佚名/Anonymous
There are two ways of spreading light: To be the candle or the mirror that reflect it.
—Wharton
You support someone when you willingly step forward to help him through a challenging time. Yet the great irony is that when you support others, you are also, in fact, supporting yourself. When you withhold support from others, it is usually an indicator that you are also withholding support from yourself.
We are most often called upon to support others in friendship. One of my acquaintances, Donna, told me a story recently that clearly illustrates the magic of support and its potential as an emotional mirror.
Several years ago, Donna had been feeling very depressed. She had just broken up with her boyfriend of two years, and she was having a very difficult time accepting the loss. She had been laid up with a knee injury for several days, and the time alone at home certainly was not helping. Her misery was only compounded by her frustration at herself for not being able to pull it together and stop crying all the time.
Early one morning, Donna received a phone call with some terrible news: Her best friend's brother had been killed in a car accident. Donna had known this friend, Mary, and her brother nearly her entire life, and the news was devastating. However, Donna quickly pulled herself together, got in the car, and drove to her friend's house to be there with her.
Over the course of the next few days, amidst the haze of the funeral and hundreds of visitors, Donna was 100 percent present for Mary. She held her close while she cried endless tears, sat by her side as the waves of grief washed over her friend, and slept on the floor next to Mary's bed to make sure she did not wake up alone in the middle of the night. During that time she hardly felt any pain in her knee at all and none of the depression she had been experiencing.
Several weeks later, when life began to return to normal, Donna realized that the level of support she had given Mary far exceeded any support she had offered herself during her dark time. She was able to use the support she had given her friend as a mirror for the support she had been withholding from herself. She realized that her own tears required as much attention and nurturing from her as anyone else's, and that if she could give it to another, she must be able to also give it to herself...
So, when you find yourself unable to support someone else, look within and see if perhaps there is something within yourself that you are not supporting. Conversely, when you give complete support to others, it will mirror those places within you that require the same level of attention.
傳播光明的方法有兩種：要麽做一根蠟燭，要麽做一麵鏡子去反射它的光芒。
——沃頓
他人身處困境時，你主動幫他渡過難關，你就是在支持他。或許你不會想到，你幫助他人的同時，也是在幫你自己。拒絕對他人施以援手，其實也是拒絕幫助自己。
朋友之間最需要相互支持。前幾天，我的一位熟人唐娜給我講述了一個故事，故事清楚地闡明了支持的魔力及其作為情感之鏡的潛在效應。
幾年前，唐娜一度委靡不振。那時，她和相戀兩年的男朋友剛剛分手，這讓她難以承受。接著，她又因膝蓋受傷臥床數日，當然，孤獨在家的日子，對她的身心毫無益處。她無法控製這種局麵，因而痛苦不堪，整天懊惱、傷心、淚流滿麵。
一天清晨，唐娜接到她最好的朋友瑪麗的一個電話，瑪麗的弟弟在一場車禍中死去了。這一噩耗讓唐娜悲慟萬分。要知道，瑪麗的弟弟是她全部的生命。唐娜很快振作起來，立刻驅車前往瑪麗家陪她。
出事後的幾天裏，在張羅瑪麗弟弟的葬禮和接待吊唁者期間，唐娜總是陪在瑪麗身旁，寸步不離。瑪麗痛不欲生時，唐娜緊摟著她；瑪麗悲傷萬分、痛苦不堪時，唐娜給她以慰藉；為了不讓瑪麗在半夜驚醒後獨自黯然神傷，唐娜就睡在她床邊的地板上。那段時間裏，唐娜全然忘記了膝蓋的疼痛，心中的傷痛也沉寂下來。
之後幾周，一切都回歸常態。這時，唐娜才意識到，在這段陰暗的日子，她給予朋友的支持遠多於給自己的，她幾乎沒有主動幫自己擺脫困境。她覺得自己同樣也需要他人的關愛與支持。並且，她能給別人關愛和支持，就一定能給自己。
所以，當你發現自己無法給予他人關懷時，仔細審視自己吧，看自己是否有某些地方拒絕得到支持。反過來，如果你能全心全意地關懷他人，你就會發現，這些地方你也同樣需要關愛。
Our destiny offers not the cup of despair, but the chalice of opportunity. So let us seize it, not in fear, but in gladness.
—R.M. Nixon
命運給予我們的不是失望之酒，而是機會之杯。因此，讓我們毫無畏懼，滿心愉悅地把握命運。
——尼克鬆
Illustrate[?il?streit]v.說明；闡明；表明
We use illustrations to illustrate this problem.
我們使用圖解來說明問題。
potential[p??ten??l]adj.潛在的；有可能的
Before implementing this sale project, we must be sure the potential of the market.
在實施此項銷售計劃之前，我們必須先試探一下目標市場的潛力。
Compound[?k?mpaund]v.使混合；使嚴重；使惡化；使加重
The heavy rain compounded the trouble of the lost hikers.
大雨增加了迷路的徒步旅行者們的困難。
devastating[?dev?steiti?]adj.毀滅性的；令人震驚的
Their impact on the indigenous population was devastating.
他們給土著居民帶來毀壞性影響。
或許你不會想到，你幫助他人的同時，也是在幫你自己。
__________________________________________
當你發現自己無法給予他人關懷時，仔細審視自己吧，看自己是否有某些地方拒絕得到支持。
__________________________________________
反過來，如果你能全心全意地關懷他人，你就會發現，這些地方你也同樣需要關愛。
__________________________________________
She had just broken up with her boyfriend of two years.
break up with：跟……分手；與……斷絕關係
__________________________________________
Several weeks later, when life began to return to normal, Donna realized that the level of support she had given Mary far exceeded any support she had offered herself during her dark time.
return to normal：恢複正常
__________________________________________