How to tame your wandering mind | Amishi Jha

翻译人员: Lu Lu 校对人员: Ziyi Zhang

Consider the following statement:

你一定听过这样的描述：

human beings only use 10 percent of their brain capacity.

人类只使用了大脑10%的潜力。

Well, as a neuroscientist, I can tell you

作为一个神经系统学家， 我可以告诉你

that while Morgan Freeman delivered this line

虽然这句掷地有声的话语 让摩根弗里曼

with the gravitas that makes him a great actor,

成为一个伟大的演员，

this statement is entirely false.

但是其实这句话是完全错误的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

The truth is, human beings use 100 percent of their brain capacity.

真相是，人类其实已经使用了 大脑100%的潜力。

The brain is a highly efficient, energy-demanding organ

人的大脑是是一个已经完全开发的 极其高效而且耗能的器官。

that gets fully utilized

而且，即使大脑的潜力 已经被完全开发，

and even though it is at full capacity being used,

it suffers from a problem of information overload.

还依然面临着信息过载的问题。

There's far too much in the environment than it can fully process.

我们周围的环境实在是太丰富了， 大脑无法处理所有的信息。

So to solve this problem of overload,

因此，为了解决信息过载的问题，

evolution devised a solution,

大脑在人类进化过程中 产生了注意力系统。

which is the brain's attention system.

Attention allows us

大脑的注意力系统让我们可以

to notice, select and direct the brain's computational resources

感知、选择并引导大脑的 信息处理能力，

to a subset of all that's available.

使我们专注于所有信息中 特定的一部分。

We can think of attention as the leader of the brain.

我们可以把注意力想像成 大脑的指挥官，

Wherever attention goes, the rest of the brain follows.

我们的注意力去往哪里， 大脑的其他部分就跟到哪里。

In some sense, it's your brain's boss.

某种程度上，它就是你大脑的老板。

And over the last 15 years,

在过去的15年中，

I've been studying the human brain's attention system.

我一直在研究人类的注意力系统。

In all of our studies, I've been very interested in one question.

在我的研究之中， 我对这样一个问题非常的感兴趣。

If it is indeed the case that our attention is the brain's boss,

如果说注意力系统是我们大脑的老板，

is it a good boss?

那么，它是一个好老板吗？

Does it actually guide us well?

它指挥的好不好？

And to dig in on this big question, I wanted to know three things.

为了深入研究这个问题， 我需要知道三件事。

First, how does attention control our perception?

第一，我们的注意力 如何控制我们的认知能力？

Second, why does it fail us,

第二，为什么注意力会出问题，

often leaving us feeling foggy and distracted?

比如我们的大脑有时会变得不清醒 或者走神？

And third, can we do anything about this fogginess,

第三，当我们的大脑不够清醒的时候 我们如何应对，

can we train our brain to pay better attention?

我们能不能通过训练 让我们的大脑能够有更好的注意力？

To have more strong and stable attention in the work that we do in our lives.

这样的话我们就能在工作生活中 拥有有更专注、持久的注意力。

So I wanted to give you a brief glimpse

那么让我来介绍一下

into how we're going to look at this.

我们如何研究这个问题。

让我们通过一个例子来解释

A very poignant example

of how our attention ends up getting utilized.

我们的的注意力是如何工作的。

And I want to do it using the example of somebody that I know quite well.

我想举一个我非常熟悉的人的例子。

He ends up being part of a very large group of people that we work with,

对于他所属的职业群体来说，

for whom attention is a matter of life and death.

注意力是一个关系着生死的问题，

Think of medical professionals

比如医生、消防员、

or firefighters

or soldiers or marines.

士兵、海军陆战队。

This is the story of a marine captain, Captain Jeff Davis.

我们的主人公Jeff Davis上尉 是一名海军陆战队员。

And the scene that I'm going to share with you, as you can see,

正如你们所见，我要讲的故事

is not about his time in the battlefield.

并不是发生在战场上，

He was actually on a bridge, in Florida.

而是在美国佛罗里达州的一座桥上。

But instead of looking at the scenery around him,

可是他既没有四处张望

seeing the beautiful vistas

欣赏美丽的风景，

and noticing the cool ocean breezes,

也没有享受凉爽的海风，

he was driving fast and contemplating driving off that bridge.

