我们的过去塑造了今天的我们。当一个人在痛苦或在危机中挣扎时,我们应该该问问他经历了什么,而不是问他出了什么问题。这本书的一个核心概念是:“当一个人在小时候经历过创伤,就会出现伴随他终生的执念和行为。”. 创伤经历可能会改变我们的大脑,特别是在我们很小的时候。它们会影响我们长大后面对压力时的态度,以及我们从逆境中恢复的速度。虽然我们无法消除创伤经历,但我们可以培养面对创伤经历时的韧性。那么我们要如何培养面对创伤经历的韧性呢?作者在书中说:“我发现疗愈创伤的一个关键是找到你的 “教会之家”—— 找到你的同伴,你的团体。这可以帮助你建立复原力,在创伤后得到疗愈,最终拥有创伤后的智慧,变得更加明智。” 有规律、重复性的运动或活动也是治疗创伤经历的有效工具。这是因为节奏是健康身体和心灵的核心。当我们感到苦恼时,作者建议我们找到能让我们身心恢复平衡的东西 — 音乐、大笑、舞蹈、编织、烹饪、散步、游泳、听海滩上的海浪声 —— 只要它能够抚慰我们 ,并 “能帮助你对自己和这个世界的美好保持开放的心态。” 这本书的中文版除了翻译到位,也非常口语化,值得一读。以下是本书的金句:献给我生命中的女孩们。她们以为自己的翅膀折断了。但我希望你们不仅能飞起来,还要在天空中翱翔。(3 页)To the daughter-girls in my life who believed they had broken wings. My hope for you is to not just fly but soar. 如果我们想要理解橡树,就必须回到它还是橡子的时候。(15 页)If we want to understand the oak, it’s back to the acorn we must go. 当一个人在小时候经历过创伤,就会出现伴随他终生的执念和行为。(25 页) A lifelong set of beliefs and behaviors can emerge when trauma is experienced at a young age. 音乐、笑声、舞蹈(哪怕是只有一个人的派对)、手工、烹饪 —— 找到那些能够自然而然让你感到舒缓的事情,它们不仅能调节你的情感和心智,还能帮助你对自己和这个世界的美好保持开放的心态。(35 页)Music, laughter, dancing (even a party for one), knitting, cooking—finding what naturally soothes you not only regulates your heart and mind, it helps you stay open to the goodness in you and in the world. 平衡是健康的核心。当我们的身体系统处于平衡状态,当我们与朋友、家人、社会和自然保持平衡时,我们的感觉和功能才会达到最佳状态。(36 页)Balance is the core of health. We feel and function best when our body’s systems are in balance, and when we’re in balance with friends, family, community, and nature. 我们向世界投射什么,就会引发什么。而我们的投射就是基于童年时的经历。(44 页)We elicit from the world what we project into the world; but what you project is based upon what happened to you as a child. 连接感能够抵制成瘾行为的诱惑。这才是关键所在。(51 页)Connectedness counters the pull of addictive behaviors. It is the key. 即使你已经搭建起一座摆满精致物品的房子,墙上的画框里镶嵌着你的美好生活照,如果你经历过创伤,却从没有认真检视过它,你受伤的那些部分就会影响你努力创造的每一个成果。(74 页)Even if you’ve accumulated a house full of nice things and the picture of your life fits inside a beautiful frame, if you have experienced trauma but haven’t excavated it, the wounded parts of you will affect everything you’ve managed to build. 你自己的经历,你重复的祖先的经历,都会影响你的思维、感觉和行为方式。它们是你的健康的重要决定因素。意识到这一点可以帮助我们记住,我们现在所做的一切将在未来产生回响。我们的行为很重要,我们正在影响着下一代人。那么,我们是否时刻注意了呢?(98 页)Your own experiences and the echoes of your ancestors’ experiences influence the way you think, feel, and behave. They are major determinants of your health. And being aware of this can help us remember that everything we do right now is going to echo into the future. Our actions matter; we are impacting the next generations. So are we being as mindful as we could? 人们往往认为心理治疗是关注那些需要清除的体验,即创伤的体验。但无论你过去的体验在你的大脑中产生了什么,这些连接都是一直存在的,你不可能简单地清除它们。你不可能摆脱过去。(138 页)Most people think about therapy as something that involves going in and undoing what’s happened. But whatever your past experiences created in your brain, the associations exist and you can’t just delete them. You can’t get rid of the past. 心理治疗更多的是建立新的连接,创建新的、更健康的默认路径。心理治疗就好比是在你的双车道水泥马路旁边建造一条四车道的高速公路。旧的道路仍然保留着,但你不再使用它了。(138 页)Therapy is more about building new associations, making new, healthier default pathways. It is almost as if therapy is taking your two-lane dirt road and building a four-lane freeway alongside it. The old road stays, but you don’t use it much anymore. 我们是可以互相疗愈的,但关于复原力和毅力的假设会蒙蔽我们,使我们看不到正确的疗愈方法,我们也就无法走上那条虽然充满痛苦但通往智慧的道路。(142 页)We can help each other heal, but often assumptions about resilience and grit blind us to the healing that leads us down the painful path to wisdom. 学会问他人 “你经历了什么” 将会扩展人与人之间的连接。(213 页)The acknowledgment of one human being by another is what bonds us. Asking “What happened to you?” expands the human connection. 宽恕就是不再希望过去可能会有所不同。如果我们总是抱着过去的痛苦不放,我们就无法前行。(220 页)Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different. But we cannot move forward if we’re still holding on to the pain of that past. 我们必须了解并疗愈过去的伤口,然后才能继续前行。(212 页)We must understand and heal the wounds of the past before we can move forward.