Link:?A simple way to break a bad habit
Transcript
When I was first learning to meditate,?the instruction was to simply pay attention to my breath,?and when my mind wandered, to bring it back.
Sounded simple enough.?Yet I'd sit on these silent retreats（靜修處）,?sweating through T-shirts in the middle of winter.?I'd take naps every chance I got because it was really hard work.?Actually, it was exhausting.?The instruction was simple enough?but I was missing something really important.?
So why is it so hard to pay attention??Well, studies show?that even when we're really trying to pay attention to something --?like maybe this talk --?at some point,?about half of us will drift off（漸漸如夢）?into a daydream,?or have this urge to check our Twitter feed （Twitter Feed“推特簡訊、提要”）.
So what's going on here??It turns out that we're fighting one of the most evolutionarily-conserved?learning processes currently known in science,?one that's conserved?back to the most basic nervous systems known to man.
Remark：開始學習冥想時發(fā)現(xiàn)瑟匆，保持精神集中其實也是很難的，這是因為我們對抗的是進化最保守的學習過程，深深地銘刻在人類最基本的神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)上呼畸。
This reward-based learning process?is called positive and negative reinforcement,?and basically goes like this.?We see some food that looks good,?our brain says, "Calories! ... Survival!"?We eat the food, we taste it --?it tastes good.?And especially with sugar,?our bodies send a signal to our brain that says,?"Remember what you're eating and where you found it."?We lay down this context-dependent memory?and learn to repeat the process next time.?See food,?eat food, feel good,repeat.?Trigger, behavior, reward.
Remark：這個基于獎勵的學習過程也叫作正負強化鸳兽，簡單來說，當我們看到食物品擎，大腦就會立刻反映出“火鍋埋合、米飯、大盤雞”“生存”之類萄传，we eat and have a taste甚颂，感覺pretty nice！大腦會可以讓你記住你吃了啥?在哪拿的秀菱？也就是TRIGGER->BEHAVIOR->REWARD
Simple, right??Well, after a while, our creative brains say,?"You know what??You can use this for more than just remembering where food is.?You know, next time you feel bad,?why don't you try eating something good so you'll feel better?"?We thank our brains for the great idea,?try this and quickly learn?that if we eat chocolate or ice cream when we're mad or sad,?we feel better.
Same process,?just a different trigger.?Instead of this hunger signal coming from our stomach,?this emotional signal -- feeling sad --?triggers that urge to eat.
Remark：OK振诬，那你下次不開心時候就，就會想:為啥不吃點好吃的呢衍菱？ 同樣的過程赶么，但是不一樣的trigger
Maybe in our teenage years,?we were a nerd at school,?and we see those rebel kids outside smoking and we think,?"Hey, I want to be cool."?So we start smoking.?The Marlboro Man wasn't a dork, and that was no accident.?See cool,?smoke to be cool,?feel good. Repeat.?Trigger, behavior, reward.?And each time we do this,?we learn to repeat the process?and it becomes a habit.?So later,feeling stressed out triggers that urge to smoke a cigarette?or to eat something sweet.
Now, with these same brain processes,?we've gone from learning to survive?to literally killing ourselves with these habits.?Obesity and smoking?are among the leading preventable causes of morbidity and mortality in the world.
So back to my breath.?What if instead of fighting our brains,?or trying to force ourselves to pay attention,?we instead tapped into?（進入）this natural, reward-based learning process ...?but added a twist?What if instead we just got really curious?about what was happening in our momentary experience?
Remark：年輕的時候，覺得抽煙很酷脊串，就去抽煙了禽绪，這基本都是同一個流程。OK還記得剛說過冥想的事嗎洪规？，我們別逼著自己對抗大腦了循捺，而去嘗試利用一下這個獎勵機制呢斩例？但是要扭一下。我們多多好奇一下,怎么樣从橘？
其實就是大腦給我們帶偏了念赶，由于某些原因，我們接觸了甜食恰力，煙草叉谜，帶給我們好的感覺。但是我們完全忘了是為什么要做這件事踩萎，只記得結(jié)果貌似是不錯的停局，或者就是不錯的，以后不論遇到什么不開心的香府，難過的董栽，都想用這種辦法解決掉。然而并沒有什么直接關系企孩。
I'll give you an example.?In my lab,?we studied whether mindfulness training could help people quit smoking.?Now, just like trying to force myself to pay attention to my breath,?they could try to force themselves to quit smoking.?And the majority of them had tried this before and failed --?on average, six times.
Now, with mindfulness training,?we dropped the bit about forcing and instead focused on being curious.?In fact, we even told them to smoke.?What? Yeah, we said, "Go ahead and smoke,?just be really curious about what it's like when you do."
And what did they notice??Well here's an example from one of our smokers.?She said, "Mindful smoking:?smells like stinky cheese?and tastes like chemicals,?YUCK!"?Now, she knew, cognitively that smoking was bad for her,?that's why she joined our program.?What she discovered just by being curiously aware when she smoked?was that smoking tastes like shit.
Now, she moved from knowledge to wisdom.?She moved from knowing in her head that smoking was bad for her?to knowing it in her bones,?and the spell of smoking was broken.?She started to become disenchanted with her behavior.
