悲伤的神奇益处

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.

现代人是一种喜怒无常的物种。尽管悲伤和坏心情一直都是人类情感的一部分，但现在这个时代却忽视或贬低这些情感。

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.

在我们的文化中，一时悲伤等正常的人类情感通常会被认作情绪失调。蛊惑人心的广告、营销和自助行业声称幸福是唾手可得的。但我们却经常心情低落，这是我们正常情绪的重要一部分。

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

尽管西方社会普遍追求幸福，物质财富也空前强大，但几十年来，这些社会的幸福和生活满意度并没有得到改善。

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.

是时候重新审视坏心情在我们生活中扮演的角色了。我们必须承认这些情绪是正常的，甚至是有用的，能帮助我们应对许多日常情况和挑战。

A short history of sadness

悲伤的短暂历史

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.

早前历史时期，人们一直认为一时间感到悲伤或喜怒无常（也就是烦躁不安）是日常生活的正常一部分。事实上，人类精神的许多伟大成就都与唤醒、甚至是培养消极情绪有关。

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.

希腊悲剧暴露并训练观众去接受并将不可避免的不幸视作人类生活的正常部分。莎士比亚的悲剧成为经典是因为这些悲剧与这一主题遥相呼应。伟大艺术家的许多作品，比如贝多芬和乔邦的音乐作品，或是契科夫和易卜生的文学作品都探索了悲伤，这一主题被长期认为能给人带来启发、具有价值。

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.

古代哲学家也认为接受心情低落是美满生活的重要部分。即使是像伊壁鸠鲁这样的享乐主义哲学家也通过明智的判断、克制、自制和接受不可逆转的逆境而过得悠然自然。

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

禁欲主义者等其他哲学家也强调学习预测和接受不幸的重要性，比如失落、悲伤或不公。

What is the point of sadness?

悲伤有何意义？

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.

研究我们的感情和行为如何随着时间的推移保持我们所有情感状态的心理学家有一个有益的作用：他们提醒我们需要回应的世界状态。

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.

事实上，人类的消极情感要多于积极情感。恐惧、生气、羞耻或恶心之类的消极情感是有益的，因为这些情感能帮助我们认识、避免和克服威胁或危险情况。