How can we live happily? Robert Harkin, President of the University of Chicago You have a lemon in your hand, so why not squeeze a glass of lemon juice? '"

Great people all followed the Chicago principal's approach, but ordinary people's approach is very different. If he finds that life only gives him a lemon, he will give up on himself and say: "I'm done! This is fate. I don't even have a chance." Then he will start to curse the world, start to feel sorry for himself, and give up on himself.

However, when a wise man gets a lemon, he will say: "What can I learn from this failure? How can I learn from it and gain wisdom?" How can I turn this lemon into a glass of lemon juice?”

The great psychologist Adler spent his life studying humans and their hidden abilities. Finally, he claimed to have discovered that the most wonderful characteristic of human beings is "the power to turn negative into positive."

The experience of the woman described below just confirms that sentence. This woman is Thelma Thompson.

“During the war, my husband was stationed at an Army base in the California desert. I moved nearby so I could be with him more often. It was an abomination, and I had never seen anything worse. Bad place. I was left alone in that little house while my husband was away on a drill. It was 125 degrees under the cactus trees and there was no one to talk to. , everything I ate and breathed was filled with dust!

“I felt extremely unlucky and pitiful, so I wrote to my parents and told them that I gave up and was going back! Home, I can't stand it for another minute. I'd rather go to jail than stay in this hellish place. There were only three lines in my father's reply. These words often linger in my heart and changed my life.

"Two people looked out from the bars. One saw the mud on the ground, while the other saw the stars in the sky.'

"I I read these words over and over again, and I felt so embarrassed. Deciding to find the advantages of my current situation, I wanted to look for the starry sky.

“I started to make friends with the local residents, and I was heartbroken by their reaction. When I showed great interest in their weaving and pottery, they refused to sell their beloved items to tourists. Give it to me. I study various cacti and local plants. I try to learn more about prairie dogs. I watch the dusk in the desert and look for shell fossils from 3 million years ago. It turns out that this desert was there 3 million years ago. It’s the ocean floor.

“What brings about these amazing changes? The desert has not changed, only myself has changed. Because my attitude changed, it was this change that gave me a wonderful life experience. The new world I discovered was exciting and exciting. I set out to write a book—a novel. I escaped from the self-imposed prison and found the beautiful stars.

What Thelma Thompson discovered is what the Greeks discovered 500 years before Jesus was born: "The best things are often the most difficult."

The 20th Century , Harry Emerson Fosdick also said: "Most of happiness is not enjoyment, but victory." Yes, this victory comes from a sense of accomplishment, a kind of pride, and also comes from our ability to turn lemons Squeeze lemon juice.

Have you ever heard of the happy farmer in Florida? He even turned a poison lemon into sweet lemonade. The farmer bought a farm with the money he had saved over the years, but the result made him very depressed. That land could neither grow fruit nor raise pigs, only poplars and rattlesnakes. Then he came up with a great idea. He wanted to turn those rattlesnakes into a resource for him. What he did surprised everyone because he started canning rattlesnake meat.

Not only that, almost 20,000 tourists come to visit his rattlesnake farm every year.

His business was very large. He transported the venom extracted from rattlesnakes to major pharmaceutical companies to make snake venom serum; he sold rattlesnake skins at very high prices to make women's shoes and handbags; and he sold canned rattlesnake meat to all parts of the world. Even more surprising is that the village was later renamed "Rattlesnake Village, Florida." It can be seen how much the locals respect this man who turned poisonous lemons into sweet lemon juice!

Across the world, there are many men and women who “turn negatives into positives.”

The late William Belissot once said this during his lifetime: "The most important thing in life is not to count your income as capital. Everyone will do this. Really The important thing is to profit from your losses. This requires intelligence, and this is the difference between a wise man and a fool." Belissot once broke a leg in a train wreck.

However, there is also a man who broke two legs and turned the negative into a positive. His name is Ben Folsom. Even though he was in a wheelchair with two broken legs, he looked very happy. Here's the story he told.

"It happened in 1929," I chopped down a large pile of walnut limbs to make scaffolding for beans in my vegetable garden. I loaded those walnut branches into my Ford and drove home. Halfway through, a branch slipped under the car and got stuck on the axle, just as the car was making a sharp turn. The car went off the road and I hit a tree. My spine was injured and I could no longer stand on my legs.

"I was only 24 years old that year, and I have never walked a step since then."

At such a young age, I was sentenced to live in a wheelchair for life. How could he accept this fact so bravely? "It was really difficult for me to accept it at the time. My whole heart was filled with resentment and sadness, and I complained every day about the unfair treatment of my fate. But as time passed, I finally found that resentment I can't do anything except make my temper better. I realize that everyone is so kind and polite to me, so I should at least do something and be polite to others. ”

As time goes by, does Folsom still feel that the accident he encountered was a terrible misfortune? "No," on the contrary, I am still grateful to have had that experience. ”

After Folsom overcame the shock and regret at the time, he began to live in a completely different world. He began to read books and developed a love for good literary works. In 14 years, he He read at least fourteen hundred books, which brought him a new world and made his life richer than he had ever thought possible. He began to listen to a lot of good music that had previously bored him. Great symphonies can now move him very much.

