對味兒了Feeling Right
不知道甚麼時候開始，就常聽到人家說：「越來越沒年味兒了！」但是，什麼是年味兒呢？既然是味兒，那必然跟食物有關，所謂的年節氣氛，就是吃過年的年菜，飯菜的美味兒，花的香味兒，父母的嘮叨聲，故土的鹹味兒，朋友的吆喝，孩童的吵鬧，所有加在一起，就是「年味兒」了。小朋友的哭笑聲，乳齒間閃著光，小手緊抓著紅包，紅彤彤，火辣辣，亮晶晶，滿滿的吉祥味兒。耳邊還有咚咚的聲響，是廚房傳來的律動節奏，剁餡兒的交響樂，也是團圓的湯圓，它們想跳出比十五的月亮還要圓的團圓。年味兒對味兒了，就感覺幸福無比。平常時光，朋友會說，吃「泰式料理」，一定要配上白米飯，只要對味兒了，肯定嗑個八百碗，連湯汁都可以掃光光！對味兒了，我們就飽足到超爽。
古人不見得了解物理、化學、醫學、動植物學，但從前人的經驗累積，發現了很多對味兒的靈感。例如，「以花煮茶」的烹茶法，就被傳為品茗絕技。首先，將茶葉放進錫瓶裡，再把花朵雜入其中，隔水加熱，水沸騰即拿起。之後，把花茶曬乾，如一般泡茶法沖泡，則泡出來的茶湯，都會帶有花香。花茶所用的花朵，種類不拘，梅花、蘭花、桂花、菊花、蓮花、茉莉、玫瑰、薔薇等，皆可嘗試。這種對花茶的味，對味兒了，就會耐人尋味。凡學面相學者，會先審視對方的眼睛，了解其內心。一個人目善則心善，目惡則心惡。眼睛緩慢平視的人，性情不急燥，不議論別人是非，寬宏大度，多為賢哲之士。反反覆覆不斷地看，暗中偷窺，看時側頭不正者，其人做事計較，多疑，慳吝，容易散財。眼睛對味兒了，有看對人的直覺。
     When asked about the source of his genius, Albert Einstein had no doubts. “I believe in intuitions and inspirations. I sometimes feel that I am right.” “It was much better to trust those instincts and test them later than to dismiss them out of hand,” he said. We may recognize the sensation (感覺對味兒) ourselves. Whether we are looking at a new apartment, considering a possible new job or judging someone’s honesty, we may have an ineffable hunch (不可言喻的預感) when something is right or wrong without being able to articulate the reasons. That is our gut (直覺) instincts, a kind of mysterious “sixth sense.” In the past two decades, psychologists and neuroscientists have made enormous strides (邁大步) in identifying the sources of our gut instincts, and their essential role in our lives. Along the way, their research has identified the specific situations in which our intuition is likely to lead us down the right path that can help us all to make better decisions.
     The scientific understanding of intuition shows that our unconscious brain rifles (用步槍射擊) through its stored knowledge to find the best answer to our problems, without us consciously recalling the precise memories that power those feelings. That means people tend to be more accurate at judging someone’s honesty, if they are asked to go with their intuitions. The power of intuitive decision-making is especially important when we are processing a high volume of complex information that is too difficult to remember precisely. In this case, we can benefit from it to let the unconscious brain make the decision for us. According to Marlène Abadie, a cognitive psychologist at Aix-Marseille University in Southern France, the pause (暫停) allows the unconscious mind to form an accurate gist (要點) from the complex information that had been presented, which will in turn increase the accuracy of our intuitive judgement. This guidance is really useful in many similar scenarios in which we are forming our impressions after an information overload. She says, “It could be relevant whenever you have to choose between several consumer products that are described by several attributes (特性), a cell phone, a computer, a TV, a sofa, a fridge or an oven.” While shopping for these items, we can choose to go for a coffee and flick (輕彈) through a magazine before we make our final decision.
Moreover, according to the latest research, the quality of someone’s gut instincts depends on their overall emotional intelligence (EI情緒商數). And by learning to increase our EI, we may therefore strengthen our intuitive decision-making. That means if we want to fine-tune our intuition, then, we might first try to get in touch with our emotions more generally, carefully, and exactly that we are feeling. Over time, we could find it easier to discern when we are receiving a genuine and accurate signal. Our gut feelings will never be completely fool proof, but with practice, they can become an important guide.
　   Hunch, instinct, deeper knowing are the gut feelings or the ability to immediately understand something without conscious reasoning. In other words, answers and solutions come to us, but we may not be aware of exactly why or how. In the age of big data, intuition is frequently dismissed as mystical or unreliable. Nevertheless, surveys of top executives show that a majority of leaders depend on feelings and experiences when handling crises. Even the US Navy has invested millions of dollars into helping sailors and Marines refine their sixth sense, precisely because intuition can supersede (接替) intellect in high-stakes (高風險的) situations like the battlefield. In our society, leaders always have stronger gut feelings than others. Their high sensitivity (敏感) contributes to perceiving, processing, and synthesizing information more deeply, including data about others’ emotional worlds. Intuition is like a muscle. It can be strengthened with intentional practice. Actually, intuition can pull energy, as if our choice is moving us toward our best interest, even if that means pursuing a risk or moving more slowly than others. Physically, gut feelings tend to cause our body to relax. With intuition, our inner voice is more grounded and wise, like a good mentor. By starting small, we let our overwhelming feelings take a rest a little while, and then, we gradually step our way up to larger, higher pressure decisions with greater self-trust. Besides, we have to constantly ask ourselves, “which action or decision brings us closer to our core values?” We need to take time and give our mind space to make connections between our core values (核心價值) and intuition. Intuition is not perfect. But, we’ll probably be surprised to find that our gut is a more powerful decision-making tool than we may have realized.

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對味兒了Feeling Right

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