2020.03.19(星期四)

不要被「過往的障礙」羈絆

在一項研究實驗中，一名海洋生物學家將鯊魚放入一個大的水族箱中，然後將數條小誘餌魚放到了該水箱中。

如所料，鯊魚迅速在水箱中游動，攻擊並吃掉了較小的魚。

然後，海洋生物學家將堅固的透明玻璃纖維片放入水箱，形成兩個獨立的隔板。然後，她將鯊魚放在玻璃纖維的一側，另一側放上一組新的誘餌魚。

再次，鯊魚迅速襲擊。但這一次，鯊魚猛撞到玻璃纖維隔板中並彈起。鯊魚並沒有氣餒，每隔幾分鐘重複一次，但沒有任何結果。同時，誘餌魚在第二個分區中不受傷害地游動。最終，實驗開始約一個小時，鯊魚放棄了。

在接下來的幾周中，該實驗重複了數十次。每次，鯊魚的攻擊力都減弱了，攻擊誘餌魚的嘗試也減少了，直到最終鯊魚厭倦了攻擊中玻璃纖維隔板並完全停止了攻擊。

然後，海洋生物學家卸下了玻璃纖維隔板，但鯊魚沒有發動攻擊。鯊魚受過訓練，認為鯊魚和誘餌魚之間存在障礙，因此誘餌魚可在任何希望的地方游動而不受傷害。

道德：我們中的許多人在遭受挫折和失敗後，會在情感上放棄並停止嘗試。就像故事中的鯊魚一樣，我們相信，因為我們過去不成功，所以我們永遠都是不成功的。換句話說，即使在我們所要去的地方與我們要去的地方之間不存在「真正的」障礙時，我們仍然在腦海中看到障礙。 

Shark Bait

During a research experiment a marine biologist placed a shark into a large holding tank and then released several small bait fish into the tank.

As you would expect, the shark quickly swam around the tank, attacked and ate the smaller fish.

The marine biologist then inserted a strong piece of clear fiberglass into the tank, creating two separate partitions. She then put the shark on one side of the fiberglass and a new set of bait fish on the other.

Again, the shark quickly attacked.  This time, however, the shark slammed into the fiberglass divider and bounced off.  Undeterred, the shark kept repeating this behavior every few minutes to no avail.  Meanwhile, the bait fish swam around unharmed in the second partition.  Eventually, about an hour into the experiment, the shark gave up.

This experiment was repeated several dozen times over the next few weeks.  Each time, the shark got less aggressive and made fewer attempts to attack the bait fish, until eventually the shark got tired of hitting the fiberglass divider and simply stopped attacking altogether.

The marine biologist then removed the fiberglass divider, but the shark didn’t attack.  The shark was trained to believe a barrier existed between it and the bait fish, so the bait fish swam wherever they wished, free from harm.

The moral:  Many of us, after experiencing setbacks and failures, emotionally give up and stop trying. Like the shark in the story, we believe that because we were unsuccessful in the past, we will always be unsuccessful. In other words, we continue to see a barrier in our heads, even when no ‘real’ barrier exists between where we are and where we want to go.  (Read The Road Less Traveled.)