Name: 【TED】Matt Killingsworth: 想要更快樂？活在當下 (Want to be happier? Stay in the moment | Matt Killingsworth)
Uploaded: 2014-11-11T15:41:40.000Z
Duration: 10 min 17 s

So, people want a lot of things out of life,

人們總是想從生活中得到許多東西

but I think, more than anything else, they want happiness.

但我認為，相較於其他，人們最想要的是幸福

過去簡單式

Aristotle called happiness "the chief good," the end

亞里斯多德將幸福稱為｢最重要的好事｣，也是

According to this view, the reason we want a big house

這樣來看的話，我們想要大房子

isn't that these things are intrinsically valuable.

而是期待這些東西可以帶給我們

Now in the last 50 years, we Americans have gotten

半個世紀以來 我們美國人已經得到

a lot of the things that we want. We're richer.

We live longer. We have access to technology

that would have seemed like science fiction just a few years ago.

過著幾年前還是被認為科幻小說中才有的生活

The paradox of happiness is that even though the

objective conditions of our lives have improved dramatically,

我們的物質生活得到了前所未有的提高

Maybe because these conventional notions of progress

這或許是因為這些傳統意義上的進步

haven't delivered big benefits in terms of happiness,

從幸福的角度來說並沒有給我們帶來多大的價值

there's been an increased interest in recent years in happiness itself.

這些年，人們更加關注幸福本身

People have been debating the causes of happiness

for a really long time, in fact for thousands of years,

由來已久，事實上已歷經數千年了

but it seems like many of those debates remain unresolved.

Well, as with many other domains in life, I think

我覺得，對於生活中的其它領域

the scientific method has the potential to answer this question.

用科學的研究方法是有希望回答這個問題的

In fact, in the last few years, there's been an explosion

in research on happiness. For example, we've learned a lot

已蔚為風潮。例如，我們學到很多

about its demographics, how things like income

關於這方面的統計資料，例如收入

and education, gender and marriage relate to it.

教育、性別和婚姻這些與幸福有關聯的因素

But one of the puzzles this has revealed is that

factors like these don't seem to have a particularly strong effect.

以上這些因素對於人的幸福來說似乎沒有特殊的影響

Yes, it's better to make more money rather than less,

or to graduate from college instead of dropping out,

but the differences in happiness tend to be small.

但是對於幸福與否，差異卻很小

Which leaves the question, what are the big causes of happiness?

問題是，究竟甚麼是成就幸福的主因呢？

I think that's a question we haven't really answered yet,

我想這個問題我們還沒真正得到答案

but I think something that has the potential to be an answer

is that maybe happiness has an awful lot to do with

the contents of our moment-to-moment experiences.

和我們轉瞬之間的思考內容有關聯

It certainly seems that we're going about our lives,

that what we're doing, who we're with, what we're thinking about,

我們正在做甚麼，和誰一起，想些甚麼

have a big influence on our happiness, and yet

都和我們的幸福息息相關，而且

these are the very factors that have been very difficult,

in fact almost impossible, for scientists to study.

事實上是不可能，用科學方法去研究的

A few years ago, I came up with a way to study people's happiness

幾年前，我想到一個研究幸福的方法

moment to moment as they're going about their daily lives

我們試圖關注人們日常生活的片段

on a massive scale all over the world, something we'd never

而得到的數據是基於世界範圍內的調查的 而這個研究也是前所未有的

been able to do before. Called trackyourhappiness.org,

我們為此建立了一個網站網址是trackyourhappiness.org (你的幸福足跡)

it uses the iPhone to monitor people's happiness in real time.

我們透過蘋果手機去實時監測人們真實的幸福時刻

How does this work? Basically, I send people signals

如何進行呢？基本上，我會傳送受測者一些訊號

at random points throughout the day, and then I ask them

a bunch of questions about their moment-to-moment experience

一系列的問題，關於每個片刻的體驗

The idea is that, if we can watch how people's happiness

這個想法是，如果我們能觀察人們

goes up and down over the course of the day,

and try to understand how what people are doing,

who they're with, what they're thinking about, and all

the other factors that describe our day, how those might

所有能形容自己那天的重點，那些因素是如何

relate to those changes in happiness, we might be able

和幸福感的改變產生關聯，我們就有可能

to discover some of the things that really have

We've been fortunate with this project to collect

我們很幸運地透過這個項目收集到了

quite a lot of data, a lot more data of this kind than I think

我們收到了超過65萬筆的即時紀錄

而這些是從1萬5千多人中得到的

And it's not just a lot of people, it's a really diverse group,

不僅人數眾多，還涵蓋各式各樣的群體

people from a wide range of ages, from 18 to late 80s,

a wide range of incomes, education levels,

people who are married, divorced, widowed, etc.

86 occupational categories and hail from over 80 countries.

來自超過80多個國家和86個不同行業的群體

What I'd like to do with the rest of my time with you today

is talk a little bit about one of the areas that we've been

分享一下我們調查中涉及到的一個領域

investigating, and that's mind-wandering.

As human beings, we have this unique ability

身為人類，我們擁有一項獨特能力

to have our minds stray away from the present.

This guy is sitting here working on his computer,

wondering what he's going to have for dinner.

Maybe he's worried that he's going bald. (Laughter)

This ability to focus our attention on something other

than the present is really amazing. It allows us to learn

其他地方的能力其實相當神奇。讓我們能用許多方式

and plan and reason in ways that no other species of animal can.

學習、計畫和推理，這是其他物種無法做到的

And yet it's not clear what the relationship is

可是還不能清楚說明這項能力的運用和

between our use of this ability and our happiness.

You've probably heard people suggest that you should

stay focused on the present. "Be here now,"

Maybe, to really be happy, we need to stay completely

也許，要幸福，我們還真的要完完全全地

immersed and focused on our experience in the moment.

Maybe these people are right. Maybe mind-wandering

On the other hand, when our minds wander,

they're unconstrained. We can't change the physical reality

是自然而然的事情。我們不能改變物理現況

in front of us, but we can go anywhere in our minds.

Since we know people want to be happy, maybe

when our minds wander, they're going to someplace happier than the place

任由思緒四處晃蕩，會帶我們到比眼前更快樂的地方

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【TED】Matt Killingsworth: 想要更快樂？活在當下 (Want to be happier? Stay in the moment | Matt Killingsworth)

people

unhappiness

happy

lot