克服恐懼的5種方法

Of the many unpleasant emotions we can experience, fear may just top the list.

在我們所能體會到的不愉快的情感之中，排在第一位的可能就是恐懼。

But fear is more than just physically unpleasant. Fear can also keep us from pursuing the things in life that really matter -- like following our dreams, and developing and taking care of important relationships.

但是恐懼不只是一種生理上的不愉快。恐懼會阻止我們追求那些能讓生活變得美好的事情——比如說追逐夢想、發展并維持好重要的人際關系。

I have good news though. We can be free from the grip that fear often has on us.

不過我有好消息要告訴你。我們是可以擺脫恐懼的束縛的。

1. How experience reduces fear.

1. 經歷如何減少恐懼。

I used to be very afraid of getting up in front of people and speaking. I would get sweatypalms and my stomach would be so tied up that I wouldn't be able to eat. I would experience so much tension in my neck and shoulders that I would almost always have a headache by the time I had to speak or shortly thereafter.

我曾經非常害怕在人們面前講話。我會手心冒汗，肚子還會抽筋以至于都吃不下東西。我的脖子和肩膀還會一直有一股力量緊繃著，導致我在講話或者講話之后一會兒就會一陣頭疼。

Each time I spoke though, I noticed afterwards that it wasn't that bad. This is a trend I've noticed throughout my life. Things I fear are never as bad in reality as I make them out to be in my mind.

每一次我當眾講話之后，我都會注意到其實它并沒有想得那樣糟糕。這是我在生活中已經注意到了的一種現象。我害怕的事情在現實中并沒有像我想象的那樣可怕。

So one element of training for fearlessness is to simply push ourselves to do things that we fear so that we have more opportunities to develop the wisdom that the things we fear are always worse in our minds than they are when we actually experience them.

所以鍛煉克服恐懼的一個方法是就讓自己去做我們所感到恐懼的事，這樣我們就會有更多的機會來提升自身的智慧，認識到我們所恐懼的事在想象中比在現實中是更加可怕的。

2. Practicing investigation of our inner worlds.

2. 練習探索我們的內心世界

Of course, the real question is how do we move through the fear that keeps us from acting? If we never take action, we never develop the wisdom described above.

當然，真正的問題是我們如何越過恐懼這一個阻止我們行動的難關？如果我們從不行動，那我們就不會擁有上面所說的智慧之見。

Developing freedom from fear of our outer world, begins with facing what we fear in our inner world.

擺脫外部世界帶來的恐懼，從面對我們內心世界里的恐懼開始。

Each day, we should be taking some time to sit still in mindfulness. At least 5-10 minutes each morning and evening. The attitude we should maintain, especially during our practice of sitting still, is one of curiosity about what we are actually experiencing in this moment.

每一天，我們應該花一些時間來靜坐冥思。每天早上和晚上至少要有5—10分鐘的時間。特別在當我們練習靜坐的時候，我們應該保持這樣的態度，即對我們正在經歷的這一瞬間保持好奇。

The attitude can be summed up with the question: What's happening now?

這種態度可以用一個問題來概括：現在正在發生什么？

The more we practice this curious investigation of what is actually occurring in our inner world, the easier it is turn toward the things in our inner world that scare us, like the thoughts we wish wouldn't come up, the unpleasant emotions like anxiety and anger, and the unskillful states of mind like jealousy and greed.

當我們練習如何探索內心世界的次數越多，我們就會更容易地接觸到那些在內心深處我們所真正恐懼的，像是一些我們不曾希望出現的念頭，一些不愉快的情感，比如焦慮和憤怒，還有不成熟的心理比如嫉妒和貪婪。

Learning to turn toward these unpleasant elements of our inner world serves a few purposes. First, we start to see that we can face anything in our inner world. By developing freedom from fear of things in our inner world, we find that we have more courage to face things that scare us in the outer world.

學會面對我們內心世界的負能量有很多用處。首先，我們開始意識到我們可以面對內心世界的一切。通過練習擺脫內心的恐懼，我們發現我們有更多的勇氣去面對那些外部世界令我們卻步的事物。

Second, by consistently practicing turning towards the things that scare us, we're more likely to do so when we face a really challenging situation. This is absolutely essential for being able to transcend fear.

其次，通過不斷地練習面對令我們恐懼的事物，當遇到一個真正的挑戰時，我們更有可能勇敢地面對它們。這對于超越恐懼是十分必要的。

3. Creating space.

3. 創造空間。

The first and most important step to being free from the grip of fear in a frighteningsituation is to create some space between ourselves and the emotion of fear.

第一步也是最重要的一步是在一個恐怖的情形下擺脫恐懼的魔爪，在我們本身與恐懼這個情感的中間創造出空間。

This isn't accomplished by ignoring the fear, or trying to talk ourselves out of it.

這不僅僅只靠忽視恐懼或者試圖說服自己逃離它而實現的。

Space is created automatically when we honestly acknowledge that fear is present by mentally naming the emotion, “There is fear.” In fact, research at UCLA shows that by simply naming an emotion we actually begin to reverse the “fight or flight” response in the body.

當我們誠實地承認恐懼的存在：“這是恐懼”，空間就自動地被創造出來了。事實上，UCLA的一項研究顯示，承認一種情感會讓我們開始扭轉“戰斗還是逃跑”的生理反應。

4. Control the breath and investigate the fear.

4. 控制呼吸并研究恐懼。

Once we acknowledge the presence of fear, the second step is to control the breathing so that it becomes slower and gentler.

我們一旦承認恐懼的存在，第二步就是控制呼吸，令它變得緩慢而柔和。

With each exhalation, we try to make the exhalation just a little bit longer, and we investigate with curiousity how fear manifests in the body. As we pay attention to the physical symptoms of fear, we find that the space between ourselves and the emotion increases. We see the emotion more objectively.

隨著呼氣，我們試著讓呼氣的過程更長一點，我們隨著好奇心探索著恐懼是如何在我們的身體上表現出來的。當我們注意到恐懼的生理現象后，我們發現在我們自身和情感之間的空間變大了。我們對待情感變得更加客觀了。

5. Visualize a positive outcome.

5. 使一個積極的結果視覺化。

With practice, we can create just enough space between our fearful thoughts and the emotion of fear so that we're able to replace a fearful thought with a positive one. We can visualize a positive outcome for whatever we're about to do.

隨著練習的深入，我們可以在我們恐懼的念頭和恐懼的情感之間創造出足夠的空間，因而我們能夠把恐懼的念頭轉變成一個積極的念頭。我們可以使一個積極的結果視覺化，令其成為我們所要做的事。

For instance, before I get up to speak in front of a group of people, I visualize the people in the audience being positively impacted by what I say and the spirit of kindness and service in which I try to remain while speaking.

舉個例子，在我走上去面對人們演講時，我想象底下的觀眾積極地被我的講話所打動，而我則努力保持著一種友善而負責的精神完成我的演講。

When we can see a positive outcome in our mind, we can easily say, “I'm doing this!” Fear no longer holds us back.

當我們能在心里看到一個積極的結果時，我們就會很容易地說，“我真的可以做這個！”恐懼就不再阻礙我們了。