Gratitude Blooming Podcast
Inspired by nature, art and gratitude, the Gratitude Blooming co-hosts Belinda Liu and Omar Brownson bring fresh and diverse perspectives to well-being. For us, heartfulness is the new mindfulness. Gratitude Blooming was inspired by the artist Arlene Kim Suda and her 100 Days of Blooming Love art project. Hear from culture keepers, creators, healers, leaders and so many others who share their emergent practices to build the beautiful world our hearts know is possible. Please rate, review and subscribe. New conversations each week. We want to hear what you're grateful for. Learn more at www.gratitudeblooming.com
Gratitude Blooming Podcast
Embracing Identity, Overcoming Fear: The Power of Curiosity (Mash Up Edition)
What shapes our identity and fuels our courage to challenge societal norms? Today, we revisit an inspiring conversation with Jim Herr, director of the Democracy Center at the Japanese American National Museum. Jim opens up about his experiences as a Hapa kid in rural Pennsylvania, where he faced exclusion and was told he couldn't be president because of his skin color. His journey from feeling marginalized to leading critical discussions on democracy and empathy offers a compelling narrative of personal growth and resilience. We also touch upon artist Arlene Kim Suda's reflections on cultural identity and the unique pressures mixed-race individuals navigate, emphasizing the crucial role of community in embracing our differences and moving towards a more inclusive society.
Curiosity can be a powerful tool against fear. We explore how engaging with what makes us uncomfortable can lead to deeper understanding and diminish fear's hold on our lives. By taking small, intentional steps, we can conquer our anxieties and live more fulfilling lives. To help keep curiosity alive, we introduce practical tools like the Garden of Curiosity note cards and candles from the Gratitude Blooming shop. These simple reminders encourage us to end each day with a moment of pause and curiosity, fostering peace and a sense of renewal regardless of the day's challenges. Join us for this uplifting episode that showcases the transformative potential of curiosity and empathy.
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Hello Belinda, hey Omar.
Speaker 1:So in this mashup series of Curiosity we are revisiting the conversation that we had with the Democracy Center director, that's a mouthful, jim Herr, as well as some of the initial reflections from the artist Arlene Kim Suda in season one and with Jim, you know it's been this amazing ongoing collaboration with our Empathy and Democracy series, but it's also really, I feel like, been this evolution of Jim himself, right From when he shared being a Hapa kid in Pennsylvania and being told he couldn't run for president because of the color of his skin and questioning whether or not he was actually an American, to now, obviously, as the head of the Democracy Center and holding these conversations.
Speaker 1:But then through his own journey, you know he has an elderly parent now and he's been sort of in a new phase of transition in his life, and so it's been powerful to really see him hold space and be held by space. Right and I think that's really, you know, why we do these things is to recognize that we're not alone, right, that we are part of families and cultures that we both create space for, and then, when they work, we are then also taken care of as well.
Speaker 2:Well, I hope you enjoy this excerpt from our interview with Jim. This is what inspired us to co-create in so many different, unexpected ways, and I just love how following this energy of curiosity can lead to so many beautiful things in our lives, and this is just one really tangible example of that.
Speaker 3:I didn't grow up in Philadelphia, which probably would have I don't know if that would have been better or worse. I grew up outside in what was a very rural area when I was a little kid and became very much like suburban sprawl. At the time I graduated high school, but I was still. My mother and I were like the only people of color. About 10 years in she ended up working for a Filipino doctor and so there was another, and they were a mixed family as well, but there weren't a lot of, there wasn't a lot of color, and so you know that experience really defined, I think, who I am today and why I do the work that I do today.
Speaker 3:Because I was made to feel different, feel, you know, not a part of the rest of what America was. I was literally told I was an American because I wasn't white, and I didn't believe it at first, but I think over time it just kind of reinforced itself. And I've been talking a lot recently particularly with my job now about I really wanted to be president. When I was a kid, I was that weird kid in class who knew all the presidents, knew all the states, knew the Constitution. Just yeah, weird little who like knew all the presidents, knew all the states knew, like the constitution. And like just yeah, weird little kid with big dreams who, you know, was brought back down to earth when I was told I couldn't be president because I wasn't American, and I said that's, but I was born here. Like yeah, but you're not really American. And what do you mean? Well, you're not white.
