《Today I begin a new life》

 

　　Today I shed my old skin which hath, too long, suffered the bruises of failure and the wounds of mediority.

 

　　Today I am born anew and my birthplace is a vineyard where there is fruit for all.

 

　　Today I will pluck grapes of wisdom from the tallest and fullest vines in the vineyard,for these were planted by the wisest of my profession who have come before me,generation upon generation.

 

　　Today I will savor the taste of grapes from these vines and verily I will swallow the seed of success buried in each and new life will sprout within me.

 

　　The career I have chosen is laden with opportunity yet it is fraught with heartbreak and despair and the bodies of those who have failed, were they piled one atop another, would cast a shadow down upon all the pyramids of the earth.

 

　　Yet I will not fail, as the others, for in my hands I now hold the charts which will guide through perilous waters to shores which only yesterday seemed but a dream.

 

　　Failure no longer will be my payment for struggle. Just as nature made no provision for my body to tolerate pain neither has it made any provision for my life to suffer failure. Failure, like pain, is alien to my life. In the past I accepted it as I accepted pain. Now I reject it and I am prepared for wisdom and principles which will guide me out of the shadows into the sunlight of wealth, position, and happiness far beyond my most extravagant dreams until even the golden apples in the Garden of Hesperides will seem no more than my just reward.

 

　　Time teaches all things to him who lives forever but I have not the luxury of eternity. Yet within my allotted time I must practice the art of patience for nature acts never in haste. To create the olive, king of all trees, a hundred years is required. An onion plant is old in nine weeks. I have lived as an onion plant. It has not pleased me. Now I wouldst become the greatest of olive trees and, in truth, the greatest of salesman.

 

　　And how will this be accomplished? For I have neither the knowledge nor the experience to achieve the greatness and already I have stumbled in ignorance and fallen into pools of self-pity. The answer is simple. I will commence my journey unencumbered with either the weight of unnecessary knowledge or the handicap of meaningless experience. Nature already has supplied me with knowledge and instinct far greater than any beast in the forest and the value of experience is overrated, usually by old men who nod wisely and speak stupidly.

 

　　In truth, experience teaches thoroughly yet her course of instruction devours men's years so the value of her lessons diminishes with the time necessary to acquire her special wisdom. The end finds it wasted on dead men. Furthermore, experience is comparable to fashion; an action that proved successful today will be unworkable and impractical tomorrow.

 

　　Only principles endure and these I now possess, for the laws that will lead me to greatness are contained in the words of these scrolls. What they will teach me is more to prevent failure than to gain success, for what is success other than a state of mind? Which two, among a thouand wise men, will define success in the same words; yet failure is always described but one way. Failure is man's inability to reach his goals in life, whatever they may be.

 

　　In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have successed lies in the difference of their habits. Good habits are the key to all success. Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure. Thus, the first law I will obey, which precedeth all others is --I will form good habits and become their slave.

 

　　As a child I was slave to my impulses; now I am slave to my habits, as are all grown men. I have surrendered my free will to the years of accumulated habits and the past deeds of my life have already marked out a path which threatens to imprison my future. My actions are ruled by appetite, passion, prejudice, greed, love, fear, environment, habit, and the worst of these tyrants is habit. Therefore, if I must be a slave to habit let me be a slave to good habits. My bad habits must be destroyed and new furrows prepared for good seed.

 

　　I will form good habits and become their slave.

 

　　And how will I accomplish this difficult feat? Through these scrolls, it will be done, for each scroll contains a principle which will drive a bad habit from my life and replace it with one which will bring me closer to success. For it is another of nature's laws that only a habit can subdue another habit. So, in order for these written words to perform their chosen task, I must discipline myself with the first of my new habits which is as follows:

 

　　I will read each scroll for thirty days in this prescribed manner, before I proceed to the next scroll.

 

　　First, I will read the words in silence when I arise. Then, I will read the words in silence after I have partaken of my midday meal. Last, I will read the words again just before I retire at day's end, and most important, on this occasion I will read the words aloud.

 

　　On the next day I will repeat this procedure, and I will continue in like manner for thirty days. Then, I will turn to the next scroll and repeat this procedure for another thirty days. I will continue in this manner until I have lived with each scroll for thirty days and my reading has become habit.

