold themselves back from happiness because of the word “should.” I should stay in this job because I can’t find a better one. I should become a teacher because my parents want me to. I should not try something new because I’ll look foolish. Dismiss this word from your vocabulary while on your passion search.

　　讓“應該”的條條框框隨風去。許多人由於“應該”要做什麼而失去了自己的幸福感。我不可能再找到更好的工作所以我應該繼續呆在原公司。我應該成為一名教師因為爸媽希望我這樣。我不應該嘗試新東西，那樣看起來太傻了。將這個詞從你的人生字典裏甩掉，踏上尋找熱情的旅途吧！

　　7. Try something new. Anything. Go for a weekend trip to a new location. Take a class on bird watching or painting or dancing. Strike up a conversation with someone you don’t know well. Shake up your life a bit. Peep out past your current existence. It will broaden your perspective.

　　嘗試新事物。任何新的事物。週末去陌生地點旅遊，報名觀鳥、繪畫或舞蹈課程，和不太熟的朋友聊天等等。從點滴激發你的生活樂趣，讓你的存在感慢慢顯露。它將會開拓你的視野。

　　8. Be a voyeur. Investigate someone else who is living an amazing, passionate life. These are all regular people who have learned how to live passionate, adventurous lives.

　　做個生活“偷窺家”。留心觀察那些對生活充滿激情的人，他們都是懂得如何將生活變得生機勃勃並富有創造力的聰明人。

　　9. Unlock your past. If you have something holding you back, an old trauma or past anger, do something about it, or you will undermine your efforts at passionate living. How can you live with passion when you have a hole in your heart? Go to a counselor or other helping professional and heal the past so you can create your future.

　　對過去敞開心扉。若過去的創傷或憤怒阻止你向前，一定要採取措施面對，否則這些過往會一點點破壞你充滿激情的生活。試想，當你的心有空洞時你怎能積極地生活呢？讓諮詢師或心理專家幫助你治愈你的過往吧，你將會創造屬於自己的未來。

　　10. Define your values. What is important to you? What values define you? Your passion must be centered around your primary values so that your life reflects who you are.

　　認清你的價值。什麼是你認為最重要，最有價值的？你的熱情必須圍繞著你最在乎的東西，從而可以通過生活發現自己究竟是誰。

　　11. Sketch out a vision. It’s two years down the road. Who are you now? What are you doing? Start sketching a vision for yourself, as though you have no limitations on who you can be or what you can do. Just pretend for now.

　　擬定一個大致目標。將目標期望實現時間定為兩年。現在你是誰？正在做什麼？開始為自己擬一個計劃吧。你可以成為什麼樣的人，你可以做什麼，一切都可以隨意發揮。從現在開始假設。

　　12. Research. Start to create a little curiosity and interest in possibilities. Look online at other careers, or adventurous travel, or classes in basket weaving.

　　鑽研。培養對可能實現的事情的興趣和好奇心。上網找找其他可發展的事業，嘗試冒險的旅行或參加竹籃編織家政課等都是不錯的途徑。

　　13. Consider an education boost. You don’t have to go back to get your MBA to change careers. There are many certification programs that train you to begin something brand new.If you have the time and money, then go for the MBA!

　　考慮學業進修。你不必出於事業考慮而專門重返校園拿MBA證書——除非你有足夠的時間和資金。現在有許多證書培訓課程就是為想改頭換面的你而設置的。

　　14. Weigh your priorities. Money is often the factor that holds people back from their dreams. If I had to choose between a lot of money but living in mediocrity or living with less money but feeling happy and fulfilled — I would choose the latter. How about you? If so, decide the least amount of money you and your family could live on, and work from there. You might have to move, scale back, live lean. Is it worth it to you?

　　分清優先級。金錢總是最阻礙人們實現夢想的因素。如果要在“活得平庸卻有很多錢”和“錢少點但卻充實快樂”中選擇，我會選擇後者。你呢？如果你也是，那麼就從能支撐你和你家庭最基本的錢開始努力吧！你可能會搬家，節衣縮食，深居簡出，你認為那樣值得嗎？

　　15. Keep trying. The process of finding my passion took a couple of years. You may have to try a few and eliminate a few things before you discover what feels great. It may creep up on you rather than knocking you in the head. Have patience. Keep digging.

　　堅持不鬆懈。找回熱情的過程花了我幾年的時間。在途中你可能不得不嘗試一些，又放棄一些，直到你找到真正使你滿意的東西。熱情只會緩慢降臨在你身邊而不會突然出現。你得有耐心，一直挖掘下去吧！

　　You do have a passion, but you can’t wait for it to come to you. You have to go find it. Actually, you have to uncover it because it’s already with you.

　　其實你本來擁有熱情，但你不能只是坐著等待它的降臨，它需要你努力去尋找。事實上，它已經在你身邊了，只等著你去發現。

　　來源：滬江英語