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Celine (Interviewer)
Hi Cam! It’s great seeing you again. Can you introduce yourself to our viewers?
Camellia (Principal Psychologist)
Hello, I am Camellia, or you can call me Cam, the co-founder of InPsychful. I am a psychologist at InPsychful, and we also run programs. Recently, a newly minted card game creator, called Overbaked!
Celine (Interviewer)
That is a new game that we actually see here. So previously you shared with us about Emotional Fitness. And now that we see that we have the Overbaked card game. Is this actually related to Emotional Fitness?
Camellia (Principal Psychologist)
Yes, the game actually is very much related to Emotional Fitness. With this card game, this is an emotional resilience card game. Through this card game, you can get to see how players respond to their emotions as they journey through the gameplay. So, Overbaked! Is part of our Emotional Fitness Program as an additional component.
Why? Because we want to make learning about emotions fun. We want to make learning about how to cope with emotions, how to manage emotions, how to overcome challenging situations, in a fun and learning environment, rather than, you know, like a sit-down lecture style, which not everybody gets it. We also believe in learn-through-play because that’s more fun.
Celine (Interviewer)
There’s a really cool concept of gameplay you have there. I understand that emotions in our Asian society is something that we don’t really much talk about. Right? So, in your perspective, how you think emotions can help us in any given situation?
Camellia (Principal Psychologist)
You’re right. You know, a lot of times people don’t (talk about emotions). In Asian context, we are not very comfortable talking about emotions, we’re often told to keep it in, you know, we’re often told what are called good emotions, what are bad emotions. The truth is emotions actually provide us with information. How we are perceiving the particular situation, whether the situation is a good and happy and joyous one, or one that is stressful, or one that really makes us feel annoyed and angry, or even sometimes, maybe feel betrayed. Or for those who are working, burnout. All these how we feel about these situations gives us information.
Celine (Interviewer)
In your opinion, do you think emotions are really split into positives and negative? I understand that you said that there are bad emotions. There are times where we really do feel angry or annoyed, at certain situations, because this is our reaction today? And some of us actually feel really bad that we are actually feeling such negative emotions, per se. Yeah, so what’s your opinion?
Camellia (Principal Psychologist)
When it comes to emotions, society tells us that, you know, there are good emotions. There are positive and negative emotions. Essentially, it’s negative, because when we experience emotions, it’s not very nice. But the other part of it is also how the emotions are being expressed, you know, if somebody’s angry, and they decide to punch the other party, or punch a wall, then of course, the behaviour comes off as negative. If somebody’s angry, but they sit there and they clenched fists, tightens their jaw and cry. Nobody really says that it’s a bad behavior. But more often than not, people tend to tell each other how you should feel and how you shouldn’t feel. But what you feel about certain situations, the emotions belong to you. Nobody can say anything else, because you are the one experiencing it. It may be similar situations, but how you experience it will be different from others.
So, when it comes to emotions, how we look at it in InPsychful is known as arousal and valence. Arousal is where we get emotionally worked up, like anger, where you are at a higher state of emotional arousal. Excitement is something that people associate with positivity. Imagine a child who is overly excited to go to Universal Studios. Every hour of the day, the child comes to you. “Mummy! When are we going to Universal Studios, when are we going to Universal Studios?”. From something that is positive that they are looking forward to, as a parent you may feel irritated. But excitement is often associated with positivity. So that’s why over here when we talk about emotions. In general, we talk about the feeling of the emotion, it’s not good or bad. The negative part comes when the individual is experiencing a particular emotion. But what we look at is how the emotions are expressed, whether it’s expressed appropriately or not.
Celine (Interviewer)
I think that’s really a great insight for our viewers out there on how emotions are defined, not in positive or negative terms per se, but rather how it is being expressed. We also know that many people know what emotion is. But you think that it is common for people to know and be aware of their emotions?
Camellia (Principal Psychologist)
I think people are generally aware of maybe the more prominent or the more salient emotions. I think what people are not aware of, are the thoughts towards a particular situation, they may not be as aware. And what people may not be aware is that we actually feel multiple emotions in a situation. We don’t just feel one. But it just so happens that either the most prominent emotion is something that they’re more aware of, or sometimes when they’re feeling a mix of emotion. They feel a bit lost. They don’t really know what they are feeling. That leads to confusion. So, in terms of awareness, it is a yes or no. More commonly we are more aware of the more prominent and salient emotion that we feel at that time and in the moment.
Celine (Interviewer)
If that’s the case, then how can we be more aware of our emotions?
Camellia (Principal Psychologist)
In that moment, when we know we are feeling certain emotions, we just sit with the emotions. Sitting there can mean you don’t have to necessarily respond immediately, you can start to ask yourself, what is it that I am feeling right now? You can list it or write it out. “Why am I feeling this way? What is making me feel this way?” We also want to be aware not just about what we feel, but we want to do with these emotions. (We can ask ourselves)
- Do we just need a few days to sit with the emotions and process things?
- Do we need to find a way to respond?
- We need to talk to somebody to help us process all these emotions.
- We don’t really know what to do with these emotions overtime, it’s actually causing us some distress.
Celine (Interviewer)
Some of us actually find it a hassle to know so much about emotions. So why do you think that is important to know what emotions we are experiencing?
Camellia (Principal Psychologist)
Knowing how we feel can actually help us better process through situations, it can then help us to better problem solve. For example, sometimes we are in the workspace, certain emotions we know that it’s professional, it’s not personal, then we can decide what we want with the emotion. Or sometimes it hit a certain sensitive spot and it’s a bit challenging to split the two, professional and personal life. Then this information tells us if we need to take a step back and then maybe pause a little bit before we move forward. Same thing for students, especially those who are sitting for major exams. When we know how we feel towards a particular object, then we can decide how we want to approach the subject.
For example, my mandarin is really bad. When I look at my assessment books, I will feel very unmotivated and annoyed, because I’m constantly asked to do it even though I don’t like it. It does not motivate me to do anything. Over time, I don’t do anything and it’s a constant cycle. Of course, in the end, my mandarin’s grade is poor. Compared to a subject that I look forward to like English, I will do more exercises, because I want to maintain a certain grade. So all this, how we feel about something gives us information, it also can help us plan forward, even though we know that it’s something that we don’t like. What can we do to make the process a little bit more enjoyable, so that we can complete the task?
Celine (Interviewer)
Okay, so thank you for providing us great insights to what exactly emotions are. Is there anything you would like to add on before we conclude with today’s sharing?
Camellia (Principal Psychologist)
I just want our viewers to know that the emotions belong to you and doesn’t belong anyone else. Because in that moment, you are the one that is experiencing whatever situation you’re experiencing. Society will say other things, you know, society will tell you that you shouldn’t feel this way you should be feeling this way. You know, you shouldn’t be having all these feelings, you need to let it go and drop it. But the truth is, if you’re feeling a certain way, in a particular situation, the emotions belong to you.
At the end of day is really to look at what are you going to do with those emotions, you do need an outlet to disperse all those emotions, regardless of whether it’s emotional arousal, happier state, or maybe when you’re at a more sad and down state, you will need some way some space to disperse those emotions. It’s really about understanding and finding out how can you disperse in those moments. Remember that your emotions belong to you, it’s the behavior that you want to work on.
Celine (Interviewer)
With that, thank you so much Cam for sharing more about emotions, and we must have really learn quite a bit from her. So, for our viewers out there, did you know that emotion is a key part of Emotional Fitness? We check out our other videos to find out more about how Emotional Fitness can help you succeed in the things that we do. Thank you!
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