 

　　And what will be accomplished with this habit? Herein lies the hidden secret of all man's accomplishments. As I repeat the words daily they will soon become a part of my active mind, but more important, they will also seep into my other mind, that mysterious source which never sleeps, which creates my dreams, and often makes me act in ways I do not comprehend.

 

　　As the words of these scrolls are consumed by my mysterious mind I will begin to awake, each morning, with a vitality I have never known before. My vigor will increase, my enthusiasm will rise, my desire to meet the world will overcome every fear I once knew at sunrise, and I will be happier than I ever believed it possible to be in this world of strife and sorrow.

 

　　Eventually I will find myself reacting to all situations which confront me as I was commanded in the scrolls to react, and soon these actions and reactions will become easy to perform, for any act with practice becomes easy.

 

　　Thus a new and good habit is born, for when an act becomes easy through constant repetiton it becomes a pleasure to perform and if it is a pleasure to perform it is man's nature to perform it often. When I perform it often it becomes a habit and I become its slave and since it is a good habit this is my will.

 

　　Today I begin a new life.

 

　　And I make a solemn oath to myself that nothing will retard my new life's growth. I will lose not a day from these readings for that day cannot be retrieved nor can I substitute another for it. I must not , I will not, break this habit of daily reading from these scrolls and, in truth, the few moments spent each day on this new habit are but a small price to pay for the happiness and success that will be mine.

 

　　As I read and re-read the words in the scrolls to follow, never will I allow the brevity of each scroll nor the simplicity of its words to cause me to treat the scroll's message lightly. Thousands of grapes are pressed to fill one jar with wine, and the grapeskin and pulp are tossed to the birds. So it is with these grapes of wisdom from the ages. Much has been filtered and tossed to the wind.Only the pure truth lies distilled in the words to come. I will drink as instructed and spill not a drop. And the seed of success I will swallow.

 

　　Today my old skin has become as dust. I will walk tall among men and they will know me not , for today I am a new man, with a new life.

 

　　《今天，我天始新的生活》

 

　　今天，我爬出滿是失敗創傷的老繭。

 

　　今天，我重新來到這個世上，我出生在葡萄園中，國內的葡萄任人享用。

 

　　今天，我要從最高最密的藤上摘下智慧的果實，這葡萄藤是好幾代前的智者種下的。

 

　　今天，我要品嘗葡萄的美味，還要吞下每一位成功的種子，讓新生命在我心里萌牙。

 

　　我選擇的道路充滿機遇，也有辛酸與絕望．失敗的同伴數不勝數，疊在一起，比金字塔還高。

 

　　然而，我不會像他們一樣失敗，因為我手中持有航海圖，可以領我越過洶涌的大海，抵達夢中的彼岸．

 

　　失敗不再是我奮斗的代價．它和痛苦都將從我的生命中消失。失敗和我，就像水火一樣，互不相容。我不再像過去一樣接受它們。我要在智慧的指引下，走出失敗的陰影，步入富足、健康、快樂的樂園，這些都超出了我以往的夢想． 我要是能長生不老，就可以學到一切，但我不能永生，所以，在有限的人生里，我必須學會忍耐的藝術，因為大自然的行為一向是從容不迫的．造物主創造樹中之王橄攤樹需要一百年的時間，而洋蔥經過短短的九個星期就會枯老．我不留戀從前那種洋蔥式的生活，我要成為萬樹之王——橄欖樹，成為現實生活中最偉大的推銷員．

 

　　怎么可能？我既沒有淵博的知識，又沒有豐富的經驗，況且，我曾一度跌入愚昧與自憐的深淵．答案很簡單。我不會讓所謂的知識或者經驗妨礙我的行程．造物生已經賜予我足夠的知識和本能，這份天賦是其它生物望塵莫及的。經驗的價值往往被高估了，人老的時候開口講的多是糊涂話．說實在的，經驗確實能教給我們很多東西，只是這需要花費太長的時間．等到人們獲得智慧的時候，其價值已隨著時間的消逝而減少了．結果往往是這樣，經驗豐富了，人也余生無多．經驗和時尚有關，適合某一時代的行為,并不尋味著在今天仍然行得通。

