心灵鸡汤英文Word下载.docx

1、t accept this. The stranger replied You dont have a choice, closed the door and left.Obviously that experience had a profound impact on my life. I promised myself that someday I would do well enough financially so that I could do the same thing for other people. By the time I was eighteen I had crea

2、ted my Thanksgiving ritual. I like to do things spontaneously, so I would go out shopping and buy enough food for one or two families. Then I would dress like a delivery boy, go to the poorest neighborhood and just knock on a door. I always included a note that explained my Thanksgiving experience a

3、s a kid. The note concluded, All that I ask in return is that you take good enough care of yourself so that someday you can do the same thing for someone else. I have received more from this annual ritual than I have from any amount of money Ive ever earned.Several years ago I was in New York City w

4、ith my new wife during Thanksgiving. She was sad because we were not with our family. Normally she would be home decorating the house for Christmas, but we were stuck here in a hotel room.I said, Honey, look, why dont we decorate some lives today instead of some old trees? When I told her what I alw

5、ays do on Thanksgiving, she got excited. I said, Lets go someplace where we can really appreciate who we are, what we are capable of and what we can really give. Lets go to Harlem! She and several of my business partners who were with us werent really enthusiastic about the idea. I urged them: Cmon,

6、 lets go to Harlem and feed some people in need. We wont be the people who are giving it because that would be insulting. Well just be the delivery people. Well go buy enough food for six or seven families for thirty days. Weve got enough. Lets just go do it! Thats what Thanksgiving really is: Givin

7、g good thanks, not eating turkey. Cmon. Lets go do it!Because I had to do a radio interview first, I asked my partners to get us started by getting a van. When I returned from the interview, they said, We just cant do it. There are no vans in all of New York. The rent-a-car places are all out of van

8、s. Theyre just not available.Look, the bottom line is that if we want something, we can make it happen! All we have to do is take action. There are plenty of vans here in New York City. We just dont have one. Lets go get one.They insisted, Weve called everywhere. There arent any.Look down at the str

9、eet. Look down there. Do you see all those vans? They said, Yeah, we see them.s go get one, I said. First I tried walking out in front of vans as they were driving down the street. I learned something about New York drivers that day: They dont stop; they speed up.Then we tried waiting by the light.

10、Wed go over and knock on the window and the driver would roll it down, looking at us kind of leery, and Id say, Hi. Since today is Thanksgiving, wed like to know if you would be willing to drive us to Harlem so we can feed some people. Every time the driver would look away quickly, furiously roll up

11、 the window and pull away without saying anything.Eventually we got better at asking. Wed knock on the window, theyd roll it down and weToday is Thanksgiving. Wed like to help some underprivileged people, and were curious if youd be willing to drive us to an underprivileged area that we have in mind

12、 here in New York City. That seemed slightly more effective but still didnt work. Then we started offering people $100 to drive us. That got us even closer, but when we tol them to take us to Harlem, they said no and drove off.We had talked to about two dozen people who all said no. My partners were

13、 ready to give up on the project, but I said, Its the law of averages: Somebody is going to say yes. Sure enough, the perfect van drove up. It was perfect because it was extra big and would accommodate all of us. We went up, knocked on the window and we asked the driver, Could you take us to a disad

14、vantaged area? Well pay you a hundred dollars.The driver said, t have to pay me. Id be happy to take you. In fact, Ill take you to some of the most difficult spots in the whole city. Then he reached over on the seat and grabbed his hat. As he put it on, I noticed that it said, Salvation Army. The ma

15、ns name was Captain John Rondon and he was the head of the Salvation Army in the South Bronx.We climbed into the van in absolute ecstasy. He said, ll take you places you never even thought of going. But tell me something. Why do you people want to do this? I told him my story and that I wanted to sh

16、ow gratitude for all that I had by giving something back.Captain Rondon took us into parts of the South Bronx that make Harlem look like Beverly Hills. When we arrived, we went into a store where we bought a lot of food and some baskets. We packed enough for seven families for thirty days. Then we w

