How gratitude rewires your brain
Christina Costa
She is a psychologist who studies well-being. And she ends up with brain tumor. She goes beyond the "fight" narrative of cancer to highlight the brain benefits of an empowering alternative to fostering resilience in the face of unexpected challenges: gratitude.
One day after she teaching last year, She had a terrible ‘migraine that left half of her face numb and blurred her vision. The migraines kept happening to her. Then, she came for surgery. After surgery, the pathology reports came back and she was diagnosed with an anaplastic astrocytoma. 分化不良星形細胞瘤
When people heard her diagnosis, she became a fighter. But she hated the idea that she was going to be at war with her brain.
She said that she tried to stop focusing on what her body had done "wrong" and focus on the
gratitude she had for her body instead.Gratitude became the tool that helped her restructure her vision of illness and disability when the world was telling her she should fight it instead.
The more she practiced gratitude, the more peace she felt in her situation, and this got her interested in what could be happening with the science of gratitude at a neurological level.
There are several positive psychological and social outcomes of gratitude, like increases in happiness, decreases in depression, having stronger relationships and experiencing positive emotion.
And fMRI studies show us that several parts of our brain and pathways are activated when we experience and express gratitude.
The more we activate these gratitude circuits, the less effort it takes to stimulate those pathways the next time, and the stronger those pathways become.
She doesn't want to suggest that it's by any means easy to find ways to be grateful in dealing with adversity.
But she does want to empower those that feel like her, that there's another way to go through whatever your journey may be, that loving your body doesn't have to be conditional.
And that by practicing gratitude we can actually wire our brains to help us build resilience.
When a psychologist who studies well-being ends up with a brain tumor, what happens when she puts her own research into practice? Christina Costa goes beyond the "fight" narrative of cancer -- or any formidable personal journey -- to highlight the brain benefits of an empowering alternative to fostering resilience in the face of unexpected challenges: gratitude.
當一位研究幸福感的心理學家最終患上腦瘤時，當她將自己的研究付諸實踐時會發生什麼？Christina Costa 超越了癌症的“戰鬥”敘述——或任何令人生畏的個人旅程——強調了在面對意想不到的挑戰時培養復原力的賦權替代方案對大腦的好處：感恩。
00:00
When I was middle school science teacher, I would often ask my students to kiss their brain.
我在中學當科學教師的時候， 我通常會叫我的學生 去親吻他們的大腦。
I got this idea from visiting my friend's kindergarten classroom.
我的這個點子來自於我去 造訪我朋友的幼稚園教室。
She would ask her students to kiss their brain, and they would take their fingers, tap them to their mouth and then to the top of their head. And it truly was as cute as you can picture it to be.
她會叫她的學生去親吻他們的大腦。 他們會用手指頭輕碰他們的嘴巴， 接著輕碰頭頂， 那畫面真的就是各位 想像中的那麼可愛。
So I decided to bring it back to my middle school classroom, which could have gone one of two ways, but it ended up being a really fun ritual for us, too. And I would ask them to kiss their brain for all the work they did in class as a practice of gratitude.
所以我決定把它帶回我的中學教室， 可能會有兩種結果， 但最後我們也把它當成 很有趣的儀式。 我會要他們為了他們 在課堂上所做的一切 親吻他們的大腦，以表示感激。
00:34
After teaching middle school, I came back to grad school to get my PhD in psychology.
離開中學教職之後，我回到 研究所攻讀心理學博士學位。
My research is within the area of positive psychology, which is the science that investigates the strengths and factors that allow individuals and communities to thrive.
我的研究領域是正向心理學， 它是種科學，研究哪些長處和因素 能協助個人和社區成功。
I also get to teach psychology to undergrad students and high school students. I love teaching psych, and my absolute favorite unit to teach In Intro Psych is the brain.
我也可以教大學生和高中生心理學。 我熱愛教心理學， 基礎心理學當中我最喜歡 教的單元就是大腦。
But while I love teaching about the brain, I thought it would be pushing it to ask my undergrads, aka adults, to kiss their brains. So three years would go by before I would remember that fun phrase.
但，雖然我喜歡教大腦的主題， 我仍然覺得要叫已經成人的大學生 去親吻他們的大腦是有點踩線了。 所以，三年過去了， 我才想起了那有趣的句子。
01:11
One day after teaching last year, I had a terrible migraine that left half of my face numb and blurred my vision. The migraines kept happening.
去年某一天的課後， 我發生嚴重的偏頭痛， 導致我左臉麻木，視線模糊。 偏頭痛不斷發生。
I saw multiple doctors, and then I started experiencing dizzy spells.
我看了好幾個醫生， 我開始會有暈眩發作。
The neurologist ordered an MRI, and I remember being so excited because then I would be able to use my own brain pictures when I taught brain imaging to my students.
