‘Touching the belly’ helps me see life through a more positive lens

Self-identified as a person who easily gets angry and has difficulty controlling his emotions, the Front PM born in 1991 – Nguyen Minh Luan (FJP.GE.EJ2), came to the seminar of Mr. Duong Quang Minh when he happened to see it once through a colleague’s post.

What made Luan curious from the beginning and later gradually interested was the strange-sounding name of the seminar – “Touching the belly”. The practice of observing one’s breath is a way to practice concentration and focus. It helps you control your emotions. An easy way to observe the breath is to place your hand gently on the abdomen to feel the rise and fall of the abdomen with each inhalation and exhalation. This may seem simple at first, but it works wonders for controlling your emotions. From there, we change the way we react to external factors and we can make the relationships around us better.

Regularly spending an hour a day to practice and listen to lectures about life lessons and get psychological advice from the teacher at the end of each class, Luan said that Mr. Minh is a person with long experience and is quite funny. The teacher’s way of sharing is also relevant and not rigid. 21 days is not long enough to change one’s personality, but the course has helped Luan know how to control his emotions as well as reflect after getting angry.

“The other day, I was riding an escalator when someone in front stepped back and stepped on my foot. Normally, I will be irritated, or appear to be annoyed. But after the course, I know how to control my anger. After the escalator ended, the person walked away, and I just found out that she has a disability in her foot and was not able to stand on the escalator stably. At that time, I realized that controlling emotions helps me calm my soul and find peace. If I had not controlled myself and become angry with the woman, I would have felt very much guilty after knowing that she has a disability,” Luan said.

The 9X friend reminded us that life is simple. We just need to change the way we look at it. When angry or when something is not right, just pause for 1-2 minutes or take a deep breath. Your action or decision afterward will bring much better results than an action or decision that is made right away.

Quynh Huong