Speaker 3:And these were my friends that were telling me this and I feel like they weren't being mean or condescending or even racist. They were just we were looking at the world around us in, you know, 1970, whatever, you know, everybody at the highest levels of government was a white man, and so I think they were just trying to look out for me, like you don't want to go down that road because it's going to go nowhere for you. And I didn't have enough of the support of a community around me to understand that that wasn't true, and so eventually I began to believe it, and you know all of those kinds of even just the idea of public service just seemed like it wasn't something that would be available for me.
Speaker 1:So heartbreaking, just as another Hapa kid. And you know feeling like I always had to check the other box, like you don't even fit into any of these categories, you just pick other. And you know I even think about my daughters. You know they're quarter Chinese, quarter Indonesian, quarter black, quarter white, and you know they're each going through their own cultural identity and there's just so much pressure and it's both highly visible, like his friend telling him like hey, you're not this, but it's also, I think, even more, it's like a pervasive pressure thing that's just in the air and you know it's.
Speaker 1:It's a constant conversation with my daughters, you know one is slightly darker than the other, is a little lighter, and just how they move through the world is very different, because one is sort of viewed by my youngest, slightly darker went to the black student uh group and they're like, oh, you're black. And they're like wait, does that mean your sister's black too? And they're like, yep, that's the same mom, same father, you know. And so it's just we've come a long way, you know from. You know who is in office and who gets to sort of reflect what democracy looks like, but it's still. We have so much more to go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I could relate so much to his story. I mean, five years old, landing in rural Pennsylvania was me too. And man, that's a reality check when you are pulled out of everything you know and are confronted with being different, and how do you still continue to embrace your, your differentness? You know, I in the conversation, omar, we were joking because I just said, you know, I need, I have learned now in my 40s to embrace that I'm a non-conventional Asian. You know, I'm just not. I just my parents have given up. They're like, okay, she's never going to do things in our timeline that we expect and we just have to let it go.
Speaker 2:And and I and I and I was really feeling his compassion towards his friends because that you know, at that age you either have to kind of blend in and just do what everyone else is doing to fit in and not get bullied, which I think that's what I ended up doing to survive socially. But he also had a lot of compassion for them. We were looking around and that's what the world looked like. It wasn't to be mean to me, it was because this is what they saw and this is what they thought the world was. So I really felt that love in him too, in sharing the pain of that story.
Speaker 1:That is why it's just so important. Sometimes dreaming can feel like too woo-woo and like, oh, we have big dreams. But we really do have to sometimes dream beyond the current realities, particularly if we don't feel like we're included in them.
Speaker 3:You know, particularly if we don't of that we're not as wonderful as we think we are or that we're not as good as we think we are that somebody will find out that we are imposters or that we'll find out that we're an imposter. But I also think it's. We're afraid that we might find that we're greater than we ever thought we are and that there comes a responsibility with that. Not to be too Spider-Man, but with great power comes great responsibility, and I think we all have a wide open universe and possibility if we look at ourselves and really see ourselves for the potential that we have.
Speaker 3:I think that's something that can be, very, very scary to be able to think that we have that light within us that can shine on other people and help other people. I think it's very scary. I think it's probably more scary than finding out that you're not who you think you are. But that all begins with curiosity. It all begins with wanting to dig deeper, to understand, to uncover. We were just talking about mining earlier, like how do you mine yourself? How do you mine the gold that's inside of you?
Speaker 2:I was really struck by how he reframed this whole thing about curiosity. You know, like wow, I mean, maybe you're even more extraordinary and luminous than you ever thought you were. And if you didn't have curiosity you would never uncover that gold that's within you. That was a total surprise turn in that conversation. And it starts with that relationship. You know, like that plant looking down on itself, its own body, its own leaves why do I shy away from that? What is it that makes it hard to look that deep? And I think you pinpoint it. It is a really primal fear to look too closely.
