幸福生活的七大秘诀

飞雪寒冰

Many of us struggle to find real happiness. Why is that? Studies in psychology suggest that part of the reason is that most of us are very bad at predicting how we’ll react when faced with many of life’s experiences. Consequently, we end up making choices that are potentially harmful to our emotional well-being. According to Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert, we tend to overestimate, by a long way, the extent and duration of the emotional impacts of, say, a pay rise, the death of a loved one, or even moving to an area that’s sunny all year round. This is simply because, when we’re trying to imagine how an experience will affect us emotionally, we tend to focus too much of our attention on the most salient features of the experience in question.


很多人难以找到真正的幸福。原因何在？心理学研究显示，这在一定程度上是因为，我们大多数人都非常不擅长预测：当面对诸多生活经历时，自己会做何反应？因此，我们最终会做出可能有害于自己情感健康的选择。哈佛大学(Harvard)心理学家丹•吉尔伯特(Dan Gilbert)表示，我们往往会高估——而且是明显高估——某种经历对我们情绪影响的程度与持续时间，比如加薪、挚爱的人去世、甚至搬往某个一年到头阳光明媚的地方居住。这完全是因为，当我们试图想象某种经历会对我们的情绪产生何种影响时，我们往往会将注意力过多地集中在所讨论经历最突出的一些特征上。

飞雪寒冰

In our minds, Los Angeles = sunny weather; money = nice cars and luxurious holidays. In reality, however, the many other less salient features that we often fail to consider will have emotional consequences. Los Angeles, for instance, is actually thousands of miles away from our friends and family; we need to work harder in order to earn more. This explains why happiness often eludes us when we blindly follow our imaginations or what conventional wisdom tells us about what makes us happy.



在我们的脑海中，洛杉矶=阳光明媚的天气；金钱=漂亮的汽车与奢华的假日。然而在现实中，许多我们往往没有考虑到的、不那么突出的特征，将对我们的情绪产生影响。举例来说，洛杉矶实际上距离我们的朋友与家人有数千英里之遥；而我们要赚更多钱，就必须更努力地工作。正因如此，当我们盲目地追随自己的想象、或者“什么让我们幸福”的传统观点时，我们往往得不到幸福。

飞雪寒冰

So where should we look for happiness? New research in psychology and economics suggests the answer lies in what we already have – things like friends and family. The secret to being happy is simply to devote more of our time and attention to these happiness-rich and fulfilling experiences.
那么，我们应该去哪里寻找幸福？心理学和经济学方面的最新研究显示，答案在于那些我们已拥有的东西——比如朋友和家人。幸福的秘诀，就是把我们更多的时间与注意力，投入这些充满幸福感与满足感的经历。



As the US rabbi Hyman Schachtel once famously said: “Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.”
正如美国犹太教教士海曼•萨哈特(Hyman Schachtel)的那句名言：“幸福不是拥有你想要的，而是想要你已经拥有的。”

白鹤

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