美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Meditation For Fidgety Skeptics' Offers Practical Advice For Stressed-Out Cynics

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Imagine having one of the worst moments in your professional life play out in front of 5 million people. ABC News anchor Dan Harris doesn't have to. In 2004, he had a panic attack on live television after years of working in war zones and using drugs to cope with the stress. That moment led him to start meditating¹. He wrote a book called "10% Happier" about his experiences with meditation² and its potential health benefits. It became a best-seller, but he still thought the impact fell short.

DAN HARRIS: In that first book, I made this naive³ assumption that anybody who did read it would want to meditate⁴ and actually would meditate. And it was pretty quickly after the book came out that I started to realize that that is just not true. It's just complete underestimation of how hard it is for us to create healthy habits.

MARTIN: Now, Harris is out with a new book with co-author Jeff Warren. It's called "Meditation For Fidgety Skeptics."

What was the No. 1 obstacle you heard from people when they described why they just couldn't get into it or why they haven't been able to maintain a meditation practice?

HARRIS: Time. When I wrote my first book, I was dealing⁶ with this - the No. 1 obstacle at that time was that people thought meditation was weird⁷. I think that...

MARTIN: Yeah - some kind of stigma⁸.

HARRIS: Yeah. I think that's still true, but I think it's going away. But so now we have this new issue, which is that people want to do meditation, especially at this time of year, the whole new year, new you thing. But they feel like it's just another thing on their to-do list that is further stressing them out, which of course defeats the whole purpose. And so for people, my answer to this fear is I've got good news and even better news.

The good news is that I think five to 10 minutes a day is a great meditation habit, and I've spent a lot of time talking to the neuroscientists who study what meditation does to the brain, and they haven't cracked the dosage question fully⁹, but generally speaking, people, the scientists, say, yes, five to 10 minutes should be enough to derive¹⁰ the advertised benefits of meditation. So that's the good news. The better news is that I truly believe one minute counts and that it doesn't need to be one minute every day. You can shoot for daily-ish (ph).

MARTIN: So let's talk about this.

HARRIS: Yeah.

MARTIN: Because I read the book clearly and that stood out to me. Oh, I only have to do this one minute a day. So I sat the other day for a minute, and my mind was all over the place. And I guess that's supposed to improve. But by the end of the minute, I just felt like, well, now I just know how undisciplined my brain is.

HARRIS: Let me reframe that whole experience for you...

MARTIN: OK.

HARRIS: ...As a victory because the primary insight for beginning meditators is that it is a zoo inside of our skulls¹¹. We are having this nonstop conversation with ourselves about which most of us are unaware¹². But when you tune¹³ into it, you see how negative, repetitive, ceaselessly self-referential it is. And when you see that, that is a victory. Why? Because when you see how absolutely bonkers you are, you have a much better chance of not being owned by the insanity¹⁴ so that the voice in your head, which is in the business of giving you terrible ideas, like, oh, yeah, you should finish that sleeve of Oreos or you could say the thing that is going to ruin the next 48 hours of your marriage or whatever, that voice has less purchase over your actual action.

MARTIN: So you're saying that just by recognizing in this 60 seconds that I'm meditating if there is just one moment when I recognize that I've wandered and I've brought myself back, that is the work, that is the practice and the victory.

HARRIS: Yes, yes. That is the bicep curl for your brain. And this is what shows up on the brain scans in the areas of the brain that regulate attentions or your ability to focus but also in self-awareness, which is, in meditation speak, mindfulness. But this self-awareness, this ability to see your inner urges, impulses, desires, conversation, without being carried away by it is a game-changing skill.

MARTIN: You ended up talking with some young people who were transitioning from prison to life on the outside. This was in California. And this was interesting because you came in thinking, oh, we can help these guys learn some meditation skills that will hopefully help them make this really challenging transition. And it turned out that they were already employing a lot of these strategies in their own life. They may not have - they just weren't calling it mindfulness or meditation, right?

HARRIS: It's really useful and humbling¹⁵ for somebody like me who is, you know, an unabashed meditation evangelist that there are lots of ways to increase your wellbeing. And meditation is one of them but not the only one. And that really hit home for me in spending time with these kids who are part of a group called InsideOUT Writers, which is run by screenwriters in Hollywood. And they teach formerly¹⁶ incarcerated¹⁷ youth and presently incarcerated youth how to write as a way to deal with their life situation. And we spent some time with the alums of the program who regularly meet and write together. And what I saw is that they have a practice.

There are all sorts of practices that have beneficial results. And for them, the act of writing, the act of fellowship, that boosts their self-awareness muscles and their compassion¹⁸ muscles every bit as much as meditation does. And so it is so important when talking about well-being¹⁹ not to get stuck on one thing only. I think it's important to, you know, use every arrow in the quiver, and that includes sleep, nutrition, exercise, having good friends and meditation. I just think meditation needs to be in there as well.

MARTIN: You reveal in the book that you meditate for two hours a day. Come on.

HARRIS: I know. It's ridiculous.