他飞速开车，想着要不要把车开下桥 结束自己的生命。

And he would later tell me that it took all of everything he had not to do so.

后来他告诉我， 他差一点点就决定自杀了。

You see, he'd just returned from Iraq.

当时，他刚刚从伊拉克回来，

虽然他人在桥上

And while his body was on that bridge,

his mind, his attention, was thousands of miles away.

可是他的思绪和 他的注意力却在千里之外。

He was gripped with suffering.

他当时非常的痛苦，

His mind was worried and preoccupied

他的思绪被忧虑占据着，

and had stressful memories and, really, dread for his future.

他的记忆充满了压抑， 而且对未来充满了恐惧。

And I'm really glad that he didn't take his life.

我很庆幸 当时他没有结束自己的生命。

因为他知道他不是唯一

Because he, as a leader, knew that he wasn't the only one

在痛苦中煎熬的人，

that was probably suffering;

many of his fellow marines probably were, too.

有很多海军陆战队的队友 可能也在承受着痛苦的折磨。

And in the year 2008, he partnered with me in the first-of-its-kind project

2008年，他参加了我们首次的 专注力训练实验项目。

that actually allowed us to test and offer something called mindfulness training

在这个项目中，我们为在现役士兵 提供专注力方面的训练。

to active-duty military personnel.

But before I tell you about what mindfulness training is,

在介绍什么是专注力训练 以及实验结果之前，

or the results of that study,

我觉得有必要首先弄清楚 注意力在大脑中是如何运作的。

I think it's important to understand how attention works in the brain.

So what we do in the laboratory

在实验室里，

is that many of our studies of attention involve brain-wave recordings.

很多实验都需要记录脑电波。

In these brain wave recordings, people wear funny-looking caps

实验对象需要带上 一个奇特的帽子，

that are sort of like swimming caps, that have electrodes embedded in them.

样子有点像游泳帽，不同的是 这个帽子里边内嵌了很多电极。

These electrodes pick up the ongoing brain electrical activity.

这些电极会实时收集脑电波的活跃度，

时间精度可以精确到毫秒级别。

And they do it with millisecond temporal precision.

So we can see these small yet detectable voltage fluctuations over time.

因此我们能够检测到 随时间变化的微小的电压波动。

And doing this, we can very precisely plot the timing of the brain's activity.

通过这种方式，我们可以精确的画出 脑电波活跃度随时间变化的图像。

About 170 milliseconds

大约在我们向实验对象展示人脸图像 的170毫秒之后，

after we show our research participants a face on the screen,

我们可以观测到一个非常明显的 脑部活动特征反应。

we see a very reliable, detectable brain signature.

It happens right at the back of the scalp,

这个反应就发生在头皮的后边，

above the regions of the brain that are involved in face processing.

位置大约在人脑中 人脸识别功能区域的上方。

Now, this happens so reliably and so on cue,

这个反应非常的稳定和准确，

as the brain's face detector,

我们甚至给了这种脑电波的活动模式 一个名字

that we've even given this brain-wave component a name.

We call it the N170 component.

叫做N170模式。

And we use this component in many of our studies.

我们在很多实验中 都利用这种脑电波模式，

It allows us to see the impact that attention may have on our perception.

来检测注意力对人的认知的影响。

I'm going to give you a sense of the kind of experiments

让我给你们一个直观的印象，

看看在实验室中 我们的实验是如何进行的

that we actually do in the lab.

We would show participants images like this one.

在实验中， 我们会给实验对象展示这样的图片。

You should see a face and a scene overlaid on each other.

你会看到一张人脸的图片和 一张风景图片互相重叠着。

And what we do is we ask our participants

我们会让实验对象

as they're viewing a series of these types of overlaid images,

看这一系列重叠图片的同时

to do something with their attention.

去做一些别的事情。

On some trials, we'll ask them to pay attention to the face.

在一部分实验组里， 我们要求他们注意观察人脸。

And to make sure they're doing that,

为了确保他们的确在认真地观察人脸，

we ask them to tell us, by pressing a button,

我们会让他们通过按按钮

来回答我们这张人脸是男性还是女性。

if the face appeared to be male or female.

