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Chapter 266 - 264: Reducing Emotional Involvement and Facing Real Events and Emotions

Chapter 266: Chapter 264: Reducing Emotional Involvement and Facing Real Events and Emotions

Li Minglu said as instructed, "Before and after the change in ’my’ working state, it didn’t have any negative impact on the presentation of Lao Xue’s work."

When Nan Zhubin said this, the focus was on the description of Li Minglu’s state. Avoid using words like "fell ill" or "suffered from depression."

And when Li Minglu repeated it, Nan Zhubin focused on the pronoun usage of the other party.

When Li Minglu repeated this sentence using "I" as the subject, it was the first major change in his body during the entire process of Emotion Memory Rewrite.

[His shoulders first raised, then relaxed, and swayed slightly with the narration—he was very invested in the sentence, and sincerely felt and accepted it.]

[His body was very relaxed.]

[The corners of his mouth lifted—a relieved smile.]

Nan Zhubin was very satisfied with this.

Li Minglu’s existing thoughts were considered consolidated and completed.

"So what do you think Lao Xue was doing when you were browsing chat records and tense all over? Was he looking at your paintings?"

Li Minglu’s tone was a bit uncertain, "Maybe..."

"And when he was looking at your paintings, what kind of reactions did he have?"

Nan Zhubin directly confirmed "maybe" as an established fact.

And extended on this basis.

"Hmm... would he be happy? He would smile, and then... anticipate my next work?" Li Minglu’s tone became more uncertain.

Nan Zhubin nodded, "Happy, Anticipation."

Nan Zhubin suddenly pulled out a piece of paper from his hand and handed it to Li Minglu, "We still have plenty of time now. Can you simply draw these two expressions of Lao Xue on this paper?"

"The expressions of Lao Xue, happy and anticipatory, after seeing your painting?"

Li Minglu was a bit stunned.

A bit hesitant.

However, he still took the blank sheet.

When he started to draw, his actions were very intermittent, seemingly difficult to make a stroke.

And with many small movements, occasionally rubbing the small wooden block on his left hand bracelet.

But after the first stroke, his artist instincts drove his muscle memory to start instinctively sketching a middle-aged man’s face.

Along with this creative process, the expression he imagined began to imprint on the paper; and as that expression appeared on the paper, Li Minglu’s "imagination" seemed to also become "reality" in a certain sense.

A short while later.

"Done."

Li Minglu let out a sigh of relief.

"What did you draw?" Nan Zhubin suddenly asked.

Li Minglu replied matter-of-factly, "Lao Xue’s happy, anticipatory expression."

...

If when Li Minglu first mentioned these two emotions, his tone was still uncertain.

Then at this moment, that uncertainty had turned into a kind of certainty.

This was the second thought Nan Zhubin instilled into Li Minglu during the event reconstruction.

[Before and after the change in my work state, it didn’t bring any negative impact on the presentation of Lao Xue’s work.] This was the vague thought Li Minglu originally had, which was strengthened by Nan Zhubin as the first thought.

[When Lao Xue was looking at my works at the same time, he internally felt happy and anticipatory.] This was the second thought constructed by Nan Zhubin for Li Minglu from scratch.

At this point.

The third stage of Emotion Memory Rewrite, Event Reconstruction, also ends here.

Next is the fourth stage, Neuro Anchoring.

This stage is actually quite simple.

"Now you have a new understanding of this emotion event. Can you verbally narrate it again?"

Li Minglu was quite adept at fulfilling this request.

He fluently said, "Before and after the change in my work state, it didn’t bring any negative impact on Lao Xue’s work presentation; moreover, when I was browsing records and tensed all over, Lao Xue might be reviewing my previous works at the same time, and at that time, he was happy and anticipatory."

This is the first layer of Cognitive Anchoring.

While saying this sentence, Li Minglu simultaneously rubbed the small wooden block on his bracelet.

This is the second layer of Touch Differentiation Anchoring.

...

Looking at Li Minglu’s current state, Nan Zhubin smiled.

Now Li Minglu can begin to review again.

"Okay, then let’s go back and look at this Stone Event now."

Nan Zhubin said, "If you consider the discomfort caused by the children during breakfast as a scale of 10, what scale is the current Stone Event?"

Li Minglu began to ponder.

He pursed his lips, seeming ready to endure something.

But then, he was taken aback.

Li Minglu’s tone was somewhat uncertain, "Is it...scale 1?"

The next second, he overturned his thought, and his tone became even more uncertain, "Not even scale 1...isn’t it?"

"Even, not uncomfortable?"

Nan Zhubin nodded, spread his hands forward, making the gesture of "see for yourself."

Li Minglu blinked, his face seemingly full of "why."

Nan Zhubin smiled, "Before, although each time you thought about the Stone Event, you recognized ’I shouldn’t think like this, I shouldn’t feel uncomfortable,’ every time you recalled, you still felt uncomfortable, right?"

Li Minglu nodded repeatedly.

"But now, you don’t feel that way."

Li Minglu nodded even faster.

Nan Zhubin began to explain the principle because further training is needed, and even for Li Minglu to actively learn this way of thinking.

He must make Li Minglu understand.

"When you previously recalled this matter, you would describe it in your heart as ’I was browsing chat records, thinking all the nice things Lao Xue said were to comfort me, while actually, I was troubling Lao Xue.’ This description has too many negative details, and those details bring negative emotional experiences."

"You can’t help but focus on the emotional experience. This emotion will dilute your rational thinking, making your correct thoughts fleeting and further immerse you in negative emotions."

"And our previous second step, Detail Deconstruction, allows you to focus on other neutral details while integrating these details, using metaphors like the Stone Event to summarize the whole incident."

"This way, it reduces your emotional involvement. You won’t feel immediately uncomfortable when recalling this event."

Li Minglu’s eyes opened wide.

It seemed he didn’t realize there were so many changes happening subtly in what he just did.

"Meanwhile, the ’real details’ about the Stone Event you targeted were also enriched during this process."

"Including the guilt and body tension you mentioned."

Nan Zhubin explained, "I’m not sure if you noticed when you previously recalled the Stone Event, as soon as you started brainstorming, you’d immediately be overwhelmed by surging discomfort."

"But actually, what you recalled was not the Stone Event, but—discomfort!"

"And the discomfort you felt wasn’t just the Stone Event, but included all the events that made you feel uncomfortable!"

Li Minglu’s breathing became rapid.

"It seems you only recalled the Stone Event, but in fact, the Stone Event was just a trigger point. The negative emotions you felt was the aggregation of many so-called events bringing discomfort."

"And when you felt these discomfort emotions outside the Stone Event, they, in turn, worsened the feeling the Stone Event gave you."

"The negative emotions brought by the Stone Event would thus become more and more severe."

Nan Zhubin’s voice was soft, yet steady.

"What we just did was extract the Stone Event from the numerous discomforts, turning it into an independent guilt. Then, weaken this guilt, even eliminate the guilt."

"This is the process and function of the Emotion Memory Rewrite Method."

When mentioning this.

Nan Zhubin glanced at Li Minglu’s wrist, where he was unconsciously rubbing the small wooden block on the bracelet.