Chapter 1003 - 774: Emotional Awareness (Part 2)
Slide transition.
[Emotional Awareness] The four large characters appeared behind Nan Zhubin.
"[Emotions]." Nan Zhubin’s voice was clear, "This is something we encounter every day in our lives."
"In psychology, [emotions] are the subjective experiences that arise from an individual’s judgement about whether objective things meet their needs, accompanied by physiological reactions, behavioral expressions, and cognitive evaluations."
"They are the brain and body’s rapid, holistic response patterns to ’important events.’ They tell us what is beneficial to us and mobilize us to take action."
"From an evolutionary perspective, emotions are an efficient survival tool. They help us quickly identify opportunities and threats in the environment and mobilize the body to take action—’Fear’ helps us avoid danger, ’Anger’ helps us deal with infringement, ’Happiness’ encourages us to repeat beneficial actions."
Nan Zhubin explained the concept of [emotion] in depth from three angles.
Then, he shifted his tone.
"But in our daily lives, many times—[emotions] are suppressed, and even opposed."
Nan Zhubin’s voice lowered.
"We are encouraged not to feel ’happy’ about good things, to avoid becoming conceited; not to feel ’fear’ in the face of danger, but to confront the unknown risks; and not to become ’angry’ when facing infringement, because anger—doesn’t help."
"These emotions, when suppressed and opposed for long periods, make it difficult for our bodies to respond appropriately to life’s challenges."
Nan Zhubin said: "Not being controlled by emotions is naturally a rational and necessary way of living;"
"But denying our emotions for a long time—this is an unhealthy way of living, even against the laws of survival."
As he said this, Nan Zhubin’s gaze swept across the audience, lingering slightly at one point.
It’s hard to say whether these words deeply moved the employees.
But they certainly resonated to some degree.
Nan Zhubin continued: "Today, our first session is about ’awareness.’ We need to feel and express our truest emotions."
"In the past period, a lot has happened at the company. The pressure, grievances, and other things everyone has endured are all real."
Nan Zhubin watched everyone’s expressions: "Today, here, there are no ’emotions that shouldn’t be,’ only ’feelings left unsaid.’"
"Today, here, you don’t have to feel that ’having emotions is being weak,’ and there’s no need to deliberately find ’nice’ words to cover up."
Nan Zhubin wanted to solidify the faint echoes he had drawn out in the simplest way possible.
"Now, please open the first link on the page on your phones, where there’s a text box. Use a word or a short phrase to write down your most genuine emotion from the past month."
"Like ’Fear,’ ’Anger,’ ’Tired,’ or ’Want to cry,’ writing ’I’m fine’ is also okay."
Nan Zhubin smiled: "The whole process is anonymous, even our backend staff can only see the input text without knowing the source."
"We don’t need to analyze our emotions in complexity, nor force ourselves to shake off emotions. As long as we can see our current feelings clearly, are willing to express and acknowledge them, even just with a simple word, that is [Emotional Awareness]."
"This is also the first step in our guidance today."
Nan Zhubin glanced at Mo Kai.
The assistant consultant switched the slides again, and the huge QR code appeared on the screen once more.
Besides the QR code, there was also a huge countdown below.
"We’ll spend roughly 2 minutes to feel and express our emotions."
"After 2 minutes, I’ll randomly select some anonymous emotions to read out to everyone." Nan Zhubin said, "We don’t know which of these emotions will best represent us."
...
This session is called [Emotion Naming], which is the core of [Emotion-Focused Therapy].
From a psychological perspective, when negative emotions cannot be clearly recognized and named, they become vague [psychological drain].
Long-term psychological drain can lead to anxiety, depression, and other issues.
But when people can clearly articulate their emotions—such as "I am afraid, not weak"—it’s like labeling a chaotic negative feeling.
This completes [Emotional Awareness].
This is the premise of emotional regulation and the key to "de-stigmatizing" emotions in the workplace, where emotions are often avoided, suppressed, or opposed.
This session, besides helping employees notice their emotions, also helps them understand—any emotion is a normal psychological reaction, and there’s no need to feel inferior or blame oneself for ’having emotions’.
If the number of people was small, this session should have included distributing "emotion cards" to let participants write down their emotions by hand, making the experience deeper and more direct.
However, considering the large number of attendees today, Nan Zhubin wanted to make the psychological counseling as broad as possible, so he used the method of scanning and submitting anonymously.
...
The room immediately quieted down, with only the slight sound of fingers tapping on phone screens and occasionally a few phone vibrations.
The 2-minute duration was generous. Many people completed the task in the first minute.
A few people glanced around before taking out their phones again to scan the QR code on the screen and join the session.
The man in formal attire at the center of the conference table smiled amicably and completed the process, whispering to Boss Wang beside him, "President Wang, aren’t you going to join in?"
"Of course, I will." Boss Wang remained unfazed, "I’m also a member of the company, you know."
Saying this, he deliberately placed his phone on the table, close to where the man in formal attire could see, and typed the words [self-blame].
Originally, this should have just been a perfunctory act.
But for some reason, after submitting this result, Boss Wang faintly felt a sense of anticipation—anticipation that his result might be selected by Nan Zhubin, to be read out in front of everyone.
If it weren’t anonymous, it would have been even better.
Nan Zhubin naturally didn’t know what Boss Wang was thinking; even if he did, he wouldn’t spend any more energy on it.
As soon as 2 minutes passed, Mo Kai hurriedly took the stage, handed Nan Zhubin a tablet, and quickly returned to his seat to continue operating it.
Nan Zhubin swiped open the tablet’s screen, glanced through the backend data, and then turned his eyes back to the big screen behind him. The screen began displaying the employee-submitted emotional words in real time, densely packed, showing only the content without any user IDs.
"Okay, 2 minutes are up, we have received many entries on the backend."
"I will now randomly select a few to read out to everyone."
Nan Zhubin’s voice was deep and steady. Then he bowed his head as if selecting something.
In the breaths during his pause, the place was unusually quiet.
Everyone seemed curious about what the first word would be, and wondered if the emotions they had written down would appear.
In this anticipation, Nan Zhubin read out the first word: "Fear."
There was no sound in the venue.
Nan Zhubin paused for three seconds, then responded: "Acknowledged. In facing environments that might pose threats at any time, fear is the brain sounding the alarm."
A brief explanation.
Someone in the audience discreetly looked up.
Nan Zhubin moved on quickly and continued to read out the second emotion:
"Anger."
Again, a three-second pause, Nan Zhubin said: "Acknowledged. Anger indicates we feel violated, offended, or unfairly treated. Feeling ’angry’ when treated this way is a normal reaction."
Then Nan Zhubin read out the third emotion.
"—Want to hit someone."