It's well-observed that between the ages of around 1 and 12, many children manifest a deep attachment to a stuffed, soft object.

不少研究者都觀察到許多一歲到十二歲之間的小孩會對填充的、軟軟的物件展現很深的依戀

Normally shaped into a bear, a rabbit, or less often, a penguin.

通常是一頭熊、一隻兔子或是一隻企鵝（比較少）的形狀

The depth of the relationship can be extraordinary.

這種感情可以是非常深刻的

The child sleeps with it, talks to it, cries in front of it and tells it things it would never tell anyone else.

小孩會跟玩偶一起睡覺、對它說話、對它哭訴，因為它永遠不會告訴別人

What's truly remarkable is that the animal looks after its owner, addressing him in a tone of unusual maturity and kindness.

很了不起的是這個動物玩偶會照顧它的主人，用超乎常人的成熟度跟親切語氣跟他講話

It might, in a crisis, urge the child not to worry so much, and to look forward tobetter times in the future.

它可能會在主人面臨危機的時候告訴他不要太擔心，而且要把眼光放在比較好的未來

But naturally, the animal's character is entirely made up.

但是很自然的，玩偶的人格完全是憑空創造出來的

The animal is simply something invented or brought alive by one part of the child in order to look after the other.

動物玩偶單純只是小孩人格的一部分所創造的，用來照顧小孩脆弱的另一部分

The English psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott was the first person to write seriously and with sensitivity about the business of Teddy bears.

英國一位心理分析專家 Donald Winnicott 是第一個認真並且感性分析泰迪熊帶給小孩的意義的人

In a paper from the early 1960s, Winnicott described a boy of six, whose parents had been deeply abusive to him,

在他 1960 年代發佈的一篇文章裡面，Winnicott 描述一個被父母嚴重虐待的六歲男孩

becoming very connected to a small animal his grandmother had given him.

如何跟一個外婆給他的動物玩偶發展出非常緊密的關係

Every night he would have a dialogue with the animal, would hug him close to his chest and shed a few tears into his stained and graying soft fur.

他每天晚上都會跟他的動物玩偶對話，把它緊緊的抱在胸口，然後流幾滴眼淚到它髒髒、漸漸變灰的軟毛裡

It was his most precious possession, for which he would have given up everything else.

它是男孩最珍貴的東西，他願意為了玩偶放棄東西

As the boy summarized the situation to Winnicott, "no one else can understand me like bunny can."

男孩最後簡短的對 Winnicott 如此形容：「沒有任何人能夠比我的兔兔更了解我。」

What fascinated Winnicott here was that it was of course the boy who had invented the rabbit, given him his identity, his voice, and his way of addressing him.

讓 Winnicott 感到非常有趣的是，理所當然一定是男孩自己創造了這隻兔子，並且把自己的身份、聲音跟稱呼他的方式給了兔子

The boy was speaking to himself via the bunny, in a voice filled with an otherwise all too rarely present compassion and sympathy.

男孩透過他的兔兔跟自己對話，因為唯有如此他的語氣才能充滿同情心跟憐憫心

Though it sounds a little odd, speaking to ourselves is common practice throughout our lives.

雖然聽起來有點奇怪，但是在日常生活中，跟自己對話是個常見的行為

Often, when we do so, the tone is harsh and punitive. We operate ourselves for being losers, time wasters or perverts.

然而，我們跟自己對話的語氣常常是嚴厲且懲罰性的。我們會把自己視為魯蛇、只會浪費時間的人跟變態

But, as Winnicott knew, mental well-being depends on having to hand a repertoire of more gentle, forgiving and hopeful inner voices.

但正如 Winnicott 所知，心理上的健全需要更溫柔、寬恕、有希望的自我對話

To keep going, there are moments when one side of the mind needs to say to the other that the criticism is enough,

為了能夠繼續往前，一部份的我們會需要告訴另一部分的自己：不要再批評自己了

that it understands that this could happen to anyone that one couldn't have known.

它了解這可能發生在任何人身上，而這是不可能預知的

It's this kind of indispensable, benevolent voice that the child first starts to rehearse and exercise with the help of a stuffed animal.

小孩最先透過動物玩偶來練習這種必要的、和善的自我對話

In adolescence, animals tend to get put away.

但到了青春期，這些玩偶通常會被束之高閣

They become embarrassing, evoking a vulnerability we're keen to escape from.

它們變得讓人感到羞恥，因為它們代表了我們脆弱的那面，而這往往是我們不想要面對的

But, to follow Winnicott, if our development has gone well, what was trialed in the presence of a stuffed animal should continue all of our lives.

但是 Winnicott 的理論繼續提到，如果我們那一階段的發展是順利的，我們就能夠持續的跟自己對話，就像那時候透過動物玩偶進行自我對話一樣

Because, by definition, we will frequently be let down by the people around us

因為根據定義，我們常常會因為身邊的人感到失落

who won't be able to understand us, won't listen to our griefs, and won't be kind to us in the manner we crave and require.

因為他們沒辦法了解我們、不願意聽我們訴苦，也不願意用我們希望或需要的方式好好對待我們

Every healthy adult should therefore possess a capacity for self-nurture,

因此，每個健康的成人都應該要有自我照護的能力

that is, for retreating to a safe, secluded space, and speaking in a tone that's gentle, encouraging and infinitely forgiving.

也就是在需要的時候撤退到一個安全、封閉的角落，然後用溫柔、鼓勵並且完全寬恕的語氣跟自己對話

That we don't formally label the understanding self "white rabbit" or "yellow bear"

我們不正式把自己充滿理解力的那個自我貼上「白兔」或「黃兔」的標籤

shouldn't obscure the debt that the nurturing adult self owes to its earlier embodiment in a furry toy.

不應該抹滅那個毛毛玩偶對我們培養內在自我觀照能力的幫助

A good adult life requires us to see the links between our strengths and our regressive, childlike states.

要擁有一個健康的成人生活，我們需要認清我們的長處跟我們較差的、幼稚的那一面之間的關係

Being properly mature demands a gracious accommodation with what could seem embarrassing or humiliatingly vulnerable.

一個人要成熟的恰到好處則需要大方的接納那些可能很尷尬或讓人感到羞辱的脆弱的那一面

We should honor stuffed animals for what they really are - tools to help us on our first steps in the vital business of knowing how to look after ourselves.

我們應該要感謝動物玩偶，因為是它們幫助我們踏出自我探索、自我療癒的第一步