The School of Life｜专注当下才能管理好情绪

Managing your Mood: Tips for Staying Present

We keep forgetting this lesson, even though it is – quite literally – written above us in the sky, as if someone at the moment of creation knew we'd have trouble keeping it in mind: we are made of moods, our spirits are constantly in motion, like the restless procession of weather fronts across a temperamental sky.

Therefore, nothing can be stable for long: a serene, beautiful day will, almost inevitably, be followed by an overcast one, a still morning by a blustery afternoon, a vicious storm by a serene sunset.

We keep striving for fixed positions, as if we were made of stone. We say this is what I believe, this who I like, this is what I want… And then the universe laughs and gives us a headache, a bad night, indigestion, a moment of euphoria, an energetic libido, a bout of conscience – and everything is once more upended.

We should proceed more cautiously. In the quiet of our minds, so as not to alarm those around us, we should caveat the majority of our ideological positions with a humble 'for now…' This job seems to make enormous sense… for now. I feel I've worked things out… for now. This is who I am… for now. None of us are ever more than a few shifts in serotonin levels away from a transformation of heart.

There is in our changeability an almost comedic interplay between what we might crudely refer to as our bodies and our minds; our higher faculties and our basic plumbing. We may feel that our perspectives on politics or love, the quality of a book or our assessment of a friend are built on disinterested, solid ground. We feel sure that the nobler parts of us are guiding our ideas, we don't recognise the extent to which what we are convinced of at a given point is really the outcome of how much sleep we've had or what is happening to our blood sugar levels. We'll solemnly declare that life not worth living long before it occurs to us that we may urgently need to have a nap or reach for an orange juice.

Keeping this at the front of our minds can help us to be more generous and accurate about those we live among. It may be – as they tell us with utter conviction at midnight in the kitchen – that they do hate our guts or never want to see their mother again, or it might just be that it's time to get to bed and a heavy meal so late was not particularly a good idea.

Understanding that we are a patchwork of moods can be of particular assistance in those states when we can't see a single sliver of blue in the inner sky. We should have the experience to know that even though we don't – right at this moment – have any idea what can shift our condition, if we sit within the inner jet stream long enough and wait, something will eventually come along to push our horrors away. Just as, more sombrely, whenever we can no longer imagine any reasons why we were ever sad, we should always remember the autumn gales.

We stumble because of our tendency to too quickly declare 'this is me and always will be…' It almost never is; it's a heatwave, a squall, a shower, an Indian summer. We want to be solid, and we can only be air and water, gas and heat, current and front. We should take most of what we believe in at any single moment with wholehearted amused scepticism – and carry with us, always, an umbrella.

词汇表
in motion [ˈməʊʃ(ə)n] 在运转中，在运动中
restless procession  [ˈrestlɪs] [prə'seʃ(ə)n] 不断地移动，不安的行进
weather front [frʌnt] （冷暖空气交汇的）锋面
temperamental [ˌtemprəˈment(ə)l] 喜怒无常的，反复无常的，易变的
serene [səˈriːn] 宁静的，平静的，安宁的
overcast [ˈəʊvə(r)ˌkɑːst] 阴天的，多云的
blustery ['blʌst(ə)ri] 狂风大作的，起风暴的
vicious storm ['vɪʃəs] 猛烈的暴风雨
indigestion [ˌɪndɪˈdʒestʃ(ə)n] 消化不良
euphoria [juːˈfɔːriə] 狂喜，亢奋，异常兴奋
energetic libido [lɪˈbiːdəʊ] 旺盛的性欲
a bout of conscience [baʊt][ˈkɒnʃ(ə)ns] 良心发作，良心觉醒
upended [ʌpˈendɪd] 翻倒的，颠倒的
caveat ['keɪviæt] 警告，提醒 ，附加说明
ideological position [ˌaɪdiəˈlɒdʒɪk(ə)l] 意识形态立场，思想立场
serotonin level [ˌsɪərəˈtəʊnɪn] 血清素水平
changeability [ˌtʃeɪndʒə'bɪlətɪ] 变化性，易变性
comedic interplay [kə'miːdɪk][ˈɪntə(r)ˌpleɪ] 喜剧性的相互作用
crudely [kru:dlɪ] 粗糙地，简单地，粗略地
faculty ['fæk(ə)lti] 能力，官能，机能
plumbing   ['plʌmɪŋ] 生理机能；管道系统，水暖设备
disinterested [dɪsˈɪntrəstɪd] 客观的，公正无私的；无兴趣的
solemnly declare ['sɒləmli] [dɪˈkleə(r)] 庄严地宣布，郑重声明
with utter conviction [ˈʌtə(r)] [kən'vɪkʃ(ə)n] 无比坚定地，深信不疑地
heavy meal 丰盛的一餐；难消化的膳食
patchwork [ˈpætʃˌwɜː(r)k] 拼缝物，拼凑物
a sliver of  [ˈslɪvə(r)] 一丝，少量，一点点
jet stream [dʒet] 急流，喷气流
push our horrors away [ˈhɒrə(r)] 驱散恐惧
sombrely [ˈsɒmbəli] 昏暗地，严肃地，忧郁地
gale [ɡeɪl] 狂风，大风
heatwave ['hiːtweɪv] 热浪，酷热期
squall [skwɔːl] 狂风，暴风
shower [ˈʃaʊə(r)] 阵雨
Indian summer 小阳春（指早秋的一段暖和天气）
current ['kʌrənt] 电流，水流，气流
wholehearted [ˌhəʊlˈhɑː(r)tɪd] 全心全意地，赤诚的
amused scepticism [əˈmjuːzd][ˈskeptɪˌsɪz(ə)m] 戏谑的怀疑态度

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