悲傷的神奇益處

Homo sapiens is a very moody species. Even though sadness and bad moods have always been part of the human experience, we now live in an age that ignores or devalues these feelings.

現代人是一種喜怒無常的物種。儘管悲傷和壞心情一直都是人類情感的一部分，但現在這個時代卻忽視或貶低這些情感。

In our culture, normal human emotions like temporary sadness are often treated as disorders. Manipulative advertising, marketing and self-help industries claim happiness should be ours for the asking. Yet bad moods remain an essential part of the normal range of moods we regularly experience.

在我們的文化中，一時悲傷等正常的人類情感通常會被認作情緒失調。蠱惑人心的廣告、營銷和自助行業聲稱幸福是唾手可得的。但我們卻經常心情低落，這是我們正常情緒的重要一部分。

Despite the near-universal cult of happiness and unprecedented material wealth, happiness and life satisfaction in Western societies has not improved for decades.

儘管西方社會普遍追求幸福，物質財富也空前強大，但幾十年來，這些社會的幸福和生活滿意度並沒有得到改善。

It's time to re-assess the role of bad moods in our lives. We should recognise they are a normal, and even a useful part, helping us cope with many everyday situations and challenges.

是時候重新審視壞心情在我們生活中扮演的角色了。我們必須承認這些情緒是正常的，甚至是有用的，能幫助我們應對許多日常情況和挑戰。

A short history of sadness

悲傷的短暫歷史

In earlier historical times, short spells of feeling sad or moody (known as mild dysphoria) have always been accepted as a normal part of everyday life. In fact, many of the greatest achievements of the human spirit deal with evoking, and even cultivating negative feelings.

早前歷史時期，人們一直認爲一時間感到悲傷或喜怒無常（也就是煩躁不安）是日常生活的正常一部分。事實上，人類精神的許多偉大成就都與喚醒、甚至是培養消極情緒有關。

Greek tragedies exposed and trained audiences to accept and deal with inevitable misfortune as a normal part of human life. Shakespeare's tragedies are classics because they echo this theme. And the works of many great artists such as Beethoven and Chopin in music, or Chekhov and Ibsen in literature explore the landscape of sadness, a theme long recognised as instructive and valuable.

希臘悲劇暴露並訓練觀衆去接受並將不可避免的不幸視作人類生活的正常部分。莎士比亞的悲劇成爲經典是因爲這些悲劇與這一主題遙相呼應。偉大藝術家的許多作品，比如貝多芬和喬邦的音樂作品，或是契科夫和易卜生的文學作品都探索了悲傷，這一主題被長期認爲能給人帶來啓發、具有價值。

Ancient philosophers have also believed accepting bad moods is essential to living a full life. Even hedonist philosophers like Epicurus recognised living well involves exercising wise judgement, restraint, self-control and accepting inevitable adversity.

古代哲學家也認爲接受心情低落是美滿生活的重要部分。即使是像伊壁鳩魯這樣的享樂主義哲學家也通過明智的判斷、剋制、自制和接受不可逆轉的逆境而過得悠然自然。

Other philosophers like the stoics also highlighted the importance of learning to anticipate and accept misfortunes, such as loss, sorrow or injustice.

禁慾主義者等其他哲學家也強調學習預測和接受不幸的重要性，比如失落、悲傷或不公。

What is the point of sadness?

悲傷有何意義？

Psychologists who study how our feelings and behaviours have evolved over time maintain all our affective states (such as moods and emotions) have a useful role: they alert us to states of the world we need to respond to.

研究我們的感情和行爲如何隨着時間的推移保持我們所有情感狀態的心理學家有一個有益的作用：他們提醒我們需要回應的世界狀態。

In fact, the range of human emotions includes many more negative than positive feelings. Negative emotions such as fear, anger, shame or disgust are helpful because they help us recognise, avoid and overcome threatening or dangerous situations.

事實上，人類的消極情感要多於積極情感。恐懼、生氣、羞恥或噁心之類的消極情感是有益的，因爲這些情感能幫助我們認識、避免和克服威脅或危險情況。