More importantly, he now has time to think. “For the first time in my life, I can take a closer look at the world. , with real values; I began to understand that most of the things I pursued in the past actually had no value at all. "

As a result of reading and thinking, he became interested in politics. He studied public affairs issues and gave speeches in a wheelchair. From this, he got to know many people, and many people also got to know him. . Today, Ben Folsom—still in his wheelchair—is Georgia’s Secretary of State.

One of the great regrets many people have today is that they didn’t have the opportunity to get a college education. . They seem to think that not going to college is a flaw, but let me tell you the truth, many successful people did not go to college, so it is not that important. Who has heard of the legend. The story of Al Smith?

After his father died, his mother had to work 10 hours a day in an umbrella factory and do odd jobs. Come back and do it until 11 o'clock in the evening

He grew up in this environment. Once he participated in a church drama performance and found the performance very interesting, so he began to train himself in public. His ability as a speaker later led him to enter politics. At the age of 30, he was elected to the New York State Assembly.

However, he was not yet ready to accept such a huge responsibility. In fact, he still has no idea what state lawmakers are supposed to do. He began to study long and complicated bills that were like bibles to him. He was elected to the forest committee, but he had never known forests, so he was very worried. He was elected to the Banking Committee, but he didn't even have a bank account, so he was at a loss.

Had he not been too embarrassed to admit his frustration to his mother, Mr. Smith might have quit his job long ago. In despair, he decided to study for 16 hours a day, turning the sour lemon of his ignorance into the sweet lemon juice of knowledge. Because of this effort, he was promoted from a local political figure to a national political figure. His performance was so outstanding that even the New York Times honored him as "New York City's most lovable citizen."

This legend is Al Smith.

Ten years after Al began educating himself, he became a living dictionary for the New York State government. He served four consecutive terms as governor of New York—a record that no one had at the time. In 1928, he was elected as the Democratic presidential candidate. Six famous universities, including Columbia University and Harvard University, have awarded honorary degrees to this young man who dropped out of school.

If Mr. Smith had not studied diligently for 16 hours a day to make up for his shortcomings, he would never have achieved what he has today.

Nietzsche's definition of Superman is: "Not only endures everything under necessary circumstances, but also loves to challenge this situation."

If you are interested in those who are successful in their careers After doing in-depth research, you will deeply feel that the reason why many of them are successful is because they have some flaws that will hinder them at the beginning, prompting them to work harder and get more. of compensation. As William Jameson said: "Our flaws serve us unexpectedly."

Yes! It is possible that Milton was able to write better poems because he was blind. Beethoven could compose better music because he was deaf.

The reason why Helen Keller was able to achieve brilliant achievements was because of her blindness and deafness.

If Tchaikovsky had not been so miserable—his tragic marriage almost brought him to the brink of suicide—if his own life had not been so miserable, he might never have been able to write His immortal "Pathétique Symphony".

If the lives of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy were not so tragic, they might never be able to write those immortal novels.

Darwin, who pioneered the life sciences, also said: "If I had not been so incompetent, I might not have accomplished so much of the work that I have accomplished." Obviously, he admitted that he had been stimulated by his shortcomings.

On the same day that Darwin was born in England, a child was also born in a cabin in the woods of Kentucky, USA. He was also inspired by his own shortcomings to achieve great things in his life. He is Abraham Lincoln. If he had been born into an aristocratic family, received a degree from Harvard Law School, and had a happy marriage, he might never have found those immortal speeches delivered at Gettysburg deep in his heart. Nor would there have been those poetic lines from his second political address—the most beautiful and noble words ever spoken by America’s ruler: “Malive no ill will against any man; And love everyone..."

Fosdick mentioned in his book: "There is a saying in Scandinavia that the cold arctic wind created the Eskimo. People. When do we believe that people will feel happy because they have a comfortable life without any difficulties? On the contrary, a self-pitying person will not stop feeling sorry for himself even if he is comfortable on the sofa. People can always be happy, they take great personal responsibility and never run away from it. I repeat - the strong Esmers are made by the cold arctic wind."

If we really do. Being so discouraged that there is no hope of any change - here are two reasons why we should at least give it a try. These two reasons guarantee that we will only get better, not worse, if we try.

The first reason: we may succeed.

Second reason: Even if we fail, the very act of trying forces us to look forward instead of just regretting. It will drive away negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones. It stimulates creativity and keeps us busy, so we don’t have the time or mood to grieve about things that are past.

The world-famous violinist Ole Burr suddenly broke the A string of his violin during a concert in Paris. He played the complete piece with the remaining three strings without changing his expression. Fosdick said: "This is life. If one string is broken, you can continue to play Qin with the remaining three strings."

This is not just life, this is beyond life and a triumphant song of life. !

This sentence of William Belissot is so good that it should be engraved on a copper plate and hung in every school classroom: "The most important thing in life is not to let your Count your income as capital. Everyone will do this. What really matters is to make a profit from your losses. This is the difference between a wise man and a fool."