TED總結 消滅壞習慣的簡單方法

A simple way to break a bad habit

Judson Brewer

At TEDMED 2015

world list：

retreat 修養處

reinforcement 加固；增援；援軍；加強

dork 獃子，傻瓜

morbidity 發病率

mortality 死亡率

mindfulness 留心，警覺，冥想

mindful 留心的，警覺的

disenchanted 不在著迷的，感到幻滅的

disenchantment 清醒，覺悟

spouse 配偶

paradox 矛盾之處，悖論

willingness 樂意，心甘情願

restlessness 坐立不安，不安定

await 等待，期待降臨

simplistic 過分簡化的，簡單的

self-referential 自我指認的，自我指示

hypothesis 假設

inherent 固有的，與生俱來地

perpetuate 使永恆，使長久

compulsively 強制地，強迫

When I was first learning to meditate, the instruction was to simply pay attention to my breath, and when my mind wandered, to bring it back.

Sounded simple enough. Yet Id sit on these silent retreats（坐在安靜休養處）, sweating through T-shirts in the middle of winter. Id take naps every chance I got because it was really hard work. Actually, it was exhausting. The instruction was simple enough but I was missing something really important.

So why is it so hard to pay attention? Well, studies show that even when were really trying to pay attention to something -- like maybe this talk -- at some point, about half of us will drift off into a daydream（在白日夢裡神遊）, or have this urge to check our Twitter feed.

So whats going on here? It turns out that were fighting one of the most evolutionarily-conserved learning processes currently known in science, one thats conserved back to（be conserved to被保存為） the most basic nervous systems known to man.

This reward-based（以獎勵為本的） learning process is called positive and negative reinforcement, and basically goes like this. We see some food that looks good, our brain says, "Calories! ... Survival!" We eat the food, we taste it -- it tastes good. And especially with sugar, our bodies send a signal to our brain that says, "Remember what youre eating and where you found it." We lay down this context-dependent memory and learn to repeat the process next time. See food, eat food, feel good, and repeat. Trigger, behavior, reward.

Simple, right? Well, after a while, our creative brains say, "You know what? You can use this for more than just remembering where food is. You know, next time you feel bad, why dont you try eating something good so youll feel better?" We thank our brains for the great idea, try this and quickly learn that if we eat chocolate or ice cream when were mad or sad, we feel better.

Same process, just a different trigger. Instead of this hunger signal coming from our stomach, this emotional signal -- feeling sad -- triggers that urge to eat.

Maybe in our teenage years, we were a nerd at school, and we see those rebel kids outside smoking and we think, "Hey, I want to be cool." So we start smoking. The Marlboro Man wasnt a dork, and that was no accident. See cool, smoke to be cool, feel good. Repeat. Trigger, behavior, reward. And each time we do this, we learn to repeat the process and it becomes a habit.（我們學會了重複這個過程，並且養成了習慣）So later, feeling stressed out triggers that urge to smoke a cigarette or to eat something sweet.

Now, with these same brain processes, weve gone from learning to survive to literally killing ourselves with these habits. Obesity and smoking are among the leading preventable causes of morbidity and mortality in the world.

So back to my breath. What if instead of fighting our brains, or trying to force ourselves to pay attention, we instead tapped into this natural, reward-based learning process（藉助這個天然的、以獎勵為本的學習過程） ... But added a twist（稍微扭轉一下，改變一下）? What if instead we just got really curious about what was happening in our momentary experience（在我們瞬間的體驗中）?

Ill give you an example. In my lab, we studied whether mindfulness training could help people quit smoking. Now, just like trying to force myself to pay attention to my breath, they could try to force themselves to quit smoking. And the majority of them had tried this before and failed -- on average, six times.

Now, with mindfulness training, we dropped the bit about forcing and instead focused on being curious. In fact, we even told them to smoke. What? Yeah, we said, "Go ahead and smoke, just be really curious about what its like when you do."

And what did they notice? Well heres an example from one of our smokers. She said, "Mindful smoking: smells like stinky cheese and tastes like chemicals, YUCK!" Now, she knew, cognitively that smoking was bad for her, thats why she joined our program. What she discovered just by being curiously aware when she smoked was that smoking tastes like shit.

(Laughter)

Now, she moved from knowledge to wisdom.（她的知識已經升華到了智慧）She moved from knowing in her head（在頭腦里知道） that smoking was bad for her to knowing it in her bones（在骨子裡知道）, and the spell of smoking was broken（吸煙的魔咒就會被解除）. She started to become disenchanted with her behavior.