 

　　只有原則是持久的，而我現在正擁有了這些原則．這些可以指引我走向成功的原則全寫在這幾張羊皮卷里．它教我如何避免失敗，而不只是獲得成功，因為成功更是一種精神狀態．人們對于成功的定義，見仁見智，而失敗卻往往只有一種解釋:失敗就是一個人沒能達到他的人生目標，不論這些目標是什么。

 

　　事實上，成功與失敗的最大分野，來自不同的習慣。好習慣是開啟成員的鑰匙，壞習慣則是一扇向失敗敞開的門。因此，我首先要做的便是養成良好的習慣，全心全意去實行。

 

　　小時候．我常會感情用事，長大成人了，我要用良好的習慣代替一時的沖動。我的自由意志屈服于多年養成的惡習，它們威脅著我的前途。我的行為受到品味、情感、偏見、欲望、愛、恐懼、環境和習慣的影響，其中最厲害的就是習慣。因此．如果我必須受習慣支配的話，那就讓我受好習慣的支配。那些壞習慣必須戒除，我要在新的田地里播種好的種子。 我要養成良好的習慣，全心全意去實行。

 

　　這不是輕而易舉的事情，要怎樣才能做到呢，靠這些羊皮卷就能做到。因為每～卷里都寫著一個原則，可以摒除—項壞習慣，換取一個好習慣，使人進步，走向成功。這也是自然法則之一，只有一種習慣才能抑制另一種習慣。所以，為了走好我選擇的道路，我必須養成的第一個習慣

 

　　每張羊皮卷用三十天的時間閱讀，然后再進人下一卷。 清晨即起，默默誦讀；午飯之后，再次默讀；夜晚睡前，高聲朗讀。

 

　　第二天的情形完全一樣。這樣重復三十天后，就可以打開下一卷了。每一卷都依照同樣的方法讀上三十天，久而久之，它們就成為一種習慣了。

 

　　這些習慣有什么好處呢？這里隱含著人類成功的秘訣。當我每天重復這些話的時候，它何成了我精神活動的一部分，更重要的是，它們滲入我的心靈。擁是個神秘的世界，永不靜止，創造夢境，在不知不覺中影響我的行為。

 

　　當這些羊皮卷上的文字，被我奇妙的心靈完全吸收之后，我每天都會充滿活力地醒來。我從來沒有這樣精力充沛過。我更有活力，更有熱情，要向世界挑戰的欲望克服了一切恐懼與不安。在這個充滿爭斗和悲傷的世界里，我竟然比以前更快活。 最后，我會發現自己有了應付一切情況的辦法。不久，這些辦法就能運用自如．因為，任何方法，只要多練習，就會變得簡單易行。

 

　　經過多次重復，一種看似復雜的行為就變得輕而易舉，實行起來，就會有無限的樂趣，有了樂趣，出于人之天性，我就更樂意常去實行。于是，一種好的習慣便誕生了．習慣成為自然。既是一種好的習慣，也就是我的意原。

 

　　今天，我天始新的生活．

 

　　我鄭重地發誓，絕不讓任何事情妨礙我新生命的成長。在閱讀這些羊卷的時候，我絕不浪費一天的時間，因為時光一去不返，失去的日子是無法彌補的。我也絕不打破每天閱讀的習慣。事實上，每天在這些新習慣上花費少許時間，相對于可能獲得的愉樂與成功而言，只是微不足道的代價。 當我閱讀羊皮卷中的字句時，絕不能出為文字的精煉而忽視內容的深沉。一瓶葡萄美酒需要千百顆果子釀制而成，果皮和渣子拋給小鳥。葡萄的智慧代代相傳，有些被過濾，有些被淘汰，隨風飄逝。只有純正的真理才是永恒的。它們就精煉在我要閱讀的文字中。我要依照指示，絕不浪費，飲下成功的種子。

 

　　今天，我的老繭化為塵埃。我在人群中昂首闊步，不會有人認出我來，因為我不再是過去的自己、我已擁有新的生命。