We all experience obstacles and challenges in our lives. And we are always trying to find solutions to get unstuck. What’s fascinating is that I realized the answer to make the “hard” situation “easy”, is already within the translation of them in their Chinese Characters!
Challenges and obstacles are the “facts” of our daily lives; and so is overcoming them. Much of our energy and brainpower is dedicated to coming up with the right solutions, to free us from the mires of life’s difficult positions. Sounds exhausting? Perhaps. But what if I can show you that the secret lies not in any spark of instantaneous genius, but in the holistic way of looking at the base of the problem. And the solution is already written, in Chinese characters.
In Chinese, the translation of (characters for) “Hard” (Difficulty) is “困难”, 困 in this context means “Trapped, Stuck”, The pronunciation of 难 here is “Nán” which means “Hard, Difficult”. It also can be pronounced as “Nàn”, translates to “Adversity or Challenge”, which are the challenges we face in our life to test us. (This is the reason why In the Chinese Classic “Journey to the West” 《西游记》, the main characters in the book had to overcome 九九八十一难: “81 Challenges” to complete their journey). So the elaborated meaning of “difficult” is “Stuck in Adversity”.
So how do we get out of the adversity, then? The answer is also in the Chinese Characters:
Following the above line of thoughts, facing a difficult situation means to be trapped, or to be stuck, in a set of negative circumstances. Next, you may ask, just how do we get out of adversity? Again, the answer is already written.
The antonym of “Hard” is “Easy”. “Easy” in Chinese characters is “容易”. 容 means “Allow, Permit “, 易 means “Changes” (The character 易 in the Chinese Classic “I Ching” 《易经》also means “Changes”, thus “I Ching” translated to “Classic of Changes” or “Book of Changes”). To make things easier, to get “Un-stuck in Adversity”, we need to “Allow Changes”. This also explains the reason why sometimes we find things are difficult, perhaps it is because we have been “Resisting Change”.
I love how Simon Sinek (Author of the one of the most watched TED Talk: Start with Why) describes this in his recent interview:
“I sort of embrace the surprise. I embrace the uncertainty. The world is uncertain. So the more you try and control things, you know you’re not going to do well. There’s a Marine who told me: no plan ever survives contact with the enemy.
I’ve learned to view surprises as an opportunity to grow, I’ve learned to view surprises as something that are helpful, rather than hurtful. I’ve learned to view that when the plan gets punched in the side, and to say, well, that’s an opportunity! Rather than how do I force the plan to stay on track. I think one of the most valuable lessons of my life is to view uncertainty as an opportunity rather than a liability. ”
So embrace the surprise; embrace the uncertainty. Allow Change. Things will all get easier.
我们在生活中会面临许多逆境和挑战。大家都试图寻找解决方案来脱离困境。 令人着迷的是，我意识到让“困难”情况变得“容易”的答案，竟然就在他们的中文翻译里！
挑战和障碍在我们的日常生活是常有的事。 我们的大部分精力和智慧都致力于如何来克服障碍，摆脱困境。 听起来是不是很精疲力竭？ 但是如果我能告诉你这个秘密并不在于任何瞬间天才的火花，而是以整体的方式来看待问题的基础。 解决方案已经在汉字中：
“Difficult”的中文翻译是“困难”，“困”是“围困”的困，表示陷在艰难痛苦或无法摆脱的环境中。这里难的发音是“Nán”，是“艰难，困难”的难。 它也可以发音为“Nàn”，比如“灾难”或“苦难”的难，翻译为“逆境或挑战”，我们在生活会中之所以会面临的逆境和挑战，大概是上天在测试我们的应变能力吧 — — 你看，就是为什么在中国经典“西游记”“西游记”中，书中的主要人物不得不克服九九八十一难“Nàn”，才可以取得真经）。 由此可见，“困难”的详细解释便是是“陷入逆境”。
按照上述思路，面对困难的情况意味着在一系列负面情况下陷入困境或陷入困境。 接下来你可能会问，那么我们如何摆脱逆境呢？ 同样，答案也在汉字中:
“Difficult” (困难) 的反义词是“Easy”。“Easy”中文是“容易”。“容”是“容许”的容，易是“变易”的易（中国的传统经典之一“易经”的“易”也意味着“不断的变化”，因此“易经”翻译为“不断变化的经文”)。想要在复杂的世界里活得更容易，我们需要“容许变易的到来” — — 拥抱和适应变化 。这同时解释了，有时我们之所以会觉得有些事很“困难”，从某种意义上来说是因为我们“抗拒变化”。
我非常赞同Simon Sinek（最受瞩目的TED演讲之一的作者：从为什么开始）在他最近的一次采访中对“拥抱和适应不确定”的感言：
“我开始慢慢去接受意料之外的情况，去拥抱不确定性。 这个世界本身便充满了不确定性。 所以你尝试去控制的东西越多，就越难把事情做好。 有一位海军陆战队员告诉我：“没有任何计划在与敌人接触后会幸存下来”。
我学会了将意料之外的情况视为成长的机会，我学会了将他们视为有用，而非有害的机会。 我学会了当我原有的计划被打到一边时，对自己说，好吧，这是一个新的机会！而不是去想如何强迫计划保持原来的我想象中的情形。 我认为我生命中最有价值的教训之一就是将不确定性视为机会而非负担。
所以拥抱不确定性。 允许改变。 事情就会变得越来越容易。