Now, the prefrontal cortex,（前額葉片質） that youngest part of our brain from an evolutionary perspective, it understands on an intellectual level（它在理智上我們不應該吸煙） that we shouldnt smoke. And it tries its hardest to help us change our behavior, to help us stop smoking, to help us stop eating that second, that third, that fourth cookie. We call this cognitive control. Were using cognition to control our behavior. Unfortunately, this is also the first part of our brain that goes offline（失去作用，不再工作，下線了） when we get stressed out（過度勞累）, which isnt that helpful.

Now, we can all relate to this in our own experience.（我們都可以找到自己類似的經驗） Were much more likely to do things like yell at our spouse or kids when were stressed out or tired, even though we know its not going to be helpful. We just cant help ourselves.

When the prefrontal cortex goes offline, we fall back into our old habits（我們會墜落回老習慣）, which is why this disenchantment is so important. Seeing what we get from our habits helps us understand them at a deeper level -- to know it in our bones so we dont have to force ourselves to hold back or restrain ourselves from behavior（遏制自己的行為）. Were just less interested in doing it in the first place.

And this is what mindfulness is all about: Seeing really clearly what we get when we get caught up in our behaviors（陷入我們的行為，被自己的行為絆住時）, becoming disenchanted on a visceral level（在一個本能的層面上） and from this disenchanted stance, naturally letting go.

This isnt to say that, poof, magically we quit smoking. But over time, as we learn to see more and more clearly the results of our actions（關於我們行為導致的結果看得越來越清楚）, we let go of old habits and form new ones.

The paradox here is that mindfulness is just about being really interested in getting close and personal with whats actually happening in our bodies and minds from moment to moment. This willingness to turn toward our experience rather than trying to make unpleasant cravings go away as quickly as possible（讓令人不愉快的渴望（癮念）去除）. And this willingness to turn toward our experience is supported by curiosity, which is naturally rewarding.

What does curiosity feel like? It feels good. And what happens when we get curious? We start to notice that cravings are simply made up of body sensations -- oh, theres tightness, theres tension, theres restlessness -- and that these body sensations come and go. These are bite-size pieces of experiences（極其微小的體驗） that we can manage from moment to moment rather than getting clobbered by this huge, scary craving that we choke on.（而不是被這巨大可怕得想要悶死我們的癮念所擊倒）

In other words, when we get curious, we step out of（走出了）our old, fear-based, reactive habit patterns, and we step into being. We become this inner scientist where were eager awaiting that next data point.

Now, this might sound too simplistic to affect behavior. But in one study, we found that mindfulness training was twice as good as gold standard therapy at helping people quit smoking. So it actually works.

And when we studied the brains of experienced meditators, we found that parts of a neural network of self-referential processing called the default mode network（預設模式的網路） were at play. Now, one current hypothesis is that a region of this network, called the posterior cingulate cortex, is activated not necessarily by craving itself but when we get caught up in it, when we get sucked in（當我們被吸進去）, and it takes us for a ride（他就會欺騙我們）.

In contrast（相反地說）, when we let go -- step out of the process just by being curiously aware of whats happening -- this same brain region quiets down.

Now were testing app and online-based mindfulness training programs that target these core mechanisms and, ironically, use the same technology thats driving us to distraction（讓人分心的） to help us step out of our unhealthy habit patterns of smoking, of stress eating and other addictive behaviors.（上癮地行為）

Now, remember that bit about context-dependent memory? We can deliver these tools to peoples fingertips in the contexts that matter most. So we can help them tap into（挖掘，接入） their inherent capacity to be curiously aware right when that urge to smoke or stress eat or whatever arises.

So if you dont smoke or stress eat, maybe the next time you feel this urge to（感受到一種衝動） check your email when youre bored, or youre trying to distract yourself from work, or maybe to compulsively respond to that text message when youre driving, see if you can tap into this natural capacity, just be curiously aware of whats happening in your body and mind in that moment. It will just be another chance to perpetuate one of our endless and exhaustive habit loops（持續保有這個永無止境和消耗性的惡性循環）... Or step out of it.（擺脫掉它）

Instead of see text message, compulsively text back, feel a little bit better -- notice the urge, get curious, feel the joy of letting go and repeat.

Thank you.

(Applause)