The Three Matters of Life

Read this article the other day and liked it.

人生的三件事 The Three Matters of Life

人世間的事情看起來很紛雜，沒頭緒。 但是， 如果我們細細的把它分門別類，其實人生只有三件事：「自己的事」、 「別人的事」、 「老天爺的事」。
Things in this world seem to be complicated and have no solution. However, if we carefully categorize them, there are in fact only three matters in life: "your own business", "other's business", and "God's business".

「自己的事」當然是指跟自己生活息息相關的任何一件事，如：上班、吃飯、睡覺、心情等，自己所能安排的事；「別人的事」是指與自己不相干的事，如：老王愛自誇、老張愛打牌等，操之在別人，屬於他人管轄的事；「老天爺的事」是指天災、人禍、地震、海嘯、命運等，操之在天，屬於老天爺管轄的事。
"Your own business" of course refers to anything that relates to your life, such as work, food, sleep, feelings, etc. which are things that one controls; "other's business" means things irrelevant to you, like "Will loves to brag", "Jack loves poker", etc. which are maneuvered by others; "God's business" are natural disasters, tragedy of man, earthquakes, tsunami, fate, and so on. They are governed by heavens and God.

然而，人煩惱的根源往往是「忘了自己的事」、「愛管別人的事」、「擔心老天爺的事」。打個比喻：忘記反省自己、忘記自己的本分；愛說別人的閒話、愛管別人的閒事；工作怕發生危險，出門怕發生意外等不可預測的事。
Nevertheless, the roots of trouble of man often are "forgetting your own business", "enjoying other's business", "worrying about God's business". Here are some examples: forgetting to evaluate yourself and your responsibility; enjoying gossiping about others and overstepping into others' lives; and worrying about the unpredictables like the danger at work and the possibility of accidents when one travels.

人生的這三件事往往是我們煩惱的根源，如何平衡好這三件事在我們生活中所起的作用是非常重要的。
These three matters of life are often the root of our troubles, so it is crucial for us how to balance these three acts in our lives.

我覺得應該做到「打理好自己的事」，「不多管別人的閒事」（非指遇到殺人放火的事不管），「操之在天的事要樂天知命，順應隨緣」。
I think we should "manage our own business", "ignore others' business" (not meaning ignoring crimes like murder and arsenal), and "things governed by the heavens should be taken as they are".

煩惱經常是自找的，如果你不給自己煩惱，別人永遠不可能給你煩惱，放不下心中的事，才是煩惱的原因。當自己為了甚麼事情煩惱的時候，先釐清是「自己的事」、「別人的事」、還是「老天爺的事」，就知道怎麼處理了，也就能很快的把憂鬱的心情，調適過來了。
Troubles are often self fulfilled. If you do not give yourself troubles, others cannot force them upon you. The real cause of troubles is that you cannot let go. Whenever you are troubled, you need to first distinguish if it is "your own business", "other's business", or "God's business". Once you know how to handle it, then you can easily and promptly readjust from your blues.

文／晨晨 Written by Chenchen and translated by Raymond Pai