神經科醫生安排了 MRI， 我記得我當時好興奮， 因為那樣我就可以 用我自己的大腦影像 來教我學生腦部顯影。
But as it turns out, my MRI wasn't too picture perfect. The doctor called me and asked me to go to the ER because there was a large mass in the right hemisphere of my brain, and that's where I saw the image for the first time.
但，結果發現， 我的 MRI 影像並不完美。 醫生打電話給我，要我去急診室， 因為我的右半腦有個很大的腫塊。 那是我第一次看見這張影像。
01:51
I have never been more scared in my life than I was that night, and with tears dripping down my face, in the hospital, I kissed my brain for the first time since I had left my middle school classroom.
那晚是我人生中最害怕的一刻， 我淚流不止， 在醫院裡，我親吻了我的大腦， 我離開中學教室之後 就沒這麼做過了。
I made it my mantra, and I kissed my brain every single day, leading up to and after surgery.
我把它變成我的真言， 且每天親吻我的大腦， 一直到手術日，之後也持續下去。
Then, two weeks later, after surgery, the pathology reports came back and I was diagnosed with an anaplastic astrocytoma.
接著，兩週後，手術後， 病理報告出來了， 我被診斷出分化不良星形細胞瘤。
02:18
The weeks following were very difficult.
接下來的幾週非常辛苦。
I tried to figure out what I was struggling with the most by looking back on all the things I had been writing about this experience.
我試著弄清楚當時 讓我最掙扎的是什麼， 所以我回頭看我過去所有 針對這次經歷寫下的文字。
I wrote and posted this on Instagram about a week after I received that pathology report: "I will keep fighting. I will keep loving, I will keep living, I will keep loving. I will keep living."
收到病理報告的約一週後 我在 IG 上寫下這段文字： 「我會繼續奮戰， 我會繼續去愛，我會繼續生活， 我會繼續去愛，我會繼續生活。」
And then about a week after that, I wrote this: "Fighter. I tried it on to see how it felt because I kept hearing those words next to my name, like a job, like an identity, like a role. Fighter. I look at myself in the mirror. It felt OK at first, but soon it became exhausting, too heavy to lift, too much to carry, too burdensome to bear. I took it off and left it on the floor. War was not for me. A body is not a battlefield."
大約再一週後，我寫了這段文字： 「鬥士。我試穿了這個身分， 想看看感覺如何， 因為我不斷聽到這個詞 和我的名字一起出現， 好似一份工作、 一個身分、一個角色。 鬥士。 我看著鏡中的自己。 一開始感覺還好， 但很快就變得十分累人， 重到舉不起，多到扛不了， 我承受不了這個擔子。 我把它脫下來，留在地上。 我不適合打仗。 身體不是戰場。」
03:20
I realized that I had been introduced to the fight narrative.
我發現，我接觸到了 這種戰鬥的說法。
When people heard my diagnosis, I became a fighter.
當大家知道我的診斷之後， 我就成了鬥士。
"You're a fighter," "Keep fighting," "Beat this tumor," were the top comments.
「你是個鬥士。」「繼續戰鬥。」 「擊倒這腫瘤。」這些是最常見的。
And then there was the internet, the place I so desperately searched for people who were doing well with their diagnosis.
然後還有網路，我在那裡拼命地尋找 被診斷出來但仍然過得很好的人。
But the top hashtags to search for were #braintumorssuck, #cancersucks and #cancerfighter.
但最熱門的搜尋井號標籤 是 #腦瘤爛透了、#癌症爛透了， 以及 #癌症鬥士。
I understand completely why those hashtags exist, but I was so eager to find the hashtag #hiIhaveabraintumorthatmightnevergoaway andImstilllivingandthriving and I guess there just isn't a ring to that one.
我完全了解為什麼 會有那些井號標籤， 但我很迫切想要找到的井號標籤是 #嗨我有可能永遠不會消失的 腦瘤而我仍然好好地活著， 我猜，大概沒有這種標籤的圈子吧。
I hated the idea that I was going to be at war with my brain because I had spent months and years kissing it instead.
我討厭「我必須要和我的 大腦開戰」這種想法， 因為數個月、數年來 我反而都在親吻它。
I hated the suggestion of naming my tumor something awful because the reality is that it was going to be my neighbor for the rest of my life.
我討厭「給我的腫瘤取個 可怕的名字」這種建議， 因為，現實是，在我的餘生， 它都會一直是我的鄰居。
And I hated the guided imagery training that asked me to picture chemo as an army coming to battle the cancer cells because I didn't want to spend over a year of my life at war with my own body.
