Healing Lab | When Your Heart Needs a Little Rain, Here’s a Place to Rest
Life isn’t always sunny. Moments of uncertainty, exhaustion, or emotional lows can arrive quietly, especially in the fast pace of university life. And that’s okay — emotions rise and fall naturally, just like the weather.
May 25 marks 525 mental health day in China. The number “525” sounds similar to “I love myself” in Chinese, reminding us to turn inward with a little more care, understanding, and patience.
But what does “loving yourself” really mean? It doesn’t mean being happy all the time, or forcing yourself to stay positive. Sometimes, it simply means allowing yourself to feel tired, lost, or overwhelmed. It means giving yourself permission to pause when you need to — to find a quiet shelter for the heart, wait out a passing rain, and notice the rainbow that slowly appears afterward.
To celebrate this special occasion, Wenzhou-Kean University Library presents Healing Lab, a curated reading display created as a gentle space for reflection and rest. This is not a place that promises constant happiness. Instead, it offers understanding, breathing room, and small moments of comfort. We believe healing is not about “fixing” emotions, but learning how to sit with ourselves more kindly. Sometimes, opening a book can become a quiet act of self-care.
01 Awareness | Letting Emotions Exist
We are often told to “control” our emotions, but rarely taught how to truly notice them. This section invites you to slow down — not to fight your feelings, but to observe, name, and understand them. These books act like calm mirrors, reminding us that every emotion deserves acknowledgment, and every vulnerability has its own story.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
Lori Gottlieb
RC480.8 G68 2021 CN
Inside the therapy room, we witness not only the struggles and confusion of patients, but also the doubts and vulnerabilities of the therapist herself. The book makes vulnerability feel human and understandable, rather than something shameful. Asking for help is not weakness — it is a courageous way of facing yourself honestly.
Reasons to Stay Alive
Matt Haig
PR6108.A39 H35 2018 CN
Drawing from his own experience with severe depression, Matt Haig describes the distortion of time, the feeling of disconnection from the world, and the weight of emotional collapse in deeply accessible language. Sometimes, putting pain into words can already be the beginning of relief.
Passion and reason : making sense of our emotions
Richard S. Lazarus & Bernice N. Lazarus
BF561 L39 2023 CN
Emotions are not caused directly by events themselves, but by the way we interpret them. The same situation can lead to completely different emotional experiences depending on how we understand it. Between an event and an emotion, there is space for awareness — and within that space, emotions become something we can learn from, rather than something to fear.
The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself
Michael A. Singer
BF311 S56 2021 CN
This book offers a more inward perspective on awareness, encouraging readers to step back and observe their emotions instead of becoming consumed by them. We are not our anger, anxiety, or sadness — we are the ones noticing those emotions.
Der König verneigt sich und tötet
Herta Müller
PT2673.U29234 M85 2023 CN
In an atmosphere shaped by pressure and silence, language itself becomes fragile. Herta Müller explores the relationship between fear, trauma, and expression, reminding us that some emotions are difficult to speak about not because we are weak, but because they have long existed under too many watchful eyes. Recognizing that pressure can itself be a form of clarity.
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02 Perception | Awakening the Senses
When thoughts become overwhelming, the body can become a quiet place to return to. These books encourage you to reconnect with everyday sensations — the taste of food, the warmth of sunlight, the movement of air, the details hidden in ordinary life. Through travel, art, photography, and nature, they gently remind us how to feel present again.
Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper
Fuchsia Dunlop
TX724.5.C5 D86 2018 CN
A cultural adventure that begins in the kitchen. Through the perspective of a British writer exploring Sichuan cuisine, the book captures the rich complexity and vitality of Chinese food culture. Humorous, vivid, and full of sensory detail, it transforms eating into a way of understanding the world.
Wang Zengqi Tan Chi Daquan
Wang Zengqi
PL2919.Z464 W36 2023d CN
A warm and deeply affectionate celebration of everyday food. In Wang Zengqi’s writing, even the simplest ingredients carry personality and memory. Beneath the calm, understated prose is a lasting tenderness toward ordinary life.
The Mindful Photographer
Sophie Howarth
TR145 .H69 2022
Photography is not only about recording images — it can also become a practice of presence. By training ourselves to observe through the lens, we learn to return to the moment we are in. This book turns photography into a form of mindfulness, helping “seeing” become slow and intentional again.
The Art of Travel
Alain de Botton
G151 D43 2020 CN
The meaning of travel is not simply about going somewhere far away, but about changing the way we perceive the world. Alain de Botton shifts travel away from sightseeing and toward self-understanding, reminding us that the most meaningful landscapes are often shaped by renewed curiosity and attention.