On other trials,

在另外一部分的实验组里，

we ask them to tell what the scene was -- was it indoor or outdoor?

我们要求他们回答 当前的风景照片是室内还是室外。

And in this way, we can manipulate attention

通过这种方式， 我们可以操控他们的注意力，

and confirm that the participants were actually doing what we said.

并确保实验对象的确 在按照我们的要求去做。

Our hypotheses about attention were as follows:

我们的假设是：

if attention is indeed doing its job and affecting perception,

如果注意力确实会影响人的认知，

maybe it works like an amplifier.

它起到的也许是促进作用。

And what I mean by this

也就是说，

is that when we direct attention to the face,

当我们引导他们的注意力 去关注人脸的时候，

it becomes clearer and more salient,

人脸的图片就会变得更清楚、 更明显，

it's easier to see.

也更容易察觉。

But when we direct it to the scene, the face becomes barely perceptible

但是，当我们引导他们的注意力 去关注风景的时候，

人脸的图片就会变的更不容易察觉，

as we process the scene information.

因为大脑就会倾向于处理风景信息，

So what we wanted to do

因此，我们要做的

is look at this brain-wave component of face detection, the N170,

是去查看之前提到的 这种脑电波活动模式 N170

and see if it changed at all

看看这种脑电波模式

是否会随着 实验对象注意力的改变而改变——

as a function of where our participants were paying attention --

to the scene or the face.

即他们的注意力是在人脸图像上 还是在风景图像上。

And here's what we found.

以下是我们的实验结果：

We found that when they paid attention to the face,

我们发现当它们的注意力在人脸上时，

the N170 was larger.

N170会变大；

And when they paid attention to the scene, as you can see in red, it was smaller.

而当它们的注意力在风景上时则会变小， 对应图上红色的线。

And that gap you see between the blue and red lines

你所看到的蓝线和红线之间的差距

is pretty powerful.

非常的重要。

What it tells us is that attention,

这个差距告诉我们，注意力 作为实验中的唯一变量

which is really the only thing that changed,

因为实验对象看到的都是同样的图片，

since the images they viewed were identical in both cases --

attention changes perception.

注意力可以改变人的认知结果。

And it does so very fast.

而且这一影响发生的十分迅速，

Within 170 milliseconds of actually seeing a face.

仅仅在看到图片的170毫秒之内。

In our follow-up studies, we wanted to see what would happen,

在我们后来的研究中，

我们想知道如何干扰或减弱 这种影响。

how could we perturb or diminish this effect.

And our hunch was that if you put people in a very stressful environment,

我们认为， 如果把人们放在极具压力的环境中，

if you distract them with disturbing, negative images,

如果使用让人非常不适的图片 来干扰他们，

images of suffering and violence --

那些有关痛苦和暴力的图片

sort of like what you might see on the news, unfortunately --

不巧的是，这些图片 人们常常在新闻里看到的

that doing this might actually affect their attention.

这有可能会影响他们的注意力。

And that's indeed what we found.

后来我们的实验结果 证实了我们的假设。

If we present stressful images while they're doing this experiment,

如果我们在实验中给 实验对象看有很压力的图片，

this gap of attention shrinks, its power diminishes.

这两条线之间的差距会缩小， 即影响会减弱。

So in some of our other studies,

在我们别的实验里，我们发现，

we wanted to see, OK, great --

not great, actually, bad news that stress does this to the brain --

很不幸， 压力的确会对我们的大脑产生影响。

but if it is the case that stress has this powerful influence on attention

不过我们刚才所研究的压力 是来自于外部的干扰，

through external distraction,

what if we don't need external distraction,

那么如果是来自于内部的压力干扰， 结果会怎么样？

what if we distract ourselves?

And to do this,

为了找出答案， 我们设计了一个实验。

we had to basically come up with an experiment

in which we could have people generate their own mind-wandering.

在这个实验里， 我们让实验对象走神。

This is having off-task thoughts

简而言之，让他们在做某些任务时，

while we're engaged in an ongoing task of some sort.

脑中却在想着与之无关的想法。

And the trick to mind-wandering is that essentially, you bore people.