我也討厭導引式意象訓練， 因為訓練要我把化療想像成 軍隊，要來大戰癌症細胞， 因為我不想花我人生中一年多的時間 和我自己的身體打戰。
04:25
I can see how these elements of the fight narrative can be empowering for people, but for me, I knew it wasn't going to work.
我能了解為什麼戰鬥說法的這些元素 能給人力量， 但對我是行不通的。
So I started to reference well-being practices that I had learned from my own studies.
我開始參考我從我自己的研究中 所學到的幸福實做法。
Doctors always laugh with me when they find out that I'm a bio-psych and neuroscience major and psych PhD student.
醫生總是和我一起開懷大笑， 因為他們發現我主修 生物心理學和神經科學， 且是心理學博士生。
Then when they ask what I'm studying and I tell them I study resilience and well-being, they either laugh again, say something like, "Oh, that's irrelevant," or go, "Aw." The irony was never lost on me.
當他們問我，我在研究什麼， 我告訴他們我研究的是 恢復力和幸福，他們又會 笑起來並說類似這樣的話： 「喔，那不重要。」 或者說「啊。」 我總是會注意到這當中的諷刺。
I have read so many stories and studies of resilience, but I never pictured the day that I would have to personally experience it.
我讀過這麼多關於 恢復力的故事和研究， 但我從來沒有料到 有一天我得親身體驗它。
05:07
I read and taught about gratitude practices, specifically as a well-being strategy, and even though I knew the positive effects, I had never seriously practiced them myself.
我讀過也教過用感激實做法 來當作幸福的策略， 雖然我知道它有正面的效果， 我自己從來沒有認真做過。
I started to incorporate some of these exercises into my life.
我開始把這類練習 整合到我的生活中。
I tried to stop focusing on what my body had done "wrong" and focus on the gratitude I had for my body instead.
我試著不要把焦點放在 我的身體做「錯」了什麼， 改放在我對我的身體有多感激。
And really, I realized this is something I had been doing when I was kissing my brain those days leading up to and after surgery.
我發現，手術前後那段時間 當我在親吻我的大腦時 其實就是在做這件事。
Gratitude became the tool that helped me restructure my vision of illness and disability when the world was telling me I should fight it instead.
感激變成了一種工具， 它協助我重新建構關於疾病和失去能力的看法，而全世界卻在叫我要去對抗它。
Instead of thinking about if I would be able to have kids one day, I thought of how amazing it was that my brain, despite its trauma, was able to deliver the perfect amount of hormones to my body to produce enough eggs to save for a later date.
我不再去想我將來是否能生孩子， 我想的是我的大腦多麼了不起， 儘管有這樣的創傷， 還能夠將完美份量的荷爾蒙 遞送給我的身體， 讓我產生足夠的卵子， 保存到將來使用。
Every time I went to radiation and was put in my mask, I kissed my brain and I focused on the resident telling me how the healthy cells would be able to repair over time and the cancer cells could not.
每當我去接受放射線 治療，戴上面罩， 我會親吻我的大腦， 然後專注聽住院醫生告訴我 健康的細胞會隨著時間而修復， 癌細胞則不會。
And when the operative notes came back for my surgery, a day that I remember very well and had been scared to think about, I read the note out loud, sobbing, happy and grateful tears, thinking about what my neurosurgeon's team did.
當我的手術記錄報告出來時， 我忘不了這一天，且很害怕去想它， 我把記錄大聲唸出來， 聲音哽咽，流著快樂和感恩的眼淚， 想著我的神經外科團隊所做的一切。
I started to feel such an immense sense of gratitude for science, medicine and my medical team, that those thoughts started to drown out the "What is my life going to be like?" thoughts.
我開始感受到極大的感激， 感謝科學、醫學，和我的醫療團隊， 那些想法開始壓過那種 「我的人生會變怎樣」的想法。
06:43
The more I practiced gratitude, the more peace I felt in my situation, and this got me interested in what could be happening with the science of gratitude at a neurological level.
我越是練習感激，在我的處境中就越能感到平靜， 這讓我開始好奇，在神經學層級上 感激的科學會是什麼樣子的？
There are several positive psychological and social outcomes of gratitude, like increases in happiness, decreases in depression, having stronger relationships and experiencing positive emotion.
感激會造成數個 心理和社會的正面結果， 比如，快樂增加，憂鬱降低，關係更穩固，及感受到正面的情緒。
And fMRI studies show us that several parts of our brain and pathways are activated when we experience and express gratitude.
而 fMRI（功能性磁振造影） 研究指出大腦有好幾個部分和通路會在我們感受和表達感激時被啟動。
One of these parts is the medial prefrontal cortex, an area associated with the management of negative emotions.
