“There are these two young fish swimming along, and happened to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods to them and says, ‘Morning boys, how’s the water?’ The two young fish swim on for a bit, and eventually one of them looks over at the other and says, ‘What the hell is water?'” – David Foster Wallace Continue reading “Signs that you were affected by subtle forms of racism”
Category: Asian American
The Asian American experience
7 emotional patterns that you may have gotten from your parents
You suspect that you inherited some unhealthy emotional and relationship patterns from your parents. If you did, you wonder what they are and how they affect your work and relationships. Below are seven types of behaviors that I’ve seen in clients whom I have worked with, as well as from my own experience growing up. Although this list is primarily based on the Asian American experience, you may recognize these tendencies in people from other cultures as well. Continue reading “7 emotional patterns that you may have gotten from your parents”
Between the World and Me
Have you ever experienced discomfort because you were a minority? I recently read “Between the World and Me,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, who wrote powerfully and poetically about his experience as a black man. The incidents he recounted reminded me of a couple of my personal experiences. Continue reading “Between the World and Me”
The love between my parents
What are the different expressions of love? I never really understood my parents’ daily verbal wrangling, which seems to have the same pattern after 40+ years of marriage. Over time, as I became more aware of cultural differences, I began to wonder, could the bickering be also an expression of a deeper emotion, maybe even love? Continue reading “The love between my parents”