Have you ever tried to understand feelings about a certain moment or of a day directly? There is now a store where you can buy precious time and space for reflecting about yourself. “Feeling Store, open the warehouse door in a moment (Feeling Store)” is a place where people can suddenly open their mind door. The store is utilized as a cafe at day and pub at night, providing a natural and comfortable atmosphere where people can feel free of pressure.

The store gives a special experience utilizing various boxes, the first of which is called a “Feeling Box.” You can have time to concentrate more on your private time using programs such as “Feeling Box, ‘I’m Box, Inner Diary Box, and Q&A Notes.” The Argus visited Feeling Store and experienced the programs to feel the philosophy being pushed by the store.

Feeling Store is located in a secluded alley of Hyehwa-dong. Going into the alley across from the main street full of people, the reporter could see the single neon store sign that says, “Cafe & Pub Storyspace.” On the left side of the sign, a white pop-up cube hangs down on the wall, with the words, “Feeling Store, open the warehouse door in a moment.”
When the reporter entered the store, the colorful wooden boxes first caught the reporter’s eyes. They made the reporter want to pull them all out one by one. On the wall, there is an abstract painting with a crescent moon and tree, while a painting of a thinking man is unexpectedly attached to the ceiling. Tables of various sizes are arranged both in and out of the space.

Program “Feeling Boxes” is for helping people to write their own stories about one of 40 feeling keywords such as “Rest,” “Hope,” “Wonder,” “Amazing,” “Simple,” and “Lonely.” One can also read about others’ stories who have visited the Feeling Store.

Each of the total 40 kinds of feelings are made into colored boxes. Positive and negative feeling boxes are placed randomly, half and half. The popular feeling boxes from first to third are “Redundancy,” “Thrill,” and “Complexity” in the criteria of 2018. If there were no feeling keywords you want to choose, you can choose a blank yellow box.

The reporter talked about the Feeling Store with 20-year-old Kim Hye-won who was in a state of over-excitement ahead of a double major interview. “In a digitalized society, I think it is new and fresh that we can share a wide range of abstract feelings in specified visible forms such as paper and boxes in this store,” she said. She added that the store is a place to visit when you want to be consoled or to understand certain feelings that you may not recognize or realize exactly.

Reading carefully about the program guide on the menu, the reporter decided to experience the Feeling Box program. After ordering a vanilla bean latte, the store manager gave the reporter three sheets of note paper. He said that the visitors can concentrate on today’s or this moment’s feeling. The reporter chose one box to share with the readers, a lavender-colored “Tear Box,” wondering what people would think of the word “tear.”

A heavy coated paper attached on the tear box explained that the program is divided into four steps: My story, To you, Your definition of “tear,” and Drawing your feelings at this moment.

On the “My story” paper, visitors can think about why they choose that keyword while freely writing their stories. Then, on the “To you” paper, people write messages for others who will open that feeling box. Plus, people write down their own definition of “tear.” Finally, visitors fill the blanks in the paper with the five elements of senses and draw their current feelings using color pencils.
In the orange-colored paper for drawing, there is a drawn person who seems to open one’s mind. There is a written word, “PLEASE FILL(FEEL) ME” below the drawn person. People feel and fill in their feelings on the person’s opened heart. If people put all three notepads in the box, a series of their own reflection on “tear” will stay and wait for another visitor. The reporter could obtain a rapport with someone else’s feelings through the program, a sense of “closing the loop” with another.

As the light of Feeling Store darkens, the atmosphere of the store during night time changed from daytime. The reporter asked one of the visitors, Kim Jung-ha, about her “today’s feeling.”

“Today was gorgeous. The weather was good, and I went to a hair salon for my new hair. Feeling Store is where my friend and I usually visit at night. I think it is great place to finish a day talking to someone in the twilight atmosphere.”
The reporter talked to the store manager Lee Jong-hwan about his store and its programs. He opened a store where people can grow up their “mental muscles” by using programs because he thought there is a need for modern people to think of what “I” like, hate, and how “I” feel instead of what the society wants.

Korean society has a tendency to think there is a set path for “success” such as entering a prestigious university and having a socially recognized job. “Our Feeling Store has a big ambition to change the world by seeing oneself. I think a solution for modern society’s many problems is finding happiness by taking care of and checking in on yourself,” he said.

People each spend a different day with different feelings. What emotions and thoughts did you feel during the day? If these questions sound unfamiliar, it is time for you to talk with yourself. Feeling Store will help with your mind training by asking you about yourself and answering it.
It is important to face ourselves because almost everything originates from oneself. Giving ourselves real love and care is also a first step to understand and embrace others, ultimately leading to a mature and warm society. Therefore, love yourself, and love myself.

By Seo Eun-sol
Reporter of Campus Section