其中一部分是內側前額葉皮質， 這個區域與負面情緒的管理相關。
Together, these changes in neurotransmitters and hormones combined with activated neural pathways, help us cognitively restructure potentially harmful thoughts to better manage our circumstances.
加在一起， 神經傳遞質和荷爾蒙的改變 再加上啟動的神經通路， 能協助我們在認知上 重新調整可能有害的想法， 把我們的情況處理得更好。
And the cool thing is that we can intentionally activate these gratitude circuits in our brain.
很酷的是， 我們可以刻意去啟動 大腦中的這些感激迴路。
In general, the more we do something, the easier it becomes, and our brains work the same way.
一般來說，越常去做的事就會變得越容易，大腦也是這樣運作的。
The more we activate these gratitude circuits, the less effort it takes to stimulate those pathways the next time, and the stronger those pathways become.
我們越常去啟動這些感激迴路， 下次刺激這些通路就會更不費力， 那些通路也會變得更強。
Neuroplasticity is a term I teach my students that refers to our brain's ability to form new neural connections throughout life.
我會教學生神經可塑性這個詞， 指的是一生中大腦產生新神經連結的能力。
Which means this is something that anyone can practice and get better at over time.
意思就是，每個人都能靠練習， 隨時間就會做得更好。
08:04
So I kept practicing gratitude even when it seemed impossible.
所以我持續練習感激， 包括在似乎不可能的情況下。
I continue to thank my brain for the amazing work it does as I prepare for 12 more rounds of chemo this year.
當我在為今年的 十二輪化療做準備時， 我持續感謝我的大腦 做了這些了不起的事。
I write down three things I'm grateful for and why I'm grateful for them, no matter what, every morning that I wake up.
我會寫下讓我感激的三件事， 以及感激的原因， 不論如何，每天起床都一定會做。
I write "thank you" notes to my heroes and health care, nurses who get the IV in the first time. The anesthesiology resident, who held my hand during the awake portions of my surgery, radiation therapist that play my playlist during treatment and administrative staff that makes me smile every time I walk into the hospital.
我會寫感謝條給 我的英雄和健康照護， 做第一次靜脈注射的護理師， 麻醉科住院醫師 在我手術甦醒時握著我的手， 放射線治療師在治療過程中 播放我的播放清單， 還有每回我走進醫院時 都讓我微笑的行政人員。
08:39
I do want to take a second here and practice what I teach to shout out my doctors and their teams from the Michigan Medicine Multidisciplinary Brain Tumor Clinic.
在此我想花一點時間， 實做我教別人做的事， 感謝我在密西根醫療多專科 腦瘤臨床的醫生及其團隊， 我從來沒有遇過這樣聰明、 仁慈，且有耐心的人。
I have never met such intelligent, kind and patient people. Thank you for making me feel brave when I sometimes felt the opposite.
謝謝你們讓我感到自己很勇敢， 因為我有時會有相反的感覺。
09:03
I think the universe might think it's funny that a psych instructor and researcher who studies well-being ended up with a brain tumor.
我想，宇宙可能會覺得這樣很好玩： 研究幸福的心理學講師 和研究者最後得了腦瘤。
The truth is that we need more awareness and more research regarding brain tumors and brain cancer.
事實是，對於腦瘤和腦癌，我們需要 更多意識和研究。
Doctors can't exactly predict how my tumor will behave, and really, none of us can predict what our lives are going to be like exactly.
醫生無法確實預測我的腫瘤 會有什麼行為，其實， 沒有任何人能確實預測 我們的人生將來會如何。
But what I hope I can show you is that we can also be grateful for the unexpected challenges.
但我希望我能讓大家知道， 面對未預期的挑戰， 我們可以抱持感恩的心。
09:30
I don't want to dismiss people who may find the fight narrative empowering.
我並不想要忽視認為 戰鬥說法能帶來力量的人。
I also don't want to suggest that it's by any means easy to find ways to be grateful in dealing with adversity.
我也絕非在暗示說在逆境中 想辦法感恩是很容易的事。
This has been the hardest thing that I've ever had to do.
這是我得做的事情當中最困難的。
But I do want to empower those that feel like me, that there's another way to go through whatever your journey may be, that loving your body doesn't have to be conditional.
但我希望能帶給像我這樣的人力量， 不論你走上怎樣的旅程， 都可以換個方式渡過， 愛你的身體不需要有條件。
And that by practicing gratitude we can actually wire our brains to help us build resilience.
透過練習感激， 我們可以讓大腦神經元連結， 協助我們建立恢復力。
09:59
And lastly, I hope everyone, no matter where you are or what you are doing, can take a second to kiss your own brain and thank it for all that it does for you.
最後， 我希望每個人，不論你身在何處或在做什麼事，可以花點時間親吻你的大腦。 感謝它為你做的一切。