About BRAVING: Breaking the Shell and Coming Alive

In August 2018, I founded my private counseling practice in Seattle and named it BRAVING Counseling.

The name came to me one afternoon in early June, during a brief pause from writing my thesis. Graduation was only a month and a half away. The finish line looked close, yet felt impossibly distant. I was exhausted — physically and emotionally — and the final six weeks tested every ounce of my endurance and determination.

During that time, the word BRAVING became a source of expansion and courage.

Each letter represents a quality I believe is essential to wholehearted living:

Boldness — the courage to try and to innovate Resilience — the capacity to recover under pressure Authenticity — integrity and congruence Vulnerability — the willingness to show genuine emotion Imagination — the ability to envision what is possible Neighboring — the importance of community and connection Grace — living with compassion and generosity

Henri Nouwen once wrote that there is a part of ourselves we cannot fully accept. Early in life, we abandon that part. It becomes filled with fear, while we grow and develop many skills to survive.

And yet, deep within us, we long to be whole.

To become whole, we must bring that abandoned part of ourselves back home.

This is not easy.

Because the self we have grown into may now intimidate the very part we once rejected. The fearful part does not know whether it can safely coexist with the capable, adult self we have become.

The mature self must learn to approach that abandoned part with childlike tenderness — attentive, gentle, caring — so that the anxious, rejected part can return and feel safe again.

To me, psychotherapy opens a path toward wholehearted living.

Along this journey, we encounter the parts of ourselves we have forgotten, pushed away, discarded, or even despised.

We begin to reconnect with them.

We listen again to their needs.

And gradually, we reconcile with ourselves.

This is a process of searching, discovering, and reclaiming the true self.

After establishing the practice, I struggled for a long time to find an appropriate Chinese name.

The inspiration came unexpectedly while designing the logo:

Breaking the Shell and Coming Alive.

The final logo carries several layers of meaning.

In the Pacific Northwest, where I live, acorns are everywhere. Their hard outer shell symbolizes the protective mechanisms and survival strategies we develop through our life experiences.

The three acorns represent our social nature as human beings — our innate longing for connection and intimate relationships.

The branch connecting them reminds us that none of us exists in isolation. We come from families, cultures, ethnicities, and societies. Our individuality is shaped within these collective systems.

The fruit of the acorn symbolizes the true self — unpolished, unmasked, fully accepted.

When an acorn matures and falls to the ground, its hard shell must be cracked open through impact. Only then can the soft, round fruit inside be revealed.

Breaking the shell requires force.

Just as reclaiming the true self requires effort, courage, and endurance.

The moment of breaking may carry pain.

But what follows is harvest.

On the journey of reclaiming your true self and living wholeheartedly,

I am willing to walk beside you.

Let us break the shell and come alive.