我们通过让实验对象感觉无聊 来使他们走神。

So hopefully there's not a lot of mind-wandering happening right now.

但愿我在说这些的时候， 在坐的各位没有走神。

（笑声）

When we bore people,

当感觉到无聊的时候，

people happily generate all kinds of internal content to occupy themselves.

人们就会不由自主的产生各种想法， 就会开始走神。

So we devised what might be considered

于是我们设计了 可能是世界上最无聊的实验。

one of the world's most boring experiments.

所有的实验对象会在屏幕上 一个接一个看到一系列的人脸图片，

All the participants saw were a series of faces on the screen,

one after another.

They pressed the button every time they saw the face.

每当他们看到一张图片， 就要按一次按钮。

That was pretty much it.

基本就是这样了。

Well, one trick was that sometimes, the face would be upside down,

不过偶尔会出现一张 上下颠倒的图片，

and it would happen very infrequently.

这个频率会非常的低。

On those trials they were told just to withhold the response.

这种情况发生的时候，按我们的要求 实验对象理应什么也不做。

Pretty soon, we could tell that they were successfully mind-wandering,

但很快，他们也像看到其他图片一样 按下了按钮。

于是我们就知道， 他们成功的开始走神了。

because they pressed the button when that face was upside down.

因为分辨上线下颠倒的图片 一点也不困难。

Even though it's quite plain to see that it was upside down.

So we wanted to know what happens when people have mind-wandering.

我们想知道当人走神时会发生什么？

于是我们发现，

And what we found was that,

跟来自外界的压力和干扰非常相似，

very similar to external stress

and external distraction in the environment,

internal distraction, our own mind wandering,

走神这种来自内部的干扰，

also shrinks the gap of attention.

也会减少这个图像上的差距，

It diminishes attention's power.

影响我们的注意力。

So what do all of these studies tell us?

那么，我们可以从以上的实验中 得到什么样的启示？

They tell us that attention is very powerful

那就是， 注意力对于认知的影响是巨大的。

in terms of affecting our perception.

Even though it's so powerful, it's also fragile and vulnerable.

虽然注意力能带来强大的正面效益， 但它也很脆弱，很容易受影响。

And things like stress and mind-wandering diminish its power.

比如压力和走神都会影响注意力。

然而我们的结论都是在 严格条件控制下的实验环境中得到

But that's all in the context of these very controlled laboratory settings.

What about in the real world?

那么在真实世界中又是什么样的呢？

What about in our actual day-to-day life?

在我们的日常生活中又是什么样的呢？

What about now?

现在呢？

Where is your attention right now?

你们的注意力现在在哪里？

To kind of bring it back,

让我们回到我们的话题，

I'd like to make a prediction about your attention

我想预测一下在剩下的时间里 你们的注意力。

for the remainder of my talk.

准备好了吗？

Are you up for it?

Here's the prediction.

我的预测是这样的：

You will be unaware of what I'm saying for four out of the next eight minutes.

在剩下的八分钟的演讲里， 有四分钟的内容你们会完全不记得。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

It's a challenge, so pay attention, please.

这是一个挑战，请大家集中注意力。

Now, why am I saying this?

那么，我为什么要这么说？

I'm surely going to assume that you're going to remain seated

虽然你们依然在这里坐着，

and, you know, graciously keep your eyes on me as I speak.

我在演讲的时候 你们也像以前一样礼貌的注视着我，

But a growing body of literature suggests that we mind-wander,

但当这场演讲的时间越来越长时，

我们就很容易会走神。

we take our mind away from the task at hand,

我们每天清醒的时间里边， 有50%都在走神。

about 50 percent of our waking moments.

These might be small, little trips that we take away,

像是走神、沉浸在自己的想法里边

private thoughts that we have.

这些情况，事情虽小，

And when this mind-wandering happens,

但是当我们注意力不在的时候，

it can be problematic.

很可能会出现问题。

Now I don't think there will be any dire consequences

现在你们大家都在这儿坐着 当然不会出现什么大的问题，

with you all sitting here today,

but imagine a military leader missing four minutes of a military briefing,

但是如果是军队的指挥官 在作战会议时候走神了四分钟，

or a judge missing four minutes of testimony.