Art as Therapy
Alain de Botton
N7477 D43 2019 CN
Art is more than decoration — it can become a way of understanding life itself. Through themes such as love, nature, and money, art becomes a tool for processing emotions and experiences, allowing us to recognize parts of ourselves within creative works.
The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs
Tristan Gooley
GV200.4 G66 2023 CN
The natural world has never stopped speaking — we have simply forgotten how to read it. Clouds, tree bark, bird movements, and shifting light all form another kind of language. This book invites us to become observers of nature again, instead of merely passing through it.
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03 Resonance | Seeing & Releasing Through Stories
Some emotions are difficult to explain. Some feelings don’t even have names. Stories can help carry them for us. In these fictional yet deeply human worlds, we may recognize pieces of ourselves — our doubts, tenderness, loneliness, and courage. Sometimes, simply feeling understood can be quietly healing.
Anne of Green Gables
Lucy Maud Montgomery
PS8526.O55 M66 2012 / PR9199.3.M6 M66 2007
Anne uses imagination to brighten the ordinary world around her. Her optimism is not naive, but a quiet ability to keep rebuilding meaning and beauty in daily life — preserving a space where the heart can continue to breathe.
The Penguin Lessons
Tom Michell
LA2365.A72 M53 2016 CN
While teaching abroad, a young British man unexpectedly forms a sincere and awkward friendship with a penguin rescued from an oil spill. Beneath the simplicity of the story lies a gentle reflection on responsibility, kindness, and human connection.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Jamie Ford
PS3606.O737 F67 2019 CN
A story of waiting, loss, memory, and cross-cultural love. Warm without becoming sentimental, the novel carries hope quietly through sorrow — perfect for anyone who may need a calm and healing cry.
ツバキ文具店
Ito Ogawa
PL874.G39 O33 2023a CN
Through handwritten notes, carefully prepared meals, and small rituals of daily life, the characters rediscover both others and themselves. The story gently explores healing, memory, and emotional connection through food and conversation.
Le Petit Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
PQ2637.A274 S25 2010 CN / PZ8.S14 S25 2000a
A timeless story about love, loneliness, and what truly matters. Through the journey of a little prince traveling between planets, the book quietly reminds us that “what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
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04 Support | Build Inner Stability
Emotional storms come and go, but lasting healing often grows from the quiet strength we build over time. These books are not quick fixes. Instead, they offer perspectives and practices that can help us develop resilience, focus, and steadiness — becoming a more reliable source of support for ourselves.
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
BF575.H27 C75 2017 CN
When our attention becomes fully absorbed in a meaningful challenge, the noise inside the mind gradually settles into clarity and order. “Flow” is not simply relaxation, but a deeply focused and stable state that helps us move away from anxiety and into a sense of inner balance.
嫌われる勇気：自己啓発の源流「アドラー」の教え
Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga
BF637.S4 K57 2015 CN
This introduction to Adlerian psychology centers around the idea of “separating tasks” — understanding that other people’s expectations and judgments are not ours to carry. Once we stop living entirely through the eyes of others, emotional space begins to open, and our actions become freer and clearer.
Meditations
Marcus Aurelius
B580 M37 2023 CN / B580 A97 2012 CN / B580 M37 2014 / …
A timeless guide to inner calm and rational thinking. Through personal reflections written by a Roman emperor, the book teaches us to distinguish between what we can control and what we cannot, while holding onto integrity and peace amid external uncertainty.
Walden
Henry David Thoreau
PS3048 T46 2012 / PS3048.A2 T46 2019 CN / PS3043 T46 2011 CN / PS3048 T46 2009 / PS3048 T46 2023 CN / ...
During two years of living beside Walden Pond, Thoreau spent his days planting beans, reading, and observing the lake — yet he described it as one of the richest periods of his life. More than a book about solitude, Walden reflects on how to live simply, intentionally, and meaningfully.
Man’s Search for Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl
D810.J4 F73 2006
Written by a Holocaust survivor, this classic work reflects on the human ability to find meaning even in the most difficult circumstances. Frankl reminds us that while we cannot always choose what happens to us, we can still choose how we respond.
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More Than Just Books
Healing Lab also features three interactive spaces:
Mood Weather Station — Your Weather Today: What Is It?
Healing Moments Collector — Share Your Own Gentle Cure.
A Tender Note to Self — Draw your own little reminder.
And perhaps a few hidden surprises are waiting to be discovered. We’ll leave a little mystery for you to experience in person.
Life can feel heavy sometimes. But for a little while, you are allowed to set things down.
Healing Lab is not about becoming “better.” It’s simply a place to pause.
There’s no pressure to always be cheerful here — only a gentle reminder that you are allowed to be exactly as you are.
Curatorial & Visual Design | Lin Yujia
First Review | Tang Lianyi
Second Review | Gu Mengmeng & Ren Yuanyuan
Final Review | Xie Zhiwu
