男巫来自远方好看吗:幸福秘诀系列—第一部分：真正的幸福！

玛丽 杰克斯著

This is the first of a seven-part series on the Secrets of Wellbeing. The reason I’m launching into this series is because I’m excited about what is happening in the field of psychology and how new research supports ancient teachings.

这是幸福秘诀系列中七部分的第一部分。我深入这一系列的研究，是因为我对心理学领域的发现，还有新研究是如何支持早期的说法非常感兴趣。

A new direction called Positive Psychology has started to take centre stage. Instead of looking at problems and how to fix them, Positive Psychology investigates what allows us to experience life at its best. In this series I’ll discuss what we can learn from this research.

心理学有一个新的分支：积极心理学已经开始兴起。积极心理学主要研究什么东西能让我们有最好的人生体验，而不是盯着问题，然后去解决问题。在这一系列当中，我会讨论我们从中学到的知识。

What is happiness?

什么是幸福？

This question is important for each of us because our view of happiness determines how we live our life.

这个问题对我们每一个人来说都非常重要，因为我们看待幸福的态度决定了我们的生活。

As Martin Seligman points out in his book Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment, there are three main ways how people view happiness. Read on to find out which one of these three ways describes the way you see happiness.

正如沙利格文在他的书《真正的幸福》里提到：用全新的积极心理学去发掘你幸福永恒的潜能。人们主要有三种看待幸福的方式，继续阅读，注意你看待幸福的方式是这三种方式的哪一种。

The Pleasant Life or the ‘life of enjoyment’

快乐的生活或者“享受生活”

In this way of life we seek out pleasures and try to avoid pain. The great thing about this way of life is that we truly taste and enjoy the special moments. Like starting a powder run on a snowboard or sharing a laugh with your partner.

这种方式的生活让我们总是去找寻幸福，避免伤痛。这种生活方式最棒的一点就是我们真正的品尝和享受生活的特殊时光。例如滑雪或者和搭档分享快乐喜悦。

But there are some problems with this view of happiness. One is that pain is inevitable in life: relationships end, health can be precarious, and death is certain. This means that if we expect to gain happiness only from pleasure, we are ill equipped to deal with suffering.

但对于这种方式的快乐也存在一些问题。一痛苦是生活中不可避免的，如关系破裂，健康问题还有人终究是要死亡的。这就意味着如果我们单想从快乐的时光获取幸福的话，我们会疲于处理一些苦难。

The other problem is that the sum of our actual experiences, and how we judge those experiences in retrospect can be radically different. Seligman gives the following example:

另外一个问题是：在我们所有的实际经历中，我们如果评价过去的经历是可以完全不同的。沙利格文给出了下面的例子：

When asked about a vacation – so he explains – you might answer, “It was great!”, even though the flow of experiences at the time may have been a series of unpleasant moments, such as sunburn, mosquito bites, upset stomach, scary situations, and a fear of blowing your budget.

当被问及到度假怎么样时，虽然当时经历了一些不愉快，如晒伤，蚊子咬，胃疼，惊险情况发生，担心预算超支等，你仍然可能会说：”简直太棒了“。

I think the same goes for pleasant experiences. I don’t know how it is for you, but after about a week of lying about on a tropical beach I tend to get restless. I miss being creative and productive. So, even though there may be a constant flow of pleasant moments, my overall experience is that of feeling unfulfilled.

我认为快乐的经历也会经历同样的对话。我不知道你的情况是怎么样的，但对不真实的热带沙滩假期的一周后，我就开始感到焦躁不安。我怀念具有创造性和多彩的时光，所以，就算度过了愉快的时光，我整体的感受还是不够完美。

The Good Life, or the ‘life of engagement’

好生活或者”投入生活“

This is a life where we find out what our signature strengths are and shape our life accordingly. This leads to flow – which means that we are at one with ourselves. When this happens, time stops. We feel at home, and self-consciousness fades away.

这样的生活方式能让我们发现我们的个人优势，相应的作用于我们的生活当中。这样的生活方式会激发涌现，即我们身心合一。涌现出现的时候，时间好像停止了，自我意识也消失了。

But even when we develop flow, there can be moments when it isn’t enough. We see time leaking away and begin to wonder, “Is this all there is to life? Or is there more?”

但就算我们能够做到涌现，还是会出现不够深入的情况。看着时光流逝，我们会想知道：这就是生活的全部了吗？或者说生活并不止这些？

The Meaningful Life, or ‘life of affiliation’

有意义的人生或者”人生的联系“

This way of life means using your signature strength in the service of something that you believe is larger than you are. As Martin Seligman says, “Joining and serving in things larger than you that you believe in while using your highest strengths is a recipe for meaning.” If you live life like this, you leave a legacy.

这种生活方式意味着你要把你的个人优势运用到一些你坚信高于你的事物中。就像沙利格文所说：”加入或服务于你坚信高于你的事物就好比尽全力就是有意义人生的秘诀。“如果你的生活是这样的话，你就真的给人类就下了一大批的遗产。

What legacy will you leave?

你会留下什么？

I’m sure you will appreciate that each of these different views of happiness can shape our life in a particular way.

我确信你能领会到每个人生态度都能在特定的时期帮助我们塑造我们的人生。

Authentic happiness is made up of all these three strands.

真正的幸福就是由着三个方面组成的

You might like to look at how these three strands play out in your life. Are they in balance? Is one of them stronger than the rest?

你也许想观察一下这三个方面是如果在你的生活中呈现的，它们是平衡存在的吗？会有其中一个高于其他的吗？

What are your thoughts on happiness? I’d be interested to know.

我很感兴趣：你关于幸福的想法是什么？