爱华网系列专题：《点亮生活的智慧：人生之钥》
“Well done,” said the therapist, as he handed in his list. “That’s the bulk of your work done. All that remains is for you to decide what you want to do about all these.” He started by saying good-bye to the things he didn’t favour: wife, children, elderly father, drooling dog. The family home he sold at a handsome profit, which allowed him to pay off both wife and hefty mortgage. His job was next in line: early retirement on the grounds of ill health. Then he went to live in a small apartment in Torremolinos, where he could indulge, all year round, in the two items on his list of preference: golf and windsurfing. If he wasn’t entirely happy, he was at least, at last, in therapeutic parlance, true to himself.
Two years later he was back in London receiving treatment for depression. “This therapist is no good at all,” he complained to me. “She says my problem is, I’m too selfish. If I did something to benefit other people, my health would improve dramatically. That’s a complete contradiction of what I was taught before!” “How can I do both?” he exclaimed despairingly. “Benefit others whilst remaining true to myself? It’s impossible!” As I said, he is a troubled soul. I can recall being eaten with envy. It made me feel quite ill. The object was a girl in my school: blonde, dynamic, with glittering green eyes. Beyond being beautiful, she was wonderfully self-possessed. What else could a teenager wish for? Her smugness irritated me no end. She was so radiant, so full of fun, so damned pleased with life. Everyone adored her, except me and a few others equally afflicted. I nearly fainted the day she came to me requesting, would I be her friend? Seemingly sincere, she claimed to be in awe of my prowess in the classroom, where she herself had to struggle. Resentment gave way to devotion. I became her faithful servant sunning myself in her glory; she my loyal supporter boosting my fragile self. It was a friendship made in heaven, forged for life.