抑或是法官在听证词的时候 走神了四分钟，

Or a surgeon or firefighter missing any time.

又或者是外科医生或者消防员 稍稍一走神，

The consequences in those cases could be dire.

都可能带来灾难性的后果。

So we might ask why do we do this?

所以我们不禁要问，为什么会这样？

Why do we mind-wander so much?

为什么我们这么容易走神？

Well, part of the answer is that our mind is an exquisite time-traveling master.

一部分原因是 我们的思维是一位时间旅行大师，

我们的思维很容易 就会开始进行时间旅行。

It can actually time travel very easily.

If we think of the mind as the metaphor of the music player, we see this.

如果把我们的思维比作音乐播放器， 就像这样，

We can rewind the mind to the past

我们可以倒带回到过去，

to reflect on events that have already happened, right?

冥想过去发生过的事情，

Or we can go and fast-future, to plan for the next thing that we want to do.

也可以快进到未来， 计划我们未来要做的事情。

And we land in this mental time-travel mode of the past or the future

像这样，我们的思维会

非常频繁地进入时间旅行模式，

very frequently.

And we land there often without our awareness,

而且通常是无意识的。

most times without our awareness,

当我们想要集中注意力的时候， 也经常会无意识的走神。

even if we want to be paying attention.

Think of just the last time you were trying to read a book,

回忆一下你们上次看书看了一页 却完全不知道讲了什么。

got to the bottom of the page with no idea what the words were saying.

This happens to us.

走神这件事在我们每个人身上 都经常发生。

And when this happens, when we mind-wander without an awareness that we're doing it,

当我们无意识的走神的时候，

there are consequences.

会有一些后果。

We make errors.

我们会出错，

We miss critical information, sometimes.

有时我们会忽略了重要的信息，

And we have difficulty making decisions.

我们会变得抉择困难，

What's worse is when we experience stress.

更有甚者， 当我们在压力之下的时候，

当我们临近崩溃的时候，

When we're in a moment of overwhelm.

We don't just reflect on the past when we rewind,

一方面我们容易会沉湎于过去，

we end up being in the past ruminating, reliving or regretting

我们不断的反省、重现、后悔 过去的事情。

events that have already happened.

Or under stress, we fast-forward the mind.

在压力之下，我们也容易陷于未来，

Not just to productively plan.

不是在制定未来的计划，

But we end up catastrophizing or worrying

而是在担心、惧怕 未来尚未发生的事情，

about events that haven't happened yet

and frankly may never happen.

甚至有些事情其实根本就不会发生。

So at this point, you might be thinking to yourself, OK,

到目前为止，你们应该都理解了，

mind-wandering's happening a lot.

走神经常发生， 而且是在我们不经意之间。

Often, it happens without our awareness.

And under stress, it's even worse --

在压力之下会更糟糕——

we mind-wander more powerfully and more often.

我们可能会更频繁、更严重的走神。

Is there anything we can possibly do about this?

那么我们有什么应对策略吗？

And I'm happy to say the answer is yes.

我很高兴地说，有。

From our work, we're learning

通过我们的工作，我们了解到，

that the opposite of a stressed and wandering mind is a mindful one.

压力和走神的对立面是专注。

Mindfulness has to do with paying attention

专注力能帮助我们将注意力 集中在现在，

to our present-moment experience with awareness.

And without any kind of emotional reactivity of what's happening.

并且排除不良的情绪的影响。

It's about keeping that button right on play

专注力是活在当下，

to experience the moment-to-moment unfolding of our lives.

充分的的感受和体验生活中的 一点一滴，一分一秒。

And mindfulness is not just a concept.

专注力也并不仅仅是一个概念，

It's more like practice,

它更是一种实践。

you have to embody this mindful mode of being to have any benefits.

你需要将这种专注深深植入灵魂， 才能获得它所带来的好处。

And a lot of the work that we're doing, we're offering people programs

我们做的很大一部分工作就是，

that give our participants a suite of exercises

为人们提供一整套的练习项目，

that they should do daily

参与者要坚持每日练习， 在生活中建立更多的多专注的时刻。

in order to cultivate more moments of mindfulness in their life.

