Why Letting Ourselves Feel Bad Is the Key to Feeling Better
包容壞情緒是轉變的開始
來源 / Source:
http://www.tinybuddha.com/blog/why-letting-ourselves-feel-bad-is-the-key-to-feeling-better/
By Jennifer Chrisman
作者: 珍妮佛.克莉斯曼
“The more you hide your feelings, the more
they show. The more you deny your feelings, the more they grow.” ~Unknown
「你越隱藏自己的感覺，它就會越明顯。你越否定自己的感覺，它就會越強烈」~ 無名氏
For as long as I can remember, I
have been on a quest to heal myself. From a very young age I can remember
feeling different from my peers. I was always painfully shy and paralyzed with
insecurity and fear, which left me in a constant state of self-criticism.
似乎從有記憶以來，我就一直在設法療癒自己。從小我就覺得自己和別人不一樣。我很害羞不自在，覺得害怕缺乏安全感，所以總是畏畏縮縮。這種個性讓我經常處在批評自己的狀態。
Hardships in my young life,
including the suicide of my father, left me with the belief that life was just
hard.
小時候一些不幸的遭遇，包括父親的自殺，讓我相信活著是件辛苦的事。
Unfortunately, I also thought that
it wasn’t supposed to be and that something was wrong with me because I had so
much pain in my life. My head swirled with shame wondering, “What’s wrong with
me? Why can’t I get over this, or that?”
不過，我不覺得事情應該如此，而且因為我的人生帶給我很多痛苦，我認為問題是出在我身上。我腦子裏充滿了羞愧和問號: 「我是那裏出了問題 ? 為什麼我不能克服這個，或那個呢?」
My solution to the pain I felt was
to basically wage war on myself and conquer all of the difficult feelings I
experienced.
我對痛苦的解決之道，基本上是對自己展開一場戰爭，去對抗所有情緒上的困擾。
I truly believed that I just needed
to figure out the right formula, accomplishments, and milestones, and then I
wouldn’t have these painful feelings and I would finally feel okay in my skin.
我確信只要知道正確的方法，掌握住一些目標和關鍵點，我就不會再有這些難過的情緒，我就可以坦然地做我自己了。
Along the way, I hit all of the
targets I had identified: I lost weight, I earned degrees, I made money, I did lots
of therapy; I created a life for myself where everything looked the way it was
supposed to, but I still struggled with fears and insecurity.
這一路走來，我達到了所有的目標 : 減重，拿到學位，賺了錢，而且接受了很多治療。我的人生在各方面都變得很理想，但是我仍然感到恐懼和缺乏安全感。
This mission I was on to fix myself
only added insult to injury, because my primary thought process was that
something was seriously wrong with me and if I wanted to be happy, like I
thought everyone else was, then I needed to stop having what I had deemed “bad”
feelings.
我對自己進行的這個修復工程只讓我的傷痛更加不堪，因為我的基本邏輯是我本身有嚴重的問題。我認為別人都很快樂，如果我想要和他們一樣，我就不能再有我所認為的「壞」情緒。
Rather than giving myself a break, I
found the path of greatest resistance.
我不僅沒有放過自己，而且決定採取全面對抗的策略。
I was in a constant battle with
myself, where every time I had an uncomfortable
feeling I jumped on myself for feeling that
way and immediately set out to change that feeling. I couldn’t distinguish the
difference of “I’m having a ‘bad’ feeling,” from “I am bad.”
結果我總是處在和自己作戰的狀態。每當心情不好時，我會責備自己，並且立刻想辦法去改變那個情緒。我不能分辨「心情不好」和「我不好」是兩回事。
When we react
negatively to our own negative emotions,
treating them as enemies to be overcome, eliminated, and defeated, we get into
trouble. Our reactions to unhappiness can transform what might just be a brief,
passing sadness into a persistent dissatisfaction and overall unhappiness.