Speaker 1:And what do you remember from the first season, around the conversation with Arlene and sort of curiosity, because I feel like there was like a deep connection also with fear.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I had a very interesting synchronicity that happened recently where this card showed up in another group circle that I held in Mount Shasta and before we pick this card, so many people were sharing around the discomfort of being in the unknown, of being in a life transition either it's professional or personal or a bit of both and just like not knowing how to be in that right, like we're so used to being in this doing state in our lives. And when we have a moment of transition, it really forces us to take a pause and kind of face the fear of not knowing what's going to happen next, like what do we do next? And I just love that. Arlene's story is really inspired by the Chinese word curiosity, which is hao qi xin, and it actually includes a word that means strange and wonderful at the same time. So it's like how do we embrace curiosity as this potentially surprising and delightful medicine for facing our fears? Like that sounds kind of fun, doesn't it?
Speaker 1:And I think part of these conversations is just remembering that we look at the world through a particular lens, and so we're invited to reflect on well, what lens am I wearing right now, and is this the lens that is serving me right? Is this the lens that is healing? Is this the lens that is giving, is this the lens that is compassionate? Is this the lens that is enabling me to live my highest and best life?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's so fun to revisit that season one where we really unpack a lot of the fun. To revisit that season one where we really unpack a lot of the medicine of the plant and then also the etymology of the words. And this is just bringing me back to the importance of remembering and revisiting things right. It's not like a waste of time to do that. We can get more from that practice.
Speaker 1:What I also now have to say that, like having collaborated with Arlene on the podcast and in our Empathy and Democracy series, where we created the pop up art exhibits, I've seen her, you know, like dive in. I've seen her sort of retract and, it is true, curiosity is always what brings her back. So, even when she's like, why are we doing this, why is this happening, curiosity is something that she truly lives, and it's not because she's always curious or always open. It's really because sometimes she's like, why are we doing this? And she finds this invitation, through curiosity, to come back and to sort of examine what may be difficult or may be uncertain as to why something is happening. And so it's just been beautiful to see her art, to see the conversations, to see her in practice and all of these things are very much alive see her in practice and all of these things are very much alive.
Speaker 2:Well, we hope you enjoy hearing that little excerpt from season one from Arlene.
Speaker 4:Here is the story of the curiosity card featuring the dog tooth violet. My husband has been studying Chinese for many years now, and back when I made this drawing, he told me a story about the meaning of curiosity in Chinese, based on the characters that make up the word how, qi, xin, where. How translates to good, qi translates to strange and wonderful, and xin translates to heart. This definition and Shin translates to heart this definition. Good, strange and wonderful heart delighted me in so many ways, especially that the second character translates to strange and wonderful.
Speaker 4:I am naturally curious like a cat and have always felt that curiosity is a foundational attribute needed to live a heart-based life. It has taken me my entire lifetime to fully embrace my own strange and wonderful heart. And isn't this plant a bit strange and wonderful too? This was the other plant in the card deck that was inspired by photos from a friend's garden outside of Tokyo. I think of curiosity as a powerful practice, in part because I have grown to see it as an antidote to fear, which is what inspired the prompt for this card, which I'll read right here Try being curious about something that feels uncomfortable to you. How can curiosity shed a light of understanding on something you fear. It's amazing how you can sometimes neutralize a visceral feeling of fear using curiosity, and conquering fears in small steps feels almost like the secret to breaking the spell that prevents us from living the life we truly hope to live.
Speaker 2:So for those of you that are inspired by Arlene's story and want to just keep this thread of curiosity alive in your life, we invite you to get the Garden of Curiosity, note cards or the candle to just remember that curiosity can be fun. You can play with this idea of fear. So, yeah, just go to our gratitude blooming shop for my bathroom, and it's just such an incredible way to reset at the end of the day.
Speaker 1:I light it at the end of the day and that just sort of moment of just sort of taking a pause, breathing in, just being curious and open, even no matter what happened in my day, no matter if it was difficult or not, it's just been very beautiful. So we really invite you to just take advantage of all the different tools the music, the cards, the reflections, now including a candle Wishing you well.
Speaker 2:Cheers.
Speaker 1:Cheers, cheers.
