我是三歲小孩
Be a Three-year-old Kid
曾經說過：我是三歲小孩。朋友的反應有以下幾種：
If I say “I’m a three-year-old kid”, my friends will show the following reactions:
●你都幾歲了，還以為自己是小孩，真是幼稚。
You are old enough. It’s really silly if you consider yourself as a child.
●你想法很天真，還真的有點像小孩。
You are so naïve, similar to a kid indeed.
●非常有……。
You are quite………
面對經常接觸的事情，感覺幾乎都是由新鮮、好奇的興奮、喜悅，慢慢變為習以為常、理所當然、沒什麼特別，久而久之就司空見慣了，例如：陽台的一盆花、家裡的裝潢、買新車、出國、旅遊、美食、新工作、職位升遷、男女朋友、夫妻家人。好像接觸越多的人事物就越覺得沒什麼特別，有人心境因此感到空虛，也有人因此覺得踏實、平靜。
When facing the thing/person we contact often, we may feel novel, curious, excited and joyful at the beginning, and then we may deem it/the person a matter of repeated occurrence, because we have been used to it/the person, deeming it/the person natural and right, ex. the potted flower on the balcony, the interior decoration, new car, going abroad, travelling, delicious food, new job, position promotion, boyfriend or girlfriend, husband and wife, and family members. The many more people/matters/things we contact, the less special we feel about them. Some people may feel empty, while some people may feel steady and peaceful.
回想還是小孩的時候，或看看現在的小朋友，似乎什麼事情都充滿好奇、好玩的心情，尤其年齡越小越覺得什麼都有趣，其實我們都曾經擁有那種感覺，只是為什麼經由時間的累積、年齡的增長，那份熱忱好像也就消失了？是什麼樣的心境改變了想法？或許是被一種理所當然的觀念所框限了。
We can recall when we were still children or look at the children nowadays who seem to be very curious and playful about everything. Especially, younger kids will feel interested in everything. In fact, we used to have such feeling before. However, because time passed and we are getting older, we seem to lose such enthusiasm. What states of minds change our thoughts? Perhaps we are merely limited by some concepts we deem natural and right.
小孩的思想純淨、單純、直接、天馬行空、沒有約束，永遠保持著新奇、有趣、活力、創新，以大人的立場或許覺得某些觀點有點不切實際，然而大人因經驗而累積的觀念，好像也缺少了那種單純與直接，由於習以為常的想法往往也箝制、壓抑了我們的心靈小孩。無論年齡多少，每個人的內心深處都存在著純稚之心，誰都無法否定它的存在，哪怕是20歲、60歲還是100歲，永遠都是「三歲小孩」。
Children have pure thinking, so simple and direct, showing unrestrained actions. They always feel novel, interested, vigorous, and innovative. Perhaps they may be a little unrealistic in the eyes of adults. However, adults seem to lack such simplicity and directness, because adults have accumulated too many concepts from experiences. We are inclined to pin down and repress our inner kids due to our habitual thinking. Actually, no matter how old we are, we always have pure and naive mindset deep down in out hearts, and we can not deny its existence─ we are always “three-year-old kids” though we may grow to be 20, 60 or 100 years old.
三歲小孩，是指心境如三歲孩童般，不會因為生命年齡的增長而失去心靈年齡的熱忱，心靈永遠保持著如孩童般的簡單、純淨、陽光，無論年齡增加了多少，心境不會因此而變得複雜。
Being a three-year-old kid means that I keep my pure state of mind as a three-year-old kid does. I won’t lose my enthusiasm in my mental age due to the accumulation of life age. I can always be so simple, pure, and sunny in my spirit, just like a kid. I won’t have a complicated state of mind despite my aging.
生命年齡，是人類創造時間觀念後所產生的年齡概念，人們似乎無法躲避生命年齡增加所產生的心理影響及生活行為。例如：我30多歲應該結婚生子了；我老花眼我老了；我到退休年齡我老了；我體力不如從前，好像開始變老了。即使這些外表現象是存在的，然而在心情上依然可以像三歲小孩般的快樂、自在。
Life age is the concept of age existing after humans have the concept of time. Humans can’t avoid the psychological influence and life behavior caused by their aging. For example, we may say “I should get married and have babies when I am thirty”; “I suffer from presbyopia, because I am getting older”; “I have to retire, because I am old”; “I have poorer physical strength, and I seem to become older”. However, we can still feel happy and carefree just like three-year-old kids do, despite the existence of such external phenomena.
心靈年齡，年齡就定格在「三歲」小孩的境界，永遠保持孩童般的赤子之心，面對世間的一切，就像三歲小孩般的單純與好奇。定格的心靈年齡加上生命年齡不斷增加所累積的成長經驗，會讓人生更顯得成熟與知足。
As for our mental age, we can freeze-frame our mental age in the sate of a “three-year-old” kid’s mind. By keeping our pure hearts with utter childlike innocence, we can face everything in the world as simply and curiously as three-year-old kids do. We will be more mature and content with our life, if we freeze-frame our ages and we accumulate our growth experiences as our life ages continue to increase.
有人會問：為什麼是三歲，不是五歲、……歲呢？直覺告訴我，「三歲」是心靈最純稚的階段。其實不必太拘泥於「幾歲」這個數字，重要是無論年齡幾歲，永遠可以保有孩童那份真稚的心靈。
Some people may ask me “Why three-year-old, instead of five-year-old or others?” Instinctively, I answer “A three-year-old kid is at his/her purest stage of mind.” Actually, we should not rigidly adhere to the number of “what age”. The important thing is that we should always maintain such pure and naive childlike states of mind, no matter how old we are.
~~Raymond Hsu~~