我們的志愿者用這種正念練習仔細的想锭碳，用力的想，你現(xiàn)在抽煙是啥趕腳勿璃？有點惡心擒抛，像臭奶酪推汽，像粑粑！歧沪！嗯這樣的話就理智多了歹撒，她從簡單地從腦中覺得抽煙不好，變成深入骨髓的覺得抽煙有害槽畔！看! 她開始對抽煙的感覺失望了栈妆。（殺人誅心！）
這么做就是為了改變你神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)形成以久的條件反射厢钧，利用你的好奇心鳞尔，變化成另一種反射。想一下早直，抽煙什么感覺寥假，惡心，很臭霞扬，時間長了就會記在心里糕韧，從而對抗你之前的想法。
Now, the prefrontal cortex,?that youngest part of our brain from an evolutionary perspective,?it understands on an intellectual level that we shouldn't smoke.?And it tries its hardest to help us change our behavior,?to help us stop smoking,?to help us stop eating that second, that third, that fourth cookie.?We call this cognitive control.?We're using cognition to control our behavior.Unfortunately,?this is also the first part of our brain?that goes offline when we get stressed out,?which isn't that helpful.
我們的前額皮質(zhì)從認知層面上來說知道我們不應該抽煙喻圃，我們稱它為“認知控制”萤彩。不幸的是，稍微壓力大點斧拍，這個功能就掉線了雀扶，力不從心啊~~~
Now, we can all relate to this in our own experience.?We're much more likely to do things like yell at our spouse or kids?when we're stressed out or tired,?even though we know it's not going to be helpful.?We just can't help ourselves.
When the prefrontal cortex goes offline,?we fall back into our old habits,?which is why this disenchantment??(清醒的大腦) is so important.?Seeing what we get from our habits?helps us understand them at a deeper level --?to know it in our bones?so we don't have to force ourselves to hold back?or restrain ourselves from behavior.?We're just less interested in doing it in the first place.
And this is what mindfulness is all about:?Seeing really clearly what we get when we get caught up in our behaviors,?becoming disenchanted on a visceral（出自內(nèi)心的）?level?and from this disenchanted stance, naturally letting go.
要發(fā)自內(nèi)心的認識到，深入骨髓的意識到肆汹。
This isn't to say that, poof, magically we quit smoking.?But over time, as we learn to see more and more clearly?the results of our actions,?we let go of old habits and form new ones.
The paradox here?is that mindfulness is just about being really interested?in getting close and personal?with what's actually happening in our bodies and minds?from moment to moment.?This willingness to turn toward our experience?rather than trying to make unpleasant cravings go away as quickly as possible.?And this willingness to turn toward our experience?is supported by curiosity,which is naturally rewarding.
這里的悖論是愚墓，正念就是對我們身體和大腦中每時每刻發(fā)生的事情感興趣。這種轉(zhuǎn)向體驗的意愿昂勉，而不是試圖讓不愉快的渴望盡快消失浪册。這種轉(zhuǎn)向體驗的意愿是由好奇心支撐的，好奇心自然是有回報的岗照。
What does curiosity feel like??It feels good.?And what happens when we get curious??We start to notice that cravings are simply made up of body sensations --?oh, there's tightness, there's tension,there's restlessness --?and that these body sensations come and go.?These are bite-size pieces of experiences?that we can manage from moment to moment?rather than getting clobbered by this huge, scary craving?that we choke on.
我們開始注意到渴望只是由身體的感覺組成的村象，我們可以管理每一刻，而不是被這種巨大的谴返，可怕的渴望煞肾，令我們窒息而死。
In other words, when we get curious,?we step out of our old, fear-based, reactive habit patterns,and we step into being.?We become this inner scientist?where we're eagerly awaiting that next data point.
Now, this might sound too simplistic to affect behavior.?But in one study, we found that mindfulness training?was twice as good as gold standard therapy at helping people quit smoking.?So it actually works.
And when we studied the brains of experienced meditators,?we found that parts of a neural network of self-referential processing?called the default mode network?were at play.?Now, one current hypothesis is that a region of this network,?called the posterior cingulate cortex,?is activated not necessarily by craving itself?but when we get caught up in it, when we get sucked in,?and it takes us for a ride.
當我們研究有經(jīng)驗的冥想者的大腦時嗓袱，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)自我參照處理神經(jīng)網(wǎng)絡的一部分籍救，即默認模式網(wǎng)絡在起作用。目前的一個假設是渠抹，這個神經(jīng)網(wǎng)絡的一個區(qū)域蝙昙，叫做后扣帶皮層闪萄，并不一定是由渴望本身激活的，而是當我們陷入其中奇颠，當我們被吸進去的時候败去，它會帶我們出去兜風。
In contrast, when we let go --?step out of the process?just by being curiously aware of what's happening --?this same brain region quiets down.
Now we're testing app and online-based mindfulness training programs?that target these core mechanisms?and, ironically, use the same technology that's driving us to distraction?to help us step out of our unhealthy habit patterns?of smoking, of stress eating and other addictive behaviors.
Now, remember that bit about context-dependent memory??We can deliver these tools to peoples' fingertips?in the contexts that matter most.?So we can help them?tap into their inherent capacity to be curiously aware?right when that urge to smoke or stress eat or whatever arises.
So if you don't smoke or stress eat,?maybe the next time you feel this urge to check your email when you're bored,?or you're trying to distract yourself from work,?or maybe to compulsively respond to that text message when you're driving,?see if you can tap into this natural capacity,?just be curiously aware?of what's happening in your body and mind in that moment.?It will just be another chance?to perpetuate one of our endless and exhaustive habit loops ...?or step out of it.
Instead of see text message, compulsively text back,?feel a little bit better --?notice the urge,?get curious,?feel the joy of letting go?and repeat.
深深的體會下烈拒，如果你不抽煙或者一壓力大就吃東西圆裕，那么你可能一無聊就去check email，或者開車的時候強迫癥似的回短信荆几，看看你能不能知曉你的內(nèi)心此時此刻正在發(fā)生什么吓妆。
