Our Asian American experiences are interwoven with multiple layers of pain and shame, intergenerational trauma, neglect, survival, both conscious and unconscious moments, that shape who we are, how we see the world, and how that shapes our spirituality in Christian churches. In collaboration with Asian American Christian Network of Atlanta (AACNA), this is the unedited […]
Category: Episodes
Han Namgung spent his formative years in Korea and Kenya, and he reflects on how his upbringing shaped his path toward a career in counseling. He explores the concept of feeling like a “forever traveler,” navigating different cultures and communities. Additionally, he addresses the challenges of living in a society that prioritizes high achievement and […]
DJ Chuang and his younger brother Deef share openly about their personal mental health experiences with mental health, neurodiversity, and bipolar disorder. We noted the importance of finding containment to process emotions, especially in dealing with depression and lack of language. We emphasized the need for gentle approaches to healing and the benefits of practices […]
A recurring sentiment is that the guilt-based theology about Christian salvation, known as soteriology, doesn’t make sense to Asians and Asian Americans who have a honor-shame worldview. Vincent Mo wrote up a research paper for a seminary certificate course, in which he reviewed academic papers, known as a lit review, that addressed soteriology from honor-shame […]
“Is it a disgrace to be Born a Chinese? Didn’t God make us all!!! What right have you to bar my children out of the school because she is a chinese Decend.” These are some of the questions Mrs. Mary Tape wrote to the California Board of Education in 1885. Marie Chan, author of Mamie […]
Content Warning / Trigger Warning: sexual violence/rape. Midori Doumani is half Japanese and half Mexican and happy to share her heritage when directly asked. She navigates ambiguity about her perceived ethnic identity with compassion. As a kid and young adult, generationally infused shame affected her decisions. Her close-knit family dynamics and her desire to preserve […]
On this Erasing Shame conversation, Rev. Dr. Ken Fong explains the difference between toxic shame and healthy shame—how they’re two different things. Toxic shame carries the message that there’s something inherently wrong with oneself, leading individuals to either blame others or internalize the feeling and become worthless. Healthy shame, on the other hand, acknowledges mistakes […]
How about a cold open? That’s how this conversation starts with Justin Kiley (pronounced KEE-lay), where we talk about his Filipino heritage, specifically the Igorot tribe, how that flavors his experience with shame personally, given his family and cultural background, the complexities of church hurt, and how he found a healing community and authentic connection […]
Content Warning / Trigger Warning: bullying, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt. CW/TW. In this extended episode, Naomi Smith shows her prowess in storytelling in this conversation about how food affects brain health and how that is so important to life, walking through the challenges of being biracial, becoming a film maker, discovering the value of family […]
Gracie Joo is a 2nd generation Asian-American and daughter of a Korean pastor. She illustrates and magnifies God’s heart for specific burdens that pastors’ kids are born into with stories about her upbringing. These illustrations involve and are not limited to Dollar Tree Christmases, hand-me-downs from church eonnies, car misfortunes, a gifted and personalized Lexus, […]