TED | 解决焦虑的关键，在于控制情绪

演讲简介

 

丽莎·费尔德曼·巴雷特（Lisa Feldman Barrett）博士是美国东北大学的大学杰出心理学教授，并曾在哈佛医学院和麻萨诸塞州综合医院接受精神病学和放射学方面的任命。她通过25年的详尽研究发现，情绪并不是自然地发生在我们的身上，而是由我们自己主观意愿所创造。了解情感是如何产生的，就能帮助我们学会控制自己的情绪。

 

 

 

演讲精彩片段（节选）欣赏

 

That mind racing is prediction. Your brain is searching to find an explanation for those sensations in your body that you experience as wretchedness, just like you did with the blobby image. So your brain is trying to explain what caused those sensations so that you know what to do about them.

那大脑的快速思考，就是预测。你的大脑在寻找一种解释，用来解释那种被你体验为「悲惨」的身体感知，就像刚刚看到黑白斑图像时，你的大脑也是这样做的。所以，你的大脑在试着解释是什么造成那些感知，这样你才会知道如何处理它们。

 

But those sensations might not be an indication that anything is wrong with your life. They might have a purely physical cause. Maybe you’re tired. Maybe you didn’t sleep enough. Maybe you’re hungry. Maybe you’re dehydrated. The next time that you feel intense distress, ask yourself: Could this have a purely physical cause? Is it possible that you can transform emotional suffering into just mere physical discomfort?

但那些感知，可能并没有在暗示你的人生有什么问题。可能单纯是身体造成的。也许你是累了。也许你睡眠不足。也许你饿了。也许你脱水了。下一次你感觉到强烈的烦恼时，问问自己：这有没有可能单纯是身体造成的？你有没有可能把情绪上的苦恼转变成只是身体上的不舒服？

 

Now I am not suggesting to you that you can just perform a couple of Jedi mind tricks and talk yourself out of being depressed or anxious or any kind of serious condition. But I am telling you that you have more control over your emotions than you might imagine, and that you have the capacity to turn down the dial on emotional suffering and its consequences for your life by learning how to construct your experiences differently.

我并不是在暗示各位你们可以施展几项绝地武士的心灵招术，就可能可以让自己不再沮丧、不再焦虑，或不再有其他严重的状况。但我要告诉各位的是，你比你想像中的还要更能掌控你的情绪，且你有能力把情绪上的苦恼给调低一点，因而降低它对你人生造成的后果，做法就是要学习如何用不同的方式来建立你自己的经验。

 

And all of us can do this and with a little practice, we can get really good at it, like driving. At first, it takes a lot of effort, but eventually it becomes pretty automatic.

我们所有人都能办到，透过一点练习，我们还能够精通它，就像开车一样。一开始，要很努力去做，最终，会变成像是自动的一样。

 

Now I don’t know about you, but I find this to be a really empowering and inspiring message, and the fact that it’s backed up by decades of research makes me also happy as a scientist. But I have to also warn you that it does come with some fine print, because more control also means more responsibility.

我不知道你们怎样，但我觉得这个讯息非常振奋人心，能让我觉得自己有能力，而且它背后还有数十年的研究在支持，让身为科学家的我也感到很高兴。但我也得警告你们，它上面还有小字的警告讯息，因为越多的控制就意味着越多的责任。

 

If you are not at the mercy of mythical emotion circuits which are buried deep inside your brain somewhere and which trigger automatically, then who’s responsible, who is responsible when you behave badly? You are. Not because you’re culpable for your emotions, but because the actions and the experiences that you make today become your brain’s predictions for tomorrow. Sometimes we are responsible for something not because we’re to blame but because we’re the only ones who can change it.

如果你不受到深埋在你大脑内某处且会自动触发的神话情绪电路所摆布，那么，是由谁在负责？当你的行为不当的时候是谁在负责？是你。并不是你应该要因为你的情绪而受责备，而是因为你今天的行为和经验会变成你的大脑为明天做的预测。有时候，我们要为某些事负责，并不是因为要怪罪我们，而是因为我们是唯一能改变它的人。

 

Now responsibility is a big word. It’s so big, in fact, that sometimes people feel the need to resist the scientific evidence that emotions are built and not built in. The idea that we are responsible for our own emotions seems very hard to swallow.

「责任」是个很有分量的词。事实上，它的分量大到让人们有时候会觉得需要去抗拒那些情绪是后天建造出来而非天生内建的科学证据。我们要为自己的情绪负责的这个想法，似乎非常难消化。

 

But what I’m suggesting to you is you don’t have to choke on that idea. You just take a deep breath, maybe get yourself a glass of water if you need to, and embrace it. Embrace that responsibility, because it is the path to a healthier body, a more just and informed legal system, and a more flexible and potent emotional life.

但，我想要告诉你们的是，你们不需要被那个想法噎到。只要深深吸一口气，如果需要的话，给自己倒杯水，然后拥抱它。拥抱那责任，因为这条路会通往更健康的身体、更公平和富有资讯的司法制度，以及更有弹性、更强大的情绪生活。