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，獨處可以使我快樂，你會不會感到驚訝呢？

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

但當大海平靜下來，讓我在暴風雨中喘口氣的時候，我感到了一種強烈的快樂，那是在陸地上從未有過的。

一天夜晚，我正身處一片無人問津的海域。這時，星星出來了，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！

一些在海上航行過的人在書中描寫過類似的經歷，這樣的體驗讓他們愈發覺得自己在這浩瀚的宇宙中是多么渺小。然而，我當時卻感覺自己是宇宙的中心。

旅途結束之后，我回到所愛的人身邊，我會把這個故事告訴他們，我希望他們也能感受到我的快樂。