REFRESH THE SOUL MEDITATIONS

Embracing Nunchi: The Path to Social Harmony and Personal Growth

Honoring social cues leads to deeper relationships with yourself and others

Nancy Blackman, MASF
Refresh the Soul
Published in
7 min readJul 19, 2024

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The key to nunchi (noon-chee) is reading the room and honoring everyone by entering free of assumptions. It becomes a path to embracing social harmony and increasing personal growth. It is a way of life.

Nunchi (눈치) means eye-measure. It is the art of gauging how people are thinking and feeling so you can create connection, trust, and harmony. This life strategy dates back over one thousand years as a form of social intelligence — a way to read and understand the room.

It is often compared to emotional intelligence and situational awareness, except for a major difference: nunchi concerns the whole organism, not just its people. Having nunchi means you are not selfish, autonomous, self-sufficient, arrogant, or pushy.

The mindfulness of nunchi is because of its emphasis on the here and now, which is counterculture to many Western traditions. Nunchi is a way of adapting to current social climates as you are in the present moment. It requires using your five senses.

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Nancy Blackman, MASF
Refresh the Soul

8X Top Writer. Editor. Writing Coach. Owner of Refresh the Soul publication. Editor: The Shortform. Published in: “Mixed Korean: Our Stories" — Kindle.