Emotional Utopia 寻找情绪的桃花源

I was intrigued by the newspaper article about 5 speakers from Taiwan coming to give a talk on the subject of emotion 情绪 qíng xù. Their title was 寻找情绪的桃花源 xúnzhǎo qíngxù de táohuāyuán loosely translated as “Seeking our emotional paradise” So I gathered it is about how to control our emotions to create the harmony found in 桃花源 the land of the Peach Blossom (see last post). So on the 8 March, we went for the free introduction to the seminar.

I was surprised that the talk was held in a beautiful old bungalow at a secluded corner of an older section of PJ. We sat on the wooden floor facing a large bowl of pink frangipani freshly plucked from the large tree in the garden. We waited in anticipation, in a tastefully decorated, brightly lighted and well equipped hall.

A cheerful, “short, well-rounded” (in her own words) middle-age lady took the mike and soon arrested the attention of the fifty or so of us seated on the wooden floor. Her name is 普悦 pǔyuè, the founder of Reset Garden 綠色生活 lǜsè shēnghuó (literal: Green Living), She spoke of how emotion can be a wild tornado that swept everything off its path or the calm in the storm lashing all round us. Her enthusiasm and booming laughter were infectious as she made jokes on herself. Then her voice cracked as she spoke of personal feelings, how she was a tempestuous mother and driven wife. All because she let 情绪 emotion ruled her. Do we want to tame the beast? She asked. The crowd was convinced.

Then, she dropped a bomb shell that she has 癌症 áizhèng (cancer). It was deeply shocking for the woman in front of me is so full of life. What this amazing woman said next stayed with me – “I started to really live only when I found I’ve cancer. It taught me to step back, reflect, and value life. It asked me if the life I was living was really the life I wanted. I’m grateful for what it taught me”.

Thankful for having cancer? On my long drive back, my mind were digesting her words mixed with this thought – 江山易改, 本性难移, jiāngshānyìgǎi, běnxìngnányí (it is easy to change rivers and hills but not man’s character). Still, if there is a compelling reason, man can have a paradigm shift. I signed up for the seminar 寻找情绪的桃花源 and hope it can teach me how to make emotion 情绪 an ally in life…

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