Emily Esfahani Smith: There's more to life than being happy
艾米丽·伊斯法罕·史密斯: 生活不仅仅是快乐
In her book "The Power of Meaning," Emily Esfahani Smith rounds up the latest research -- and the stories of fascinating people she interviewed -- to argue that the search for meaning is far more fulfilling than the pursuit of personal happiness. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
was pursuing happiness.
成功是通往幸福的道路,
to happiness was success,
that beautiful apartment.
我身边的朋友也一样。
they struggled with this, too.
to graduate school for positive psychology
“积极心理学”,
感到真正幸福。
changed my life.
can make people unhappy.
反而得不到快乐。
around the world,
a 30-year high in America.
30年来的最高峰。
objectively better
也能感受到
gnawing away at people,
clinically depressed to feel it.
what predicts this despair
更重要的事情?
between being happy
as a state of comfort and ease,
一种安心舒适的状态,
Martin Seligman says
and serving something beyond yourself
高于自我的事物
is the more fulfilling path.
能让你有满足感。
who have meaning in life,
interviewing hundreds of people
我在五年间采访了几百余人
of pages of psychology,
four pillars of a meaningful life.
需要四大支柱。
或部分支柱。
of these pillars in our lives.
有意义的人生。
from being in relationships
for who you are intrinsically
deliver a cheap form of belonging;
给予廉价的归属感;
to cultivate belonging with others.
跟谁培养归属感。
buys a newspaper
纽约同一家
a transaction, though.
didn't have the right change,
and bought something he didn't need
like this without realizing it.
and barely acknowledge them.
when someone's talking to me.
invisible and unworthy.
you create a bond
is the most essential source of meaning,
最重要来源,
is the second pillar: purpose.
的第二大支柱是:人生目的。
is not the same thing
than about what you give.
而在于你所给。
her purpose is healing sick people.
就是治愈病患。
is using your strengths to serve others.
帮助他人。
that happens through work.
来实现人生目的。
that issues like disengagement at work,
they're existential ones, too.
关乎生死存亡的问题。
purpose at work,
满足人生目的工作,
something to live for,
is also about stepping beyond yourself,
the hustle and bustle of daily life,
to a higher reality.
的真实世界相连。
transcendence came from seeing art.
便会进入超验状态。
and it happens through writing.
这会发生在我写作时。
that I lose all sense of time and place.
忘记身处何处。
experiences can change you.
at 200-feet-tall eucalyptus trees
(约61米)的桉树
they felt less self-centered,
of meaning, I've found,
about yourself.
of your life brings clarity.
让你更加清晰。
how you became you.
that we're the authors of our stories
and retell your story,
who'd been paralyzed playing football.
他因打橄榄球而受伤瘫痪了。
to weave a different story.
讲述不一样的故事。
my life was purposeless.
a pretty selfish guy.
I could be a better man."
变成更好的自己。”
changed Emeka's life.
calls this a "redemptive story,"
叫做“救赎性故事”,
lives, he's found,
change their stories?
他们的故事?
on your life thoughtfully,
改变自己的故事。
and we all struggle.
苦难,都挣扎过。
can lead to new insights and wisdom,
我们有新的见解和智慧,
transcendence, storytelling:
by all of the pillars.
from our home in Montreal.
开了个苏非派礼拜堂。
associated with the whirling dervishes
和苦行有关的
and share stories.
serving all of creation
even when people wronged you.
你也要善良对人。
to reign in the ego.
of Sufism in my life,
that make life worth living.
had a real culture of meaning.
helped us all live more deeply.
我们更深入生活。
that use the pillars
something to live and die for.
within our families and our institutions
建设这些有意义的支柱,
we're constantly creating our lives,
I had with my father.
的一个重要谈话。
I graduated from college,
that should have killed him.
what was going through his mind
was needing to live
for my brother and me,
to fight for life.
for emergency surgery,
the last words he spoke on earth
he had a reason to live:
repeating our names --
why he survived.
something to hold on to.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Emily Esfahani Smith - Journalist, authorIn her book "The Power of Meaning," Emily Esfahani Smith rounds up the latest research -- and the stories of fascinating people she interviewed -- to argue that the search for meaning is far more fulfilling than the pursuit of personal happiness.
Why you should listen
Emily Esfahani Smith is the author of The Power of Meaning: Finding Fulfillment in a World Obsessed With Happiness. In her book and TED Talk, she argues that we're chasing the wrong goal -- a life of meaning, not happiness, should be our aim.
Our culture is obsessed with happiness. Even though we devote vast amounts of time and resources trying to be happier, many of us feel aimless and alienated nonetheless. With depression and loneliness trending upward for decades and the suicide rate rising around the world -- recently reaching a 30-year high in the United States -- it's clear that something is wrong. In recent years, social scientists have been trying to understand what exactly the problem is. What they've found is striking. What predicts the rising tide of despair sweeping across society is not a lack of happiness. It's a lack of something else -- a lack of having meaning in life. In fact, chasing and valuing happiness, the way our culture encourages us to do, can actually make people unhappy.
This set Smith on a journey to understand what constitutes a meaningful life. After extensive research and reporting, she came to see that there are four pillars of a meaningful life -- and she lays them out in her TED Talk. Ultimately, she discovered that the search for meaning is far more fulfilling than the pursuit of personal happiness -- and we all have the power to build more meaning in our lives.
Smith's articles and essays have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and The Atlantic. The former managing editor of The New Criterion, Smith is also an editor at the Stanford University's Hoover Institution, where she advises the Ben Franklin Circles project, a collaboration with the 92nd Street Y and Citizen University to build meaning in local communities.
Emily Esfahani Smith | Speaker | TED.com