如果我們用負面的手段去對待負面的情緒，把它們當成敵人一樣去抵抗和殲滅，情況只會更糟糕。這個反應可能會將一個原本偶然短暫的悲傷變成一個揮之不去的陰霾。
Unfortunately, no matter how hard we
try to avoid emotional pain, it follows us everywhere. Difficult emotions, like
shame, anger, loneliness, fear, despair, confusion, are a natural part of the
human experience. It’s just not possible to avoid feeling bad.
不幸的是，不管我們怎麼努力去避免痛苦的情緒，它仍然會如影隨行。不愉快的情緒，諸如羞愧、憤怒、寂寞、恐懼、沮喪和不安，都是人性很自然的一部份，我們是不可能去避免的。
However, we can learn how to deal
with difficult emotions in a new, healthier way, by practicing acceptance of our
emotions, embracing them fully as they are,
moment to moment. For me, this has meant creating space in my life for all of
the parts of experience, the ups and the downs.
然而，我們可以學習用一種健康的方式去面對情緒上的困擾，我們可以練習在每個當下接受我們的情緒，包容它的存在。對我來說，這代表我要給所有 的生活體驗一個存在的空間，包括好的和不好的。
Unfortunately, in Western culture
very few of us have been given the tools to tolerate our own difficult
feelings, or those of another person. Not only do we want to avoid feeling pain
at all costs, we want to prevent the people we care about from feeling their
own pain.
很遺憾，西方文化並沒有教我們太多如何接受自己或別人情緒困擾的方法。我們不僅想盡辦法要躲避不好的情緒，還希望我們所關心的人也能倖免。
Recently I found myself in a
situation where I was confronted with a past loss, and although it has been two
years since the loss, I found myself emotionally wrecked, as though it had just
happened yesterday.
最近有些狀況勾起了我一個過往的傷痛。雖然那個傷痛已經過去兩年了，我發現我的心仍然嚴重受創，彷彿那不過是昨天的事。
In my sadness, I reached out to a
few friends for comfort and was surprised at how difficult it was for them to tolerate my difficult emotions.
難過之餘，我轉向幾位朋友尋求慰藉，卻發現他們 很難接受我痛苦的情緒。
In an effort to help, they wanted to
battle the sadness and told me things like I was sitting in self-pity and
feeling sorry for myself; that I needed to practice
more gratitude in that moment. Again, they weren’t trying to be
hurtful; they were just trying to help me stop feeling sad.
他們好心想幫我，希望我能克服悲傷，說我不過是在自哀自憐，覺得自己很可憐，我應該學習感恩。當然他們並不是想傷害我，他們只是想幫助我停止悲傷。
Thankfully, I’ve done enough work on
this path to know that that was not what I needed. In that moment, I simply
needed to allow myself to feel sad.
還好，在這個過程中我已經做了很多功課，知道那不是我需要的。在那一刻，我只需要容許自己一個悲傷的空間。
I knew the feeling wasn’t going to
last forever and I had a choice, I could either drag it out by waging war on
myself, or I could recognize that, for whatever reason, in that moment, I just
felt sad.
我知道這個感覺不會永遠存在，我有選擇權。我可以選擇和自己對抗，讓這個情緒延續下去，或者我可以接受它 -- 不管是什麼原因，在那個時候我就是覺得悲傷。
Again, our reactions to our
difficult emotions can transform what may have been just a brief, passing
sadness (as was the case for me in this situation) into persistent dissatisfaction
and unhappiness (two decades of my life).
如同之前說的，我們的反應可能會將一個原本偶然短暫的悲傷 (像我這個情況) 變成一個揮之不去的陰霾 (我過去20年的人生)。
By learning to bear witness to our
own pain and responding with kindness and understanding, rather than greeting
difficult emotions by fighting hard against them, we open ourselves up to
genuine healing and a new experience of living; this is self-compassion.
如果我們能學習容忍痛苦的感覺，用一個寬容和理解的心看待它，而不是用蠻力去對抗不愉快的情緒，我們就能給自己一個真正療癒和全新生活的機會。這就叫做「善待自己」。
If you’re someone who is used to
beating yourself up for feeling sad or lonely, if you hide from the world whenever you make a
mistake, or if you endlessly obsess over how you could have prevented the
mistake in the first place, self-compassion may seem like an impossible
concept. But it is imperative that we embrace this idea if we are to truly
live freely.
