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For a long time through our evolutionary history, the brain started to suffer from a very big problem: which is that there's far more information out in the environment than could be fully processed.
在人类进化史的很长一段时间里，大脑开始受到一个非常大的问题的困扰：环境中的信息量远远超过了它能完全处理的能力。
Attention ended up becoming a very useful solution because it allowed the brain to prioritize and sub-sample parts of what was going on.
注意力最终成为了一个非常有用的解决方案，因为它让大脑对正在发生的事情进行优先排序和部分处理。
There are so many ways in which our attention is powerful.
我们的注意力在很多方面都是强大的。
It ends up being used for all of these different aspects of the human experience.
它最终被用于人类体验的各个方面。
To fuel our ability to have success in thinking, feeling, connecting, we need full access to our attention.
为了激发我们在思考、感觉和联系方面取得成功的能力，我们需要充分利用注意力。
For most of us, when we hear the term "attention," what we think of is focus.
对大多数人来说，听到“注意”这个词时，我们想到的是专注。
What does that actually mean?
这到底是什么意思呢？
It means that we're constraining and narrowing where our mental energy goes in this very precise way.
它是指我们正在以非常精确的方式限制和缩小我们精神能量的去向。
I often use the metaphor of a flashlight to describe this capacity we all have.
我经常用手电筒来打比喻，形容这种我们都拥有的能力。
Just like an actual flashlight or torch, if we're in a darkened room, wherever it is that that flashlight is pointing, we're gonna get crisp, clear information.
就像手电筒或火炬一样，如果我们在黑暗的房间里，手电筒指向的任何地方，我们都会看到清晰、明确的信息。
And the beam of that flashlight is narrow.
手电筒的光束很窄。
It's prioritizing some information, and that's because there's a brain mechanism called 'bias,' that activates neurons representing what it is that you direct your attention toward.
它会对一些信息进行优先排序，因为大脑中有一种机制叫做“偏见”，它会激活代表了你的注意力所关注的那些东西的神经元。
But, even if we often think of attention as focus, it ends up that attention is more than focus.
但是，虽然我们通常把注意力视作焦点，但它又不仅仅是焦点。
There are other systems of attention.
注意力还有其他系统。
Another aspect is almost the exact opposite of a flashlight.
它的另一面几乎与手电筒完全相反。
And I use the metaphor, here, of a floodlight.
我这里说的手电筒是个比喻哈。
Unlike a flashlight, whose beam is strong and narrow and directed, a floodlight is broad, diffused, and you could say receptive.
不像手电筒那种又强又窄的光束，泛光灯是那种宽泛、漫射，或者说包容性的光线。
There's nothing that you're privileging over anything else.
它所照到的所有东西都一样。
The floodlight is a brain system called the 'alerting system.'
泛光灯就像大脑中被叫做“警报系统”的系统。
Being alert means noticing what's going on in this moment.
警觉意味着注意到此时此刻正在发生的事情。
But you know you need to pay attention in this broad, diffused manner.
但是，你需要以这种广泛、分散的方式来凝聚注意力。
The floodlight really describes that experience.
泛光灯描述的就是这种体验。
And then finally, there's a third way that we can prioritize and pay attention that actually doesn't have to do with the content or the moment, it has to do with our goals.
最后，还有第三种方法，我们可以按轻重缓急去关注，它其实与内容或时间无关，而是与我们的目标有关。
And this is something called 'Executive control.'
那就是所谓的“行政控制”。
I like to use the metaphor of a juggler for executive control.
关于这一点，我喜欢用杂耍艺人来打比方。
You can think of it this way: "Executive" is like the executive of the company.
你可以这样想：“行政”就像是公司的高管。
The executive's job is not to do every single task that's required, but it's to hold the goals in mind, and ensure that actions of the company, of the individuals in the company, and goals are aligned.
高管的工作不是完成每一项具体任务，而是牢记目标，确保公司的行动、公司中个人的行动与目标保持一致。
Same idea with this juggler notion- we're keeping all the balls in the air.
杂耍艺人也是一样的--我们需要让所有的球都保持在空中。
We're managing and ensuring the coordination of the multiple, complex things that need to be happening.
我们在管理或确保需要发生的多重、复杂的事情之间的协调性。
Now, oftentimes we have every intention of focusing our mind, but we don't often know where our focus is.
现在，我们往往想要集中注意力，却不知道我们的注意力哪儿去了。
So, one of the very useful ways we can train our attention, protect it from this thing called mind wandering, is by doing what we call a 'Breath-focus practice.'
所以，一种训练注意力、保护注意力不受走神影响的非常有用的方法，就是做我们所说的“集中呼吸练习”。
