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One of the classic definitions of mindfulness is
关于正念的一个很经典的定义就是：
that it helps us not cling to what's pleasant and not condemn what is unpleasant
它能使我们不去执着地追求使人愉悦的事情和因为不开心的事情而愤慨
An example would be if you're driving in New York City and someone cuts you off;
例如 你正在纽约开车 某人突然插在你的前面
you know,that's unpleasant and one would instinctively have an angry response.
那真的很烦人。人会本能地反应出很生气
But that's happening all the time,
但是这种事情时常发生
and if you have an angry response too often, then you become a nightmare yourself.
如果你每次都很生气 那么你是在折磨自己
So what mindfulness is teaching is that
所以正念教会我们的就是：
the stimulus, which is someone cutting you off, is different.
刺激因素 就像横插在你前面的人 是不一样的
It's distinct from your emotional reaction to that thing.
它与你的情绪反应是完全不同的
So someone could cut you off, you could feel the anger
也就是说 某人可能会横插在你前面 你可能会生气
but you don't have to act on the anger.
但你可以不用把这愤怒表现出来
So instead of being driven by your reactions
所以 不要被你的本能反应牵着走
there's a little bit of (of) room where you can choose to be a different kind of person.
你仍有选择做一个不同的人空间
So mindfulness basically helps us tolerate the aspects of the (the) external world and the internal world that otherwise are hard to face.
如此 正念能很好地帮助我们 接纳难以面对的外在世界和内心世界
There are basically two kinds of meditation,
冥想主要有两种方式：
one, which is a concentration practice,focus your attention on a neutral sensation
一种是凝神练习 你将注意力专注于中正平和的感觉上
like the feeling of the breath coming in and out of the nostrils,
比如感受你的呼吸从你的鼻孔进出
or like the repetition of a sound or what's called a mantra.
又像是一种声音的重复 或是某种称作咒语的东西
And every time the mind wanders, whenever you notice that it's wondered ,
并且 每当你思维涣散 当你发觉思维不集中时
that might be five minutes, ten minutes later when you're lost in thought
这种情况可能会持续5分钟 或十分钟
but at a certain point, you realize "oh wait,I'm not watching the breath anymore,"
某个时刻 你突然发觉 天呐 我没有关注我的呼吸
then you bring your mind back to the breath.
然后你又重新把你的思绪带回关注呼吸上来
That's called a concentration or a one pointed practice.
这就是凝神练习或说是一点式练习
And that's the that's the uh… beginning level of mindfulness.
这也是正念的起步阶段
When you really start practicing mindfulness,
等你真正开始了正念练习
instead of bringing the mind back every time to a central object,
而不是每次都要把你的思绪重新带回到集中的事物上的时候
you let the attention go wherever the mind goes
让你的注意力随着你的思绪游走
So instead of paying attention just to the breath or the mantra,
也就是说 不只是关注呼吸或者咒语
you pay attention to sounds, you pay attention to thoughts,
你也要关注声音 思维
you pay attention to feelings, you pay attention to memories,
关注感觉 关注记忆
you pay attention to worries, to anxieties, to anger, to joy,
关注你的担忧、焦虑、气愤、喜悦
you pay attention to whatever passes through your mind moment to moment.
关注从你脑海里闪过的任何想法
And then what you start to see is that "oh, everything is changing all the time"
并且 你开始意识到万物都一直在改变
and you learn to pay attention more to process than to content.
你学会了更多的关注 是否进步而非满足与否
It's really only in the past 50,60 years that the medical establishment has been exposed at all to what mindfulness is.
在过去的五六十年代 医药成就已经扩展到正念上
And for 20,30 of those years it was like just a new age thing. It was on the periphery.
并且 在那段时间中有20、30年 这就像是一个新时代的新事物 并不重要
And only through the work of a couple of people like John Kabat-Zinn,
只有通过一些像约翰·卡巴金这样的人的努力
has mindfulness come into the medical establishment.
正念才能够进入到医药领域中来
There are a lot of studies that are being done now that are showing the benefit of mindfulness for all kinds of conditions.
正进行的一些研究表明了正念在各种情况下的益处
And some old colleagues of mine have done some very good work showing
并且我的老同事已经完成了不少很好的研究
that the steady practice of mindfulness light up areas of the brain
这些研究表明正念的固定练习可以振奋忙于
that have to do with modulating emotional reactivity
应对各种情绪活动的大脑。
So I think there's a beginning evidence that the brain is plastic, more plastic than we initially thought
因此 我认为 有初步证据表明：大脑是可塑的远比我们原本想象的要更具可塑性
and that the, you know,what you feed into the brain actually changes the architecture of the brain.
此外你储存在大脑的信息也会改变大脑的建构
So that it's possible to promote, to develop the areas of the brain
这样提升和发展大脑的各区域的能力就成为可能，如：
that are there for kindness, you know, for altruistic feeling and for the regulation of difficult emotions.
感受善良，感受无私和各种复杂的情感的能力。