如果你在感覺悲傷或寂寞時會責備自己，如果你犯了錯之後就想躲起來，或者你會對一個可能可以避免的錯誤不斷地懊悔，「善待自己」這個觀念似乎有點不可思議。但是如果我們想要過一個真正自在的生活，這個觀念一定要有。
When we fight against emotional
pain, we get trapped in it. Difficult emotions become destructive and break
down the mind, body, and spirit. Feelings get stuck, frozen in time, and we get
stuck in them.
和痛苦的情緒對抗只會讓我們作繭自缚。難過的情緒是有毀滅性的，會摧毀我們身心靈的健康。無法化解的情緒滯留在心裏，讓我們深陷其中不能自拔。
The happiness we long for in
relationships seems to elude us. Satisfaction at work lies just beyond our
reach. We drag ourselves through the day, arguing with our physical aches and
pains. Usually we have no idea how many of
these daily struggles lie rooted in how we relate to the inevitable
discomfort of life. The problem is not the sadness itself, but how our minds
react to the sadness.
親密關係似乎沒有帶給我們所渴望的快樂，工作上也得不到滿足。我們忍著身體上的疼痛，疲憊地度過每一天。我們不知道，其實很多這些日常的困擾和我們如何面對 生活中不如意的事有關。問題不是出在悲傷本身，而是出在我們的心如何面對悲傷。
Change comes naturally when we open
ourselves to emotional pain with uncommon kindness. Instead of blaming,
criticizing, and trying to fix ourselves when things go wrong or we feel bad,
we can start with self-compassion. This simple, although definitely not easy,
shift can make a tremendous difference in your life.
如果我們能寬容一點，用一個慈悲的心去面對不愉快的情緒，改變自然會發生。當不如意的事發生或感覺難過時，我們可以試著對自己仁慈一點，不要一味地去責備、批判或糾正自己。這種轉變也許知易行難，但它會為你創造一個不一樣的人生。
It’s important to remember that
embracing your strengths and well-being does not mean ignoring your
difficulties. We are measured by our ability to work through our
hardships and insecurities, not avoid them.
我們都喜歡看自己的優點和生活中光彩的部份， 但這並不表示我們應該忽略我們所面臨的難題，這點很重要。我們的成長來自於經歷 每一個困境和不安，而不是逃避它們。
We are all fighting some sort of
battle, and when we accept this truth for ourselves, and others, it becomes a
lot easier to say, “I’m struggling right now and that is okay.”
每個人都有難關要過，如果我們能對自己和他人接受這個事實，就可以輕鬆地說出這句話: 「我現在有點困擾，但沒有關係。」
Not being okay all the time is
perfectly okay.
不能時刻保有一個好心情其實是很OK的。
About Jennifer Chrisman
Jennifer
Chrisman is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist practicing in Los Angeles, where
she specializes in using Mindfulness based approaches to help her clients find
more meaning in their life. To learn more, you can check out her website here, or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.
關於珍妮佛.克莉斯曼
* Judy H 譯 *
相關文章 / You may also like to read :
(視頻) 正視靈魂的語言 - 情緒 (蒂兒‧史汪) / (Video) Emotional Wake Up Call (Teal Swan)
「正面思考，還是...做自己 ? 」(艾妮塔‧穆札尼) / “Being Positive? Or Being Yourself ?” By Anita Moorjani
認識你的「心靈知己」 / Know Your "Soul Mate" (By Judy H)
心理的故事 : 我「走過」情緒 / "Going Through My Emotions" (By Judy H)
相關文章 / You may also like to read :
(視頻) 正視靈魂的語言 - 情緒 (蒂兒‧史汪) / (Video) Emotional Wake Up Call (Teal Swan)
「正面思考，還是...做自己 ? 」(艾妮塔‧穆札尼) / “Being Positive? Or Being Yourself ?” By Anita Moorjani
認識你的「心靈知己」 / Know Your "Soul Mate" (By Judy H)
心理的故事 : 我「走過」情緒 / "Going Through My Emotions" (By Judy H)
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