A broken heart. A sad ending to a love affair. Thats something most of us have experienced， or probably will. After all， its part of human life; needed， at least one time， to become more fully adult. But no question， the experience can be devastating.

But research shows there are pathways through the heartache. Listening to sad music is a major one. It can help you begin to feel joy and hopefulness about your life again. It can activate empathy and the desire to connect with others—both avenues through the prison of heartache and despair.

Sad music can help heal and uplift you from your broken heart. A study from Germany found the emotional impact of listening to sad music is an arousal of feelings of empathy， compassion and a desire for positive connection with others. That， itself， is psychologically healing. It draws you away from preoccupation with yourself， and possibly towards helping others in need of comfort.

愛(ài)情的悲劇讓人心碎。大多數(shù)人都有過(guò)這種經(jīng)歷，或者可能會(huì)經(jīng)歷。畢竟，為愛(ài)心碎是人生的一部分，至少需要經(jīng)歷一次，才能變得更成熟。但毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，這種經(jīng)歷可能是毀滅性的。

但研究表明，心痛是可以治愈的。聽(tīng)悲傷的音樂(lè)就是其中一種治愈方式。它可以幫助你重新感受生活的喜悅和希望，激活同理心和與他人建立聯(lián)系的欲望，這兩者可以幫助你走出心碎、絕望的牢籠。

悲傷的音樂(lè)可以幫助你治愈受傷的心靈。德國(guó)的一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，聽(tīng)悲傷的音樂(lè)對(duì)情緒的影響體現(xiàn)在激發(fā)同理心、同情心和與他人建立積極聯(lián)系的欲望。這本身就是心理治療，能讓你不再沉浸在自己的世界，而是可能去幫助那些需要安慰的人。

Another experiment， from the University of Kent， found that when people were experiencing sadness， listening to music that was “beautiful but sad” enhanced their mood. In fact， it did so when the person first consciously embraced their awareness of the situation causing their sadness， and then began listening to the sad music. That is， when they intended that the sad music might help， they found that it did.

These findings link with other studies that show embracing your sad situation emotionally—accepting reality as it is—stirs healing and growth beyond it. In short， acknowledging your full experience arouses hope. For example， research from Cornell University， published in Psychological Science， found that embracing discomfort about a life experience or new situation， and viewing it as a step towards growth and change， generates motivation to find a pathway through it.

As Churchill famously said， “If youre going through hell， keep going.” That discomfort points you towards creating an action plan. It fuels hope.

英國(guó)肯特大學(xué)的另一項(xiàng)實(shí)驗(yàn)發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)人們感到悲傷時(shí)，聽(tīng)“優(yōu)美但悲傷”的音樂(lè)會(huì)振奮他們的情緒。事實(shí)上，當(dāng)一個(gè)人第一次有意識(shí)地面對(duì)自己的悲傷，然后開(kāi)始聽(tīng)悲傷的音樂(lè)時(shí)，就會(huì)這樣。也就是說(shuō)，當(dāng)他們打算靠悲傷的音樂(lè)“療傷”時(shí)，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)確實(shí)可以被治愈。

這些發(fā)現(xiàn)與其他一些研究相關(guān)，這些研究表明，接納你的悲傷情緒，認(rèn)清現(xiàn)實(shí)，會(huì)激發(fā)愈合和成長(zhǎng)。簡(jiǎn)而言之，承認(rèn)自己的全部經(jīng)歷會(huì)喚起希望。例如，美國(guó)康奈爾大學(xué)發(fā)表在《心理科學(xué)》上的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，接受生活經(jīng)歷或新情況帶來(lái)的不適感，并將它視為邁向成長(zhǎng)和改變的一步，會(huì)讓人們產(chǎn)生走出來(lái)的動(dòng)力。

正如丘吉爾的名言所說(shuō)：“如果你正在經(jīng)歷地獄，請(qǐng)繼續(xù)前進(jìn)?！?這種不適會(huì)引導(dǎo)你制定一個(gè)行動(dòng)計(jì)劃。它點(diǎn)燃了希望。

Word Bank

empathy /'emp?θi/ n. 同感；共鳴；同情

despair /d?'spe?（r）/ n. 絕望

compassion /k?m'p??n/ n. 同情；憐憫

enhance /?n'hɑ?ns/ v. 提高；增強(qiáng)

acknowledge /?k'n?l?d?/ v. 承認(rèn)（事實(shí)或情況）

motivation /'m??t?'ve???n/ n. 動(dòng)力