Celebrating Others' Successes
We are just a few days from the start of the Lunar New Year, and Taipei is bustling with children on winter holiday, decorations hung by doors, and piles of old household items put out for trash collection for the pre-holiday clean. The coming of Chinese New Year puts me in a fantastic mood every year, but this week, I’m feeling it more than ever.
Not only have we had some glorious and unexpected moments of sun lately, but it felt like there was an added air of happiness in so many of the interactions I had this week. People falling in love, getting new jobs, expanding their families and gearing up for vacations. What struck me this week was how happy I felt hearing each person share some of their personal victories .
I don’t generally consider myself a very jealous person, but I know that even a few weeks ago, I wasn’t in a place where I probably could have celebrated others' happiness as fully, at least not without feeling a bit wishful that I was in a better mood myself. I had been feeling disconnected from others, and even more so from myself. But this week, with each story I heard someone tell, my joy only grew , and honestly, it was almost a better feeling than if something amazing had happened just to myself. It felt bigger, solid, more steady.
It’s no easy task to push away the very understandable and human propensity for comparing ourselves to others, wishing we had what they have, and letting it all make us feel more discontent. But when we share our happiness and our sadness with others, and when they feel comfortable enough to do the same with us, that is real joy of human connection. We can become more empathetic, take turns being happy for one another or lifting each other up, and expand on our collective joy.
As Chinese New Year approaches next week and we clear out the bad luck from the year before, literally, by tidying our spaces, maybe we can also try to clean out roadblocks like jealously, competition, self-doubt and negativity which stand in the way of our own happiness.
Hoping you can celebrate and share even the smallest moments of happiness this week!
Keep moving! xx, Katie
更深切的喜悅: 真誠地慶祝他人的成功
希望大家的豬年都有一個美好的開始！ 這週很開心看到很多的新面孔和再度回到課堂中的舊面孔。 在春節假期間享受美食、好好休息、與你愛的人共度時光是重要且幸福的，但是同樣的，回歸生活步調和流點汗的感覺真的很好（雖然有些挑戰！）
再過幾天就要過年了，台北的街道上開始出現熙熙攘攘享受寒假的學童們、門柱牆邊貼上喜氣洋洋的過年裝飾、街口堆著大掃除淘汰的大型家具。每年過年前的這個時刻總讓我有好心情，但是今年我感受到加倍的開心。除了這兩天的大太陽好天氣之外，空氣中似乎有一絲絲過年的好運灑落在我周圍的人身上：有人戀愛了、有人找到新工作、有人家中添了新成員、有人開始準備假期旅行。讓我驚訝的是，我十分的享受聽到大家和我分享他們生活中的個人成就。
我不認為自己是一個容易忌妒別人的人，但是我知道如果是幾周前的我，大概無法像現在一樣全心全意地一起慶祝別人的成功。前陣子因為心情不太好，不但和其他人疏離了，和自己更是如此。但是這周，我每聽到一個故事我的喜悅感就增加一些，老實說這甚至比好事發生在自己身上更開心，這樣的喜悅感覺起來更偉大、更重要、更永久。
和他人比較是人類的天性，要抑止這個天性並非簡單的任務。但是，當我們分享自己的開心與難過，之後對方開始也願意敞開心胸地和我們分享他們的真心時，這達到一個人際交流中最真實的喜悅。藉此，我們能培養出更多的同理心、輪留地為對方開心與打氣，繼續延伸我們共同的喜悅。
下周就要過年了，沒錯透過打掃我們的生活空間，清除去年的壞運氣，也許我們也能試著去除擋路的陳年壞情緒，像是忌妒、比較、自我懷疑、負面情緒，讓今年的幸福之路走起來更順遂。
希望你這周也能可以慶祝與分享你的小確幸！
繼續前進！
愛你的 Katie
( Anna Liang 譯)