MARTIN: How do you - where do you find - I mean, that is such a cliche²⁰ question, but literally²¹ where do you find the time?

HARRIS: First of all, let me just issue this caveat²². I'm reluctant always to talk about my meditation dosage because people - I'm...

MARTIN: It's a pretty high standard.

HARRIS: It is.

MARTIN: Like, no one's going to get there (laughter).

HARRIS: Right. And I know how the mind of a skeptic⁵ works, which is you're just looking for an excuse not to do the thing.

MARTIN: Right.

HARRIS: And so I don't want this to be an excuse. I don't want people to say, oh, well, that's where this thing goes and I don't have time for it - not true. One good way to think about this is like exercise. You know, most of us, if we exercise, we know that we need 30 minutes of cardio a certain amount of days per week, and we do it grudgingly²³. There are some people, however, get really into it and do triathlons. And so for me, I think five to 10 minutes a day is an incredible habit - or just one minute a day.

But I got really interested. I'm writing these stupid books about meditation. I'm really into this thing, so I just allow myself to do it whenever I can - in the back seat of taxis, on airplanes, in my office before or after a show. And for me, it's just - the reason I want it to go up is the mind is trainable. Happiness is a skill. And if you can become 10 percent happier, what's the ceiling? And I really am interested in deriving²⁴ the benefits at an even higher level.

MARTIN: Dan Harris - his new book is called "Meditation For Fidgety Skeptics." Dan, thank you so much.

HARRIS: Thank you. I really appreciate it.

(SOUNDBITE OF TYCHO'S "A WALK")

1 meditating   

a.沉思的，冥想的

参考例句：

• They were meditating revenge. 他们在谋划进行报复。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics. 这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

2 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

3 naive   

adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的

参考例句：

• It's naive of you to believe he'll do what he says.相信他会言行一致，你未免太单纯了。
• Don't be naive.The matter is not so simple.你别傻乎乎的。事情没有那么简单。

4 meditate   

v.想，考虑，（尤指宗教上的）沉思，冥想

参考例句：

• It is important to meditate on the meaning of life.思考人生的意义很重要。
• I was meditating,and reached a higher state of consciousness.我在冥想，并进入了一个更高的意识境界。

5 skeptic   

n.怀疑者，怀疑论者，无神论者

参考例句：

• She is a skeptic about the dangers of global warming.她是全球变暖危险的怀疑论者。
• How am I going to convince this skeptic that she should attention to my research?我将如何使怀疑论者确信她应该关注我的研究呢？

6 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

7 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

8 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

9 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

10 derive   

v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自

参考例句：

• We derive our sustenance from the land.我们从土地获取食物。
• We shall derive much benefit from reading good novels.我们将从优秀小说中获得很大好处。

11 skulls   

颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜

参考例句：

• One of the women's skulls found exceeds in capacity that of the average man of today. 现已发现的女性颅骨中，其中有一个的脑容量超过了今天的普通男子。
• We could make a whole plain white with skulls in the moonlight! 我们便能令月光下的平原变白，遍布白色的骷髅！

12 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

13 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

14 insanity   

n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐

参考例句：

• In his defense he alleged temporary insanity.他伪称一时精神错乱，为自己辩解。
• He remained in his cell,and this visit only increased the belief in his insanity.他依旧还是住在他的地牢里，这次视察只是更加使人相信他是个疯子了。

15 humbling   

adj.令人羞辱的v.使谦恭( humble的现在分词 )；轻松打败（尤指强大的对手）；低声下气

参考例句：

• A certain humbling from time to time is good. 不时受点儿屈辱是有好处的。 来自辞典例句
• It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-buildingexperience. 据说天文学是一种令人产生自卑、塑造人格的科学。 来自互联网

16 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

17 incarcerated   

钳闭的

参考例句：

• They were incarcerated for the duration of the war. 战争期间，他们被关在狱中。 来自辞典例句
• I don't want to worry them by being incarcerated. 我不想让他们知道我被拘禁的事情。 来自电影对白

18 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

19 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

20 cliche   

n./a.陈词滥调(的)；老生常谈(的)；陈腐的

参考例句：

• You should always try to avoid the use of cliche. 你应该尽量避免使用陈词滥调。
• The old cliche is certainly true:the bigger car do mean bigger profits.有句老话倒的确说得不假:车大利大。

21 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

22 caveat   

n.警告； 防止误解的说明

参考例句：

• I would offer a caveat for those who want to join me in the dual calling.为防止发生误解，我想对那些想要步我后尘的人提出警告。
• As I have written before,that's quite a caveat.正如我以前所写，那确实是个警告。

23 grudgingly   

参考例句：

• He grudgingly acknowledged having made a mistake. 他勉强承认他做错了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Their parents unwillingly [grudgingly] consented to the marriage. 他们的父母无可奈何地应允了这门亲事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

24 deriving   

v.得到( derive的现在分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• I anticipate deriving much instruction from the lecture. 我期望从这演讲中获得很多教益。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He anticipated his deriving much instruction from the lecture. 他期望从这次演讲中得到很多教益。 来自辞典例句