And for many of the groups that we work with, high-stress groups,

很多参与我们项目的人门， 那些高压状态下的群体，

like I said -- soldiers, medical professionals --

正如我之前提到的 战士、医疗人员，

for them, as we know, mind-wandering can be really dire.

对于他们来说， 走神的后果非常的可怕。

So we want to make sure we offer them very accessible,

因此我们确保我们为他们提供 易获取、低耗时的训练条件，

low time constraints to optimize the training,

从而最大化训练的效果， 让他们能从中获益。

so they can benefit from it.

And when we do this, what we can do is track to see what happens,

与之同时， 我们还追踪调查训练的效果，

not just in their regular lives

不仅仅是他们的日常生活上的效果，

but in the most demanding circumstances that they may have.

更包括了在他们可能所处的 极其严苛的环境下的效果。

Why do we want to do this?

我们这样做的目的是什么？

Well, we want to, for example, give it to students right around finals season.

因为我们想将这样的训练提供给 处于期末考试中的学生们，

Or we want to give the training to accountants during tax season.

我们也想将这样的训练提供给 税收季节中的会计们，

Or soldiers and marines while they're deploying.

以及执行任务的战士和 海军陆战队员。

Why is that?

为什么是这些人？

Because those are the moments

因为他们在所面临的特殊时期里，

in which their attention is most likely to be vulnerable,

由于外界压力和走神情况的存在， 他们的注意力会非常容易受到影响。

because of stress and mind-wandering.

And those are also the moments

并且这也是我们希望他们的注意力 能够处于巅峰状态的时期，

in which we want their attention to be in peak shape

so they can perform well.

这样他们才能高效的学习、 工作、执行任务。

So what we do in our research

因此，在我们的研究之中，

is we have them take a series of attention tests.

我们让他们进行一系列的 注意力测试。

We track their attention at the beginning of some kind of high-stress interval,

我们在他们开始一段高压时期之前 先检测一次他们的注意力情况，

and then two months later, we track them again,

然后两个月后，我们再检测一次，

and we want to see if there's a difference.

我们想要对比一下两次的结果 看看有什么区别。

Is there any benefit of offering them mindfulness training?

为他们提供的专注力训练 是否起到了作用？

我们能不能避免 由高压环境引发的注意力问题？

Can we protect against the lapses in attention

that might arise over high stress?

So here's what we find.

以下是我们的发现的结论。

Over a high-stress interval,

在一段压力很大的的时间段里，

unfortunately, the reality is if we don't do anything at all,

如果我们放任一切自由发展，

我们的注意力就会下降。

attention declines,

people are worse at the end of this high-stress interval than before.

在这个高压时期接近末尾的时候， 人们的注意力比初期差了很多。

But if we offer mindfulness training, we can protect against this.

但如果我们为之提供专注力的训练， 我们就可以避免这样的结果。

They stay stable, even though just like the other groups,

高压时期结束的时候， 虽然他们经历了和别组一样的压力，

they were experiencing high stress.

但是他们的注意力依然可以 保持在开始的水平而不下降。

And perhaps even more impressive

更令人印象深刻的是，

is that if people take our training programs

如果能坚持做我们的专注力训练八周以上，

over, let's say, eight weeks,

而且保质保量的完成每天的练习，

and they fully commit to doing the daily mindfulness exercises

that allow them to learn how to be in the present moment,

真正掌握如何的把握当下，

well, they actually get better over time, even though they're in high stress.

相同的高压环境下，他们的实验结果 甚至会比开始的时候有很大提升。

And this last point is actually important to realize,

这一点非常值得注意，

because of what it suggests to us

因为它告诉我们，

is that mindfulness exercises are very much like physical exercise:

专注力训练和体能训练一样，

if you don't do it, you don't benefit.

不坚持做下去就没有效果。

But if you do engage in mindfulness practice,

但是，如果你能坚持专注力训练，

the more you do, the more you benefit.

你做的越多，收益也就越多。

And I want to just bring it back to Captain Jeff Davis.

现在让我们回到 Jeff Davis上尉的例子上来。

As I mentioned to you at the beginning,

正如我一开始所说，

his marines were involved in the very first project

他的海军陆战队员们参与了 我们首次的专注力训练项目。

that we ever did, offering mindfulness training.

And they showed this exact pattern, which was very heartening.

