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From Gloom To Gratitude: 8 Skills To Cultivate Joy
May 5, 2019
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
If you know someone who sees things as a glass half empty, might be tough to even imagine them with a sunnier outlook on life. But as NPR's Allison Aubrey reports there's a new study; it finds that skills can be taught to encourage a positive outlook - even to people who are depressed or stressed.
ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: Imagine for a moment that you're madly in love. You get married, plan out a life. And then, just when you have the time and the money to travel and live it up, your spouse gets early onset Alzheimer's. That's Melissa Meltzer Warehall's story. Her husband, Paul, developed symptoms in his early 50s.
MELISSA MELTZER WAREHALL: Every single day is depressing and anxiety-producing. And it's very, very frustrating to know the man who he used to be and the shell of the person he is now.
AUBREY: She knows she can't change her circumstances. But she wanted to learn to cope better, so she reached out for help.
JUDITH MOSKOWITZ: When you're experiencing a lot of stress in your life, it's easy to sort of head into that downward spiral.
AUBREY: That's Judith Moskowitz of Northwestern University. She developed a program that teaches people how to cope with stress.
MOSKOWITZ: It's a set of eight skills taught over the course of about five weeks.
AUBREY: It can be taught in person or virtually using Skype or FaceTime. And when Melissa signed up, she agreed to be part of a study to test the program's effectiveness.
WAREHALL: I was a little bit skeptical.
AUBREY: But she says a few weeks into the program, she began to feel her attitude shift. She learned the basics of meditation and deep breathing. And she learned a technique called reframing. It's easier said than done, but the idea is that you aim to see a daily hassle as something positive. For Melissa, daily hassles include Paul wandering off.
WAREHALL: It's very frustrating.
AUBREY: But rather than focus on the negative, she now focuses on what they can still do together. For instance, she helped him rediscover music.
WAREHALL: So I signed him up for harmonica lessons every Saturday.
AUBREY: And that's great for both of them.
WAREHALL: Being with him when he's making music - he plays a mean blues harmonica - is wonderful for me too.
AUBREY: And she tries to hang on to these positive moments.
WAREHALL: Every single day, I look for that silver lining.
AUBREY: Judith Moskowitz says these skills are widely applicable.
MOSKOWITZ: Anyone can be taught to be a little more positive.
AUBREY: And her study finds that caregivers who practice these skills had a significant drop in depression and anxiety. Melissa noticed it in herself and in Paul.
WAREHALL: If my energy is positive, it's easier to care for him.
AUBREY: She says she tries to write down one thing each day to be grateful for.
WAREHALL: I remind myself I still have him. And I can still hug him and hold him, and I still tell him I love him all the time.
AUBREY: It's a way to focus on what is instead of what's lost. Allison Aubrey, NPR News.
知识点笔记：
1.gloom:阴暗、昏暗，引申为忧郁
e.g. 1....the gloom of a foggy November morning...
2....the deepening gloom over the economy.
2.onset:（不好的事）开始
the onset of something: the beginning of something, especially something bad:
e.g. 1.Most of the passes have been closed with the onset of winter...
2.With the onset of war, oil prices climbed past $30 a barrel.
3.develop sysmtom这里出现疾病症状用了develop
develop a program开展一个（课程）项目
4.形容忧郁、烦恼、沮丧：depressing, anxiety-producing, frustrating
5.reach out for:寻求
e.g. reach out for love
6.好句：When you're experiencing a lot of stress in your life, it's easy to sort of head into that downward spiral. 想象一下往下旋转的曲线，很形象。
7.in person or virtually：用现在的流行语解释就是：线下线上
8.skeptical: doubtful
sceptical about/of
e.g.1.I'm extremely sceptical about what I read in the press.
2.Environmental groups are sceptical of the government's claims.
9.shift: change
回忆：前天(190515)学了make a swap/make the switch,也是make a change 的意思。
10.hassle:(spoken) something that is annoying, because it causes problems or is difficult to do麻烦事
e.g.1.I don't feel like cooking tonight, it's too much hassle.
2.It's such a hassle not having a washing machine.
11.(1)harmonica：口琴
e.g. People played blues first with only one or two instruments, for example, a guitar, a harmonica, or sometimes a piano.
(2)blues：布鲁斯，蓝调音乐
(3)请注意，mean在这里不是平均的、也不是苛刻的，而是一句赞美。
a mean something:（informal) used to say that something is very good or that someone is very good at doing something表示某事物很好或者某人很擅长这件事
e.g.1. He plays a mean game of poker.
2.They serve a mean Sunday brunch at the restaurant on Fourth Street.
因此，这句说的是这位先生吹口琴吹的好，后面他的太太又说了一句is wonderful for me too.
12.silver lining：（黑暗中的）一线光明、（困境中的）一线希望。
e.g. 1.As they say, every cloud has a silver lining. We have drawn lessons from the decisions taken.
2.The fall in inflation is the silver lining of the prolonged recession.
有一年奥斯卡提名的电影就是《乌云背后的幸福线》
(Silver Linings Playbook)，这一名字也是来自谚语Every cloud has a silver lining.
13.It's a way to focus on what is instead of what's lost.
很有哲理的句子。
附：文中提及课程中的8个方法。
关键词：正念、专注、当下、感恩、友善。
Here's a quick summary of the eight techniques used in Moskowitz' study:
1.Take a moment to identify one positive event each day.
2.Tell someone about the positive event or share it on social media. This can help you savor the moment a little longer.
3.Start a daily gratitude journal. Aim to find little things you're grateful for, such as a good cup of coffee, a pretty sunrise or nice weather.
4.Identify a personal strength and reflect on how you've used this strength today or in recent weeks.
5.Set a daily goal and track your progress.
"This is based on research that shows when we feel progress towards a goal, we have more positive emotions," Moskowitz says.
The goal should not be too lofty. You want to be able to perceive progress.
6.Try to practice "positive reappraisal": Identify an event or daily activity that is a hassle. Then, try to reframe the event in a more positive light.
Example: If you're stuck in traffic, try to savor the quiet time. If you practice this enough, it can start to become a habit.
7.Do something nice for someone else each day. These daily acts of kindness can be as simple as giving someone a smile or giving up your seat on a crowded train. Research shows we feel better when we're kind to others.
8.Practice mindfulness by paying attention to the present moment. You can also try a 10-minute breathing exercise that uses a focus on breathing to help calm the mind.