Being Alone With Nature

Paul Heiney

If I told you being alone can make me hap?py，might you raise an eyebrow？

A couple of years back I sailed my boat to Cape Hom and back，a round trip of 18，000 miles，and for 12，000 of them I was as alone on this planet as it is possible to be.Land was more than 1，000 miles away.And I was very happy to be there.Not all of the time — there^，s not much happiness when the wind blows and the seas tumble across your boat.

But when the ocean gives you a break from storm and tempest，I find a more funda?mental kind of happiness than any on land.

One night，in one of the calms in the infa?mous doldrums，the stars came out，and sudden?ly they were perfectly reflected in the sea - I was floating among the stars！

Other sailors have written that such experi?ences reinforce their insignificance amid the vastness of the universe.But in that moment I felt at the very centre of the universe.

And then back in the embrace of loved ones when the journey's over，I can tell them this tale and，I hope，make them happy in turn.

如果我告訴你，獨(dú)處可以使我快樂(lè)，你會(huì)不會(huì)感到驚訝呢？

許多年前，我撐船來(lái)回了一趟合恩角，全程18000米，其中的12000米我是獨(dú)自一人度過(guò)的。陸地在離我1000米以外的地方，那種感覺(jué)就好像世界上就只有我一個(gè)人了。我那時(shí)很高興，但不是所有的時(shí)間都是高興的——天刮著大風(fēng)、海浪把你的船打翻的時(shí)候你也不會(huì)高興到哪里去。

但當(dāng)大海平靜下來(lái)，讓我在暴風(fēng)雨中喘口氣的時(shí)候，我感到了一種強(qiáng)烈的快樂(lè)，那是在陸地上從未有過(guò)的。

一天夜晚，我正身處一片無(wú)人問(wèn)津的海域。這時(shí)，星星出來(lái)了，一下子倒映在平靜的海面上，而我似乎就漂浮在漫天星光之中！

一些在海上航行過(guò)的人在書(shū)中描寫(xiě)過(guò)類似的經(jīng)歷，這樣的體驗(yàn)讓他們愈發(fā)覺(jué)得自己在這浩瀚的宇宙中是多么渺小。然而，我當(dāng)時(shí)卻感覺(jué)自己是宇宙的中心。

旅途結(jié)束之后，我回到所愛(ài)的人身邊，我會(huì)把這個(gè)故事告訴他們，我希望他們也能感受到我的快樂(lè)。