勵志散文英語：如向日葵般高高站立
I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.
My wife, daughter, and I moved into our home nine years ago and we spent a lot of time and energy in the yard to get it looking like it does today. We live on a corner, higher than street level, and the entire side of the yard is encased by a professionally built rock wall. The front of the house though is another story because instead of a wall along the sidewalk, the rocks appear to be just thrown up onto the dirt as if someone were in a hurry to finish.
We did the best we could with what we had to work with and called this area our ‘rock garden’. Whenever we had leftover flowers or plants, Denise or I would stick them out front, just to bring some color to the area.
I still do all of my own yard work, even the dreaded weed-pulling. After putting on my knee pads I assume the position to clear the yard of weeds, even in the rock garden.
Last summer I had reached the end of the rock garden and found a tiny little plant that I could not immediately identify, I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise claimed that she didn’t either. We decided to let it continue growing until we could figure out what it was.
Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the mystery plant, it appeared to be a Sunflower. It was spindly looking with a tall skinny stalk and only one head on it. I decided to baby it along and weed around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something unusual. The Sunflower had not started where I saw the stalk begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the sun.
That’s when I realized that if a tiny little Sunflower didn’t let a big rock stand in its way of developing, we too have the capability of doing the same thing. Once our environment begins to see that we believe in ourselves like that little Sunflower, we can attain the same nourishment and nurturing as well.
First, we need to believe in ourselves knowing we have the capabilities in achieving our desires. Like the Sunflower, it knew it had the capability to overcome its obstacle because it trusted in the Universal Truth and had faith it would succeed.
Stand tall like the Sunflower and be proud of who and what you are and the environment will begin to support you. You will find a way to go under or around your big obstacle in order to reach your desires.
有時候我覺得很有意思，甚至連最平凡的事情都能夠對我們的認識產生影響。
九年前，我的妻子、女兒和我搬進了現在的家，我們花了大量的時間和和精力整修我們的院子，讓它看起來像今天這個樣子。我們住在一個拐角處，比街道的水 平面要高。院子的外側圍着一面砌得很講究的石牆。儘管房子的前邊是另一碼事——因爲沿人行道修建的不是一面牆，而是在泥地上草草壘起來的石頭堆，好像是什 麼人匆忙趕工完成的。
我們竭盡所能來做我們必須做的工作，並把這個地方叫做我們的“岩石花園”。每當我們在這裏種上花或其他植物，丹尼斯或者我就會讓它們伸到牆外，只是爲了給這個地方增添一些色彩。
我還在做自己的庭院勞作，包括讓人生畏的拔雜草工作。我帶上護膝後，我便着手清理庭院雜草，即使是在岩石花園裏。
去年夏天，我走到岩石花園的一端，發現一株我不能立刻認出來的小植物。我知道我沒有在那裏種植它。丹尼斯說她也沒有種過。我們決定讓它繼續生長，直到我們能搞清楚，它到底是什麼植物。
幾周過去了，我回到那株神祕植物跟前，它好像是一棵向日葵。它還很纖細，長着細高的莖杆，上面只有一個頭。我決定好好照看它，除去它周圍的雜草。當我 把這個地方的石頭挪開以便除草時，我發現有些異常情況。向日葵並不是從我發現莖杆的地方開始生長的。實際上，它從一塊大石頭下面開始發芽、生長，然後繞過 石頭，以獲取陽光。
那時我認識到，如果一棵小小的向日葵都沒有讓一塊大石頭擋住它成長的路，那麼我們同樣有能力做同樣的事情。一旦我們的環境開始看到，我們像那棵小小的向日葵一樣相信自己，我們就能夠得到同樣的養分並且成長起來。
首先， 我們需要相信自己， 認識到我們有能力達到我們的願望。就像向日葵那樣， 它知道它有能力去克服障礙， 因爲它相信普遍真理， 並且相信它會成功。
只要你像向日葵一樣高高站着，爲自己感到自豪，環境就會開始支持你。爲了達成願望，你會在障礙下邊或其周圍找到一條出路。
