Try to fix firmly in your mind what you would like to do; and then, without veering off direction, you will move straight to the goal. Keep your mind on the great and splendid things you would like to do, and then, as the days go gliding away, you will find yourself unconsciously seizing upon the opportunities that are required for the fulfillment of your desire, just as the corm insect takes from the running tide the element it needs. Picture in your mind the able, earnest, useful person you desire to be, and the thought you hold is hourly transforming you into that particular individual...Thought is supreme. Preserve a right mental attitude-the attitude of courage, frankness, and good cheer. To think rightly is to create. All things come through desire and every sincere prayer is answered. We become like that on which our hearts are fixed. Carry your chin in and the crown of your head high. We are gods in the chrysalis.
The ancient Chinese were a wise lot—wise in the ways of the world; and they had a proverb that you and I ought to cut out and paste inside our hats. It goes like this: “A man without a smiling face must not open a shop.”
Some years ago, a department store in New York City, in recognition of the pressures its sales clerks were under during the Christmas rush, presented the readers of its advertisements with the following homely philosophy:
THE VALUE OF A SMILE AT CHRISTMAS
It costs nothing, but creates much.
It enriches those who receive, without impoverishing those who give.
It happens in a flash and the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None are so rich they can get along without it, and none so poor but are richer for its benefits.
It creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in a business, and is the countersign of friends.
It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and Nature’s best antidote fee trouble.
Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed or stolen, for it is something that is no earthly good to anybody till it is given away. And if in the last-minute rush of Christmas buying some of our salespeople should be too tired to give you a smile, may we ask you to leave one of yours? For nobody needs a smile so much as those who have none left to give!
参考译文
如果你希望别人热情接待你，你一定要热情接待别人。
我曾要求成千上万的商业人士时刻对某人微笑，持续一个星期后，到班上来讲讲结果。它会产生怎样的效果呢？让我们来看看……这封信是一个叫斯坦因·哈特的先生写的，他是纽约的一个股票经纪人。他的情况并不少见，事实上，它是成千上万的案例中最典型的一个。
“我已经结婚18年多了，”史坦哈德写道，“在此期间，从我起床到准备好出门上班，我很少对妻子微笑，或说上一两句话。我是那些匆匆行走在百老汇的人当中最不高兴的人。
“当你要求我以微笑的经验发表一番谈话时，我决定试一个星期。所以，第二天早上梳头的时候，我看看镜中自己满面愁容，就对自己说：‘毕尔，你今天要把脸上的愁容一扫而空。你要微笑起来，现在就开始。’当我坐下来吃早餐时，我问候太太‘早安，亲爱的’，同时对她微笑。
“你曾提醒过我，她可能大吃一惊。噢，你可能低估了她的反应。她不知所措、惊愕不已。我对她说，从此以后可以把我这种态度看成平常的事情。我每天早晨都坚持这样做。
“我改变了的态度，在这两个月里给我们家带来的快乐，比去年所有一年的还要多。
“当我去上班的时候，我会对大楼开电梯的人微笑着说‘早上好’；我还微笑着跟看门人打招呼。在地铁售票处兑换零钱的时候，我也会以微笑和服务员打招呼。当我站在交易所大厅的时候，我向那些以前从未见过我微笑的人们微笑。
“我发现每个人都对我报之以微笑。我用愉快的方式对待那些过来发牢骚或诉苦的人。我微笑着听他们说，问题就很容易调解了。我发现微笑给我带来了钱财，每天都大有所获。