谷歌的幸福算法

谷歌的幸福算法

Deep inside the global tech behemoth Google sits an engineer with an unusual job description: to make people happier and the world more peaceful.

在全球科技巨頭谷歌的深處，坐著一位工程師，他有著不同尋常的工作描述：讓人們更快樂，讓世界更和平。

A few years ago, Chade-Meng Tan, one of the company's first engineering employees in Mountain View, noticed many of his colleagues were stressed out and unhappy at work, so he decided to do something about it. He persuaded his bosses to let him create a course that would teach employees mindfulness skills to enhance emotional intelligence and promote wellbeing, and he transitioned to the HR department to run it. In a nod to his employer, he called it Search Inside Yourself, an admittedly corny name that is also the title of his book about the course's techniques.

幾年前，公司在山景城的第一批工程員工之一Chade-Meng Tan注意到，他的許多同事在工作中壓力很大，不開心，所以他決定做點(diǎn)什么。他說服老板讓他開設(shè)一門課程，教授員工專注力技能，以提高情商，增進(jìn)幸福感。他轉(zhuǎn)行到人力資源部負(fù)責(zé)這項工作。經(jīng)過雇主的同意，起了一個公認(rèn)的老掉牙的名字，叫做“尋找內(nèi)心深處的你”，也是他那本關(guān)于這門課程技巧的書的書名。

At the 2014 SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, I was curious about Meng's panel, called "Make Yourself the Happiest Person on Earth." Not surprisingly, given the talk's promise, every seat and spot of floor space in the hotel ballroom was filled. Meng promised he was going to teach us the "scientifically proven" secret of happiness in three easy steps.

在2014年德克薩斯州奧斯汀舉辦的SXSW音樂節(jié)上，我對Meng的小組(讓自己成為世界上最幸福的人)感到好奇。毫不奇怪，考慮到這次演講的內(nèi)容，酒店宴會廳的每個座位和樓層都坐滿了人。Meng承諾，他將用三個簡單的步驟教給我們“經(jīng)過科學(xué)證明的”幸福秘訣。

Step one: "Calm your mind"

第一步:“冷靜下來”

To introduce his first piece of advice, Meng led the SXSW audience through a short collective breathing exercise to calm the fluffy particles in the "snow-globes" (his metaphor) in our skulls. He advocates finding easy ways to take pauses during the day and be mindful of your breath. "If that's too hard, then just think about nothing for little bit," he joked.

為了介紹他的第一個建議，Meng帶領(lǐng)SXSW的觀眾做了一個簡短的集體呼吸練習(xí)，以平息我們頭骨中“雪球”(他的比喻)中的絨毛顆粒。他提倡找到簡單的方法，讓你在白天休息，注意自己的呼吸。他開玩笑說:“如果這太難了，那就什么都不要想。”

But does it work? There is some evidence that mindfulness can help stave off negative thoughts. A recent review of 209 studies found that the practice can help treat depression, anxiety and stress. (Some researchers even claim that the stress-reduction promised by meditation could help slow the effects of aging.)

但這有用嗎?有證據(jù)表明，專注力可以幫助避免消極的想法。最近對209項研究的回顧發(fā)現(xiàn)，這種做法有助于治療抑郁癥、焦慮癥和壓力。(一些研究人員甚至聲稱，冥想帶來的減壓效果可能有助于減緩衰老的影響。)

Step two: "Log moments of joy"

第二步:記錄快樂的時刻

This means simply saying to yourself -- as you sip a great espresso, laugh at your friend's joke or buy that shirt you've wanted -- "I am having a moment of joy!" When negative things happen to us throughout the day we tend to hold on to them, while the good things are more fleeting and ephemeral. So, by consciously acknowledging the good things, says Meng, we increase our chances that when we reflect on our day, we conclude it was happy one.

這意味著，當(dāng)你喝一杯很棒的濃縮咖啡，因?yàn)槟闩笥训男υ挾笮?，或者買你想要的襯衫，只需對自己說“我正在享受快樂的時刻!”當(dāng)一天中消極的事情發(fā)生在我們身上時，我們傾向于抓住它們不放，而好的事情更容易轉(zhuǎn)瞬即逝。因此，Meng說，通過有意識地承認(rèn)好的事情，我們增加了一種機(jī)會，即當(dāng)我們反思我們的一天時，我們得出結(jié)論這是快樂的。

Step three: "Wish other people to be happy"

第三步:“祝他人幸福”

According to Meng, altruistic thoughts benefit us because we derive a lot of joy from giving, even more than from receiving.

根據(jù)Meng，利他主義思想使我們受益，因?yàn)槲覀儚慕o予中獲得了很多快樂，甚至比從接受中獲得的更多。