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失敗是剛邁進成功的那隻腳
The Uncertainty Principle
佚名 / Anonymous
Two sailors ran into each other in a pub. Over a few beers， one of the men told the other about his last voyage： “After a month at sea，” he said， “we discovered our masts had been eaten through by termites ！ Almost nothing left of them.”
“That’s terrible，” said the second sailor.
“That’s what I thought at first too，” the first sailor said， “but it turned out to be good luck... As soon as we took the sails down to fix the masts， we were hit by a squall so suddenly and so hard， it would surely have blown us over if our sails were up at the time.”
“How lucky！”
“That’s exactly what I thought at the time， too. But because our sails were down， we couldn’t steer ourselves， and because of the wind， we were blown onto a reef. The hole in the hulls was too big to fix. We were stranded.”
“That is bad luck indeed.”
“That’s what I thought， too， when it first happened. But we all made it to the beach alive and had plenty to eat. But now here’s the real kicker： While we were on the island whining about our terrible fate， we discovered a buried treasure！”
As this story illustrates， you don’t know if an event is “good” or “bad” except maybe in retrospect， and even then you don’t really know because life keeps going. The story’s not over yet. Just because something hasn’t turned out to be an advantage yet doesn’t mean it is not ever going to.
Therefore， you can simply assume whatever happens is “good”. I know that sounds awfully airy-fairy， but it’s very practical. If you think an event is good， it’s easy to maintain a positive attitude. And your attitude affects your health， it affects the way people treat you and how you treat others， and it affects your energy level. And those can help pave the way for things to turn out well. A good attitude is a good thing. And a bad attitude does you no good at all.