17、ent out to start feeding people. We went to buildings where there were half a dozen people living in one room:squatters with no electricity and no heat in the dead of winter surrounded by rats, cockroaches and the smell of urine. It was both an astonishing realization that people lived this way and

18、a truly fulfilling experience to make even a small difference.You see, you can make anything happen if you commit to it and take action. Miracles like this happen every day-even in a city where there are no vans.Anthony RobbinsThere Are No Vans. Reprinted by permission of Anthony RobbinsThe Baggy Ye

19、llow Shirtby Patricia LorenzThe baggy yellow shirt had long sleeves, four extra large pockets trimmed in black thread and snaps up the front. Not terribly attractive, but utilitarian without a doubt. I found it in December 1963 during my freshman year in college when I was home on Christmas break.Pa

20、rt of the fun of vacation at home was the chance to go through Moms hoard of rummage, destined for the less fortunate. She regularly scoured the house for clothes, bedding and house wares to give away, and the collection was always stored in paper bags on the floor of the front hall closet.Looking t

21、hrough Moms collection one day, I came across this oversized yellow shirt, slightly faded from years of wear but still in decent shape.Just the thing to wear over my clothes during art class! I said to myself.Youre not taking that old thing, are you? Mom said when she saw me packing it. I wore that

22、when I was pregnant with your brother in 1954!s perfect for art class, Mom. Thanks! I slipped it into my suitcase before she could object.The yellow shirt became a part of my college wardrobe. I loved it. All during college, it stayed with me, always comfortable to throw over my clothes during messy

23、 projects. The underarm seams had to be reinforced before I graduated, but there was plenty of wear in that old garment.After graduation I moved to Denver and wore the shirt the day I moved into my apartment. Then I wore it on Saturday mornings when I cleaned. Those four large pockets on the front-t

24、wo breast pockets and two at hip level-made a super place to carry dust cloths, wax and polish.The next year, I married. When I became pregnant, I found the yellow shirt tucked in a drawer and wore it during those big?belly days. Though I missed sharing my first pregnancy with Mom and Dad and the re

25、st of my family, since we were in Colorado and they were in Illinois, that shirt helped remind me of their warmth and protection. I smiled and hugged the shirt when I remembered that Mother had worn it when she was pregnant.By 1969, after my daughters birth, the shirt was at least 1 years old. That

26、Christmas, I patched one elbow, washed and pressed the shirt, wrapped it in holiday paper and sent it to Mom. Smiling, I tucked a note in one of the pockets saying:I hope this fits. Im sure it will look great on you! When Mom wrote to thank me for her real gifts, she said the yellow shirt was lovely

27、. She never mentioned it again.The next year, my husband, daughter and I moved from Denver to St. Louis and we stopped at Mom and Dads house in Rock Falls, Illinois, to pick up some furniture. Days later, when we uncrated the kitchen table, I noticed something yellow taped to its bottom. The shirt!

28、And so the pattern was set.On our next visit home, I secretly placed the shirt between the mattress and box springs of Mom and Dads bed. I dont know how long it took her to find it, but almost two years passed before I got it back.By then our family had grown.This time Mom got even with me. She put

29、it under the base of our living?room lamp, knowing that as a mother of three little ones, housecleaning and moving lamps would not be everyday events. . . .When I finally got the shirt, I wore it often while refinishing early marriage furniture that I found at rummage sales. The walnut stains on the

30、 shirt simply added more character to all its history. Unfortunately, our lives were full of stains, too.My marriage had been failing almost from the beginning. After a number of attempts at marriage counseling, my husband and I divorced in 1975. The three children and I prepared to move back to Illinois to be closer to the emotional support of family and friends. As I packed, a deep depression overtook me. I r wondered if I could make it on my own with three small children to raise. I wondered if I would find a job. Although I hadnt read the Bibl