做什么都无法专注，怎么办？How to take back your attention

做什么都无法专注，怎么办？How to take back your attention
Where is your attention right now?
你现在在关注什么？
The human brain's attention system is actually the success story of what makes us unique as human beings.
人类大脑的注意力系统实际上彰显了我们作为人类的独特之处。
Because attention fuels our ability to think, to feel, and connect, what we pay attention to is our life.
因为注意力是推动我们思考、感受和建立联系的动力，我们所关注的，便是我们的生活。
For a long time, through our evolutionary history, the brain started to suffer from a very big problem which is that there's far more information out in the environment than could be fully processed.
在长久的演化历程中，人脑面临了一个严重的问题：环境中的信息量远超我们的处理能力。
Attention ended up becoming a very useful solution because it allows us to prioritize information, but there are qualities of the human experience that disable attention.
注意力最终证明是一个极为有效的解决方案，因为它帮助我们优先处理信息。然而，人类的某些经验特质却会削弱这种注意力。
Given how powerful attention is, we need to really respect where we place this precious brain resource.
考虑到注意力的强大作用，我们应当慎重对待这种珍贵的大脑资源的配置。
The mind is no different than the body.
心灵与身体本无差别。
The mind needs to be exercised daily to optimize our psychological well-being.
为了优化我们的心理健康，心灵也需每日进行锻炼。
Knowing this, I became very interested in understanding if we might be able to train attention.
明白这一点之后，我便非常想了解我们是否可以培养注意力。
My name is Amishi Jha.
我叫阿米希·贾。
I'm a neuroscientist and professor at the University of Miami, and the author of the book "Peak Mind: Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12 Minutes a Day."
我是迈阿密大学的神经科学家兼教授，著有《巅峰心智：找到你的焦点，掌控你的注意力，每天投入12分钟》一书。
The brain's attention system is incredibly powerful.
人脑的注意力系统极其强大。
There's three big ways we use attention as a fuel for having success in our daily activities.
我们在日常活动中有三种主要方式通过利用注意力来取得成功。
We use our attention to actually 'Think' -- during thinking there's an idea that comes to mind, and then we hyperlink it to other ideas.
我们利用注意力进行‘思考’，在思考时，一个想法会浮现脑海，随后我们会把它与其他想法连接起来。
That's what thought actually is, and the glue between those hyperlinks is attention.
这就是思考的本质，而连接这些思想的纽带就是注意力。
But it's not only used for the purposes of what we might call cognitive functioning, we also use our attention to 'Feel.'
但注意力的用途不仅限于我们所说的认知功能，我们还依靠它来“感受”。
Think about the last time you actually had a joyful moment in your lives.
回想一下你生活中上一次真正感到快乐的瞬间。
If you weren't paying attention to it, chances are you missed it.
如果你没留意，那你可能就错过了。
You didn't get the benefit of the positive emotional response.
你没有体验到积极情绪反应带来的好处。
Finally, the third area is 'Connecting' -- our social interactions with other people.
最后，第三个领域是“社交连接”，即我们与他人的社交互动。
Without devoting attention, we don't experience care and we can't extend care.
如果不投入注意力，我们既感受不到关爱，也无法给予关爱。
In fact, you might say that paying attention to another person is our highest form of love.
实际上，你或许会说，对他人给予关注是我们表达爱的最高方式。
But while attention is so incredibly powerful, it's fragile and vulnerable.
但是，尽管关注力极具影响力，它同样易受伤害，十分脆弱。
The three biggies that we've learned about in my labs are: Stress, Threat or Negative Mood.
我们在实验室了解到的三大要素是：压力、威胁或负面情绪。
Maybe you could even say they're like kryptonite for attention.
或许可以说，它们对注意力来说就像是氪星石。
But we all know you can't live a life without experiencing stress, threat, or negative mood.