非常振奋人心的是， 他们也收到了这样的效果。

We had offered them the mindfulness training

我们在他们被部署到伊拉克之前 为他们提供了专注力训练。

right before they were deployed to Iraq.

And upon their return, Captain Davis shared with us

当他们回来的时候，

Davis上尉跟我们分享了 参加这个项目的心得。

what he was feeling was the benefit of this program.

He said that unlike last time,

他说，跟上次执行任务的感觉完全不同，

这次执行任务的时候 他能够更加的专注、

after this deployment, they were much more present.

They were discerning.

感觉更加的敏锐，

They were not as reactive.

不再那么被动。

And in some cases, they were really more compassionate

在某些时候，在他们互相之间以及 与别人互动的时候能有更好的共鸣。

with the people they were engaging with and each other.

He said in many ways,

他说，在很大程度上 他觉得我们提供的专注力训练

he felt that the mindfulness training program we offered

成为他们应对创伤后应激障碍 非常重要的手段，

gave them a really important tool

to protect against developing post-traumatic stress disorder

甚至能将创伤后的应激障碍 转变为创伤后的自我提升。

and even allowing it to turn into post-traumatic growth.

To us, this was very compelling.

这对我们而言非常的振奋人心。

And it ended up that Captain Davis and I --

后来，Davis上尉和我在2008年之后

you know, this was about a decade ago, in 2008 --

十年之间一直保持着联系，

we've kept in touch all these years.

一直到现在。

And he himself has gone on to continue practicing mindfulness

他本人也仍然坚持 训练自己的专注力，

in a daily way.

每一天都在坚持做。

He was promoted to major,

他被提拔为少校，

he actually then ended up retiring from the Marine Corps.

后来在海军陆战队一直服役到退休。

He went on to get a divorce, to get remarried,

他经历了离婚、重新结婚，

to have a child, to get an MBA.

有了自己的孩子、 后来又去读了工商管理硕士。

And through all of these challenges and transitions and joys of his life,

在这种种事情期间 他都没有停止专注力训练。

he kept up with his mindfulness practice.

And as fate would have it, just a few months ago,

人有旦夕祸福，几个月之前，

46岁的他突发了严重的心脏病。

Captain Davis suffered a massive heart attack, at the age of 46.

And he ended up calling me a few weeks ago.

几周之前，他跟我打了一通电话， 他说：

And he said, "I want to tell you something.

“我想告诉你一件事，

I know that the doctors who worked on me, they saved my heart,

为我做手术的医生， 治好了我的心脏，

but mindfulness saved my life.

但是真正救了我的命的， 是我的专注力。

The presence of mind I had to stop the ambulance

专注力让我在事发时 能够保持头脑清醒，

叫救护车把自己带到医院。”

that ended up taking me to the hospital," -- himself,

the clarity of mind he had to notice when there was fear and anxiety happening

专注力让他能清醒地面对自己的 恐惧和焦虑，让自己不被其支配。

but not be gripped by it --

he said, "For me, these were the gifts of mindfulness."

他说，“这就是 专注力带给我的最大的收获。”

And I was so relieved to hear that he was OK.

当得知他安全脱险的时候， 我感觉如释重负。

But really heartened to see that he had transformed his own attention.

然而最让我振奋的是看到 他如何成功的改变了自己的注意力。

He went from having a really bad boss --

之前他的大脑的注意力系统 非常的糟糕

an attention system that nearly drove him off a bridge --

一度差点让他把车开下桥而丧命。

to one that was an exquisite leader and guide,

而现在他的注意力系统 已经变成了一位精明的向导，

and saved his life.

救了他的命。

So I want to actually end by sharing my call to action to all of you.

因此，在演讲的最后，

我想向大家呼吁：

And here it is.

听好了，

Pay attention to your attention.

留心你的的注意力。

Alright?

明白吗？

Pay attention to your attention

留心你的注意力，

让专注力练习成为 你的日常练习之一

and incorporate mindfulness training as part of your daily wellness toolkit,

in order to tame your own wandering mind

来帮你驯服自己走神的大脑，

and to allow your attention to be a trusted guide in your own life.

让你的注意力成为 你人生中值得信赖的向导。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）