但我们都知道，生活中不可能完全避免压力、威胁或负面情绪。
A lot of our work with high-performing groups describe this feeling of not having full access to their attention when they need it most.
我们与高表现团队的合作中经常提到，他们在最需要的时候往往无法完全集中注意力。
So what are those circumstances?
那么，这些具体情景是哪些呢？
There's a shorthand that we can use to think about this.
我们可以用一种简便的方法来考虑这个问题。
The term is VUCA: Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous.
该术语为VUCA：易变、不确定、复杂、含糊。
The world today feels like it's a constant VUCA environment, but there's another challenge that our attention faces, and why many of us feel like we're in an attentional crisis.
当今世界似乎一直处于VUCA环境中，不仅如此，我们的注意力还面临其他挑战，这也是许多人感觉自己正处于一场注意力危机的原因。
Frankly, the brain was designed to be lured by, for our evolutionary success and survival, certain kinds of information; threatening information novel information, self-related information, and even things that are fun and enticing.
坦白说，大脑的设计使其容易被吸引到某些类型的信息，这对我们的进化成功和生存至关重要，比如威胁性信息、新奇信息、个人相关信息，以及那些有趣和吸引人的事物。
I'm talking about the 'Attention Economy.'
我所指的是“注意力经济”。
Everything is being done by teams of engineers to actually capture your attention and keep it there; your attention is the product.
工程师团队正竭尽全力去抓住并保持你的注意力；你的注意力本身就是他们的产品。
Finally, the mind can be hijacked away by something called 'Mental Time Travel.'
最终，我们的思维可能会被一种叫做“心理时间旅行”的现象所绑架。
That means that our attention is not in the present moment, so when we're thinking about the past, our attention is fully in the past, same thing with the future.
这意味着我们的注意力并不集中于此刻。当我们回想过去时，我们的注意力就完全沉浸在过去；同理，当我们思考未来时，也会全神贯注于未来。
About 50% of our waking moments, we aren't in the present moment.
我们大约有50%的清醒时间，并没有集中注意力于当前时刻。
Now, that may seem very disempowering, like, 'How are we ever gonna fight that fight?'
这可能让人觉得很无助，你可能在想，我们怎样才能应对这种情况呢？
But, the good news is that decades of research in my own lab and many others has now given us a solution: mindfulness training, something that's been around for millennia.
但是，好消息是经过几十年的研究，我自己的实验室以及许多其他实验室现在已经找到了一个解决方案：正念训练，一种源远流长的方法。
We can train our brain so that we do not need to fight.
我们可以通过训练大脑，从而无需进行抗争。
What we know is that when people practice mindfulness meditation, which is attending to the present moment, their attention is stronger.
我们所知道的是，当人们练习正念冥想，即专注于当前时刻，他们的注意力会变得更加强大。
12 minutes or more a day can cultivate something called 'Meta-Awareness.'
每天坚持12分钟或以上，能够培养所谓的元意识。
What is Meta-Awareness?
什么是元意识？
It's the ability to be aware of the contents and processes of what's going on in our mind moment by moment.
元意识是指我们能够实时察觉自己心理活动的内容与过程的能力。
We're paying attention to our attention.
我们正在专注于自身的注意力。
Now, why would that awareness be beneficial?
那么，这种意识为什么会有好处呢？
Because every time we are aware, we have more control.
因为每当我们保持意识时，我们就能获得更多的控制力。
We can own our attention, and we have it available to us to not only enjoy the moments of our lives and feel fulfillment, but to meet the challenges and demands that we certainly will all face.
我们可以掌控自己的注意力，不仅能享受生命中的美好时光，感受成就感，还能迎接我们必将面对的各种挑战和需求。
Minds wander; it's a natural thing that the brain does.
思绪会飘忽，这是大脑的自然反应。
When our mind moves away, gently return it back, simply begin again.
当我们的思绪走神时，轻轻地引导它回来，只需简单地重新开始。【贝贝英语网】