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karayhsieh

Donating 100% of poetry book profits to @naacp_ldf for all of June. BLACK LIVES MATTER ✊ ❤️||
Poetry: @karinahsieh_

“When I’m silent, I fall into that place where

“When I’m silent, I fall into that place where everything is music.” - Rumi

Recently, my world feels like it’s rushing faster and faster. I could barely hold the flood of thoughts that swirled constantly in my brain as I create the invisible scaffolding of a better world. It’s sometimes overwhelming, and I feel like I’m always behind...

But then I remember that we will never get it all done. We’re doing the best we can in every moment. We are here, present, with every breath. In our life, we aren’t meant to complete EVERYTHING, that isn’t humanly possible. We’re here to experience what we’re meant to experience, to relish the chance we get to be in human form. For indeed we are the Universe in ecstatic motion!

When I’m feeling overwhelmed by my frenzied mind, I remind myself to slow down, to take care of myself and my own well being. I started meditating again, going on nature hikes, dancing and journaling. When I slow down, I can sift through my thoughts, untangle the mess of my whirlwind mind, and coax it back to a place of quiet and peace again. I invite you to take three long breaths with me right now. In… out… in… out… in… out…

Thank your mind and your body for working so hard every moment, every day. You are doing just fine, more than fine! You are exactly where you’re meant to be 🙏

📷: @21md__

Recharging in nature 🥰. Have you heard of a Jup

Recharging in nature 🥰. Have you heard of a Jupe? It’s an amazing, comfortable way to be in the woods (they’re solar powered)! Thank you for taking me glamping @lenaxiao (and being the most excellent photographer too). What a privilege it was to spend time with you and experience something new 💝

Thanks for teaching me how to do aerial silks for

Thanks for teaching me how to do aerial silks for the first time @aerialpang 😍🙏. I was initially apprehensive about being upside down but you’re such a fantastic and encouraging teacher that I’m now excited to learn more 🤗
📷: @mr.bryandang

Still on a high from our Poetry Reading/Wine Tasti

Still on a high from our Poetry Reading/Wine Tasting event with Poetic Cellars! Thank you to all of our friends and family for trekking out to the beautiful Santa Cruz mountains (from as far as LA & Atlanta!!) for a magical afternoon with us sipping wine and soaking up music and poetry! This will be a day I’ll always cherish 🥰🙏

Second slide (poem) is one I haven’t published yet called “de-fly-ance”.

📷: @karmapictures

I have a confession to make. I used to hate my bod

I have a confession to make. I used to hate my body: my thighs were too big— I didn’t have the sought after “thigh gap”; my calves were too large to fit into tall boots; my shoulders/rib cage were too wide to fit into some dresses. I felt “too big” as I used to be chubby.

In 6th grade, a guy almost sat on me because he didn’t see me. From then on, I always connected my being chubby with being invisible, and being invisible with being unlovable. I knew my family and friends loved me, and yet couldn’t truly feel that love until I discovered how to love myself (which is a lifelong journey).

In college, I had an eating disorder—compulsive overeating/binge eating—and was 30 lbs lighter than I am now (swipe ➡️ for pic). I had a love/hate relationship with food. I would eat to numb, to fill this empty void inside, to mask the unlovable-ness I felt. I used food as a way to punish and reward myself. I was thin, but didn’t think I was small enough. I thought that if I was thinner, I wouldn’t be invisible like I’d been when I was chubby, and then I’d be more lovable/loved. But the truth is that nothing I did to make myself smaller would make me feel “enough” to be loved.

It has taken a decade of work to be more loving and compassionate with myself. It is still a daily practice, but I’ve learned to embrace my body as it is, to celebrate its strength and resilience. My body is a miracle, and I am so lucky to be able to experience all that I do in this beautiful vessel of mine, this sacred vessel that houses my soul. Some days are easier than others to love myself, but on the hard days, that’s when the self love and compassion work is most important.

I felt called to share my experience with you today, even though it’s vulnerable to share my past shame because I hope you know you’re not alone in whatever you’re feeling. Social media usually shows the shiny parts of people, not the vulnerable darkness that everyone feels at some point in their day/life. Whatever you’re feeling is valid. You are worthy of love, exactly as you are. Remember that your body and your soul are exquisite miracles. YOU are such a blessing, and YOU matter. Thank you for being on this planet 🙏

I had the complete privilege of being on my incred

I had the complete privilege of being on my incredible friend Lilian Wee’s podcast @heartopenconvers_asians which dropped its first episode of Season 2 today! Link in Bio and her intro below. I hope you enjoy it 🥰

“Karina is a Poet and Entrepreneur. She studied Psychology at Harvard and worked in Silicon Valley as a ‘Happiness Engineer’ before backpacking solo around the world for 1-1/2 years to cultivate her own self-love and compassion. It was in that time that she found herself chancing upon a version of herself that’s bursting with words and poetry, which led her to writing her first book of poetry, then leading a t-shirt campaign to raise awareness on #stopasianhate, and now passionately creating a whole world around her new project, Honeymourn. Her journey has been nothing short of synchronicities, those of which that showed up for her because she was brave enough to trust it and go for it without certainty of the outcome. Her kind, warm soul and spirit is one that leaves me in admiration and awe and one that I think we can all learn to lean into and allow a little more of in our lives.” - Lilian Wee

“Lovessel” (Love Vessel): Yesterday, I realize

“Lovessel” (Love Vessel): Yesterday, I realized I was a Love Vessel during my gratitude practice. Three times a day right before a meal, I give gratitude. One part of my practice is drawing Love from the center of the earth, through my body, around the globe, back through the earth… in this infinite loop.

Love is energy. We usually send this energy outwards and feel drained because we aren’t completing this circuit. To me, Self-Love completes the circuit, allowing our energy to recharge and heal us. When we love and take care of ourselves, we replenish our fountain so it can be overflowing.

We are ALL Lovessels as Love courses through each one of us. By being this necessary conduit, we can heal ourselves and the world ✨

📷: @21md__

Such an incredible weekend celebrating Peggy & Mar

Such an incredible weekend celebrating Peggy & Mark’s wedding!! Wishing the beautiful couple every happiness!! You can tell the night got progressively more and more of a party 😉. Totally worth the 17.5 hours to get home #thehungryhsiehs #family #wodka #haveanicenight

Still floating on cloud nine (or 30) from the most

Still floating on cloud nine (or 30) from the most incredible birthday celebration! Thank you all again for being with me in person and in spirit to ring in my new decade 🥰. An incredible DJ, awesome dancers, bartender (shoutout to @mattvarghese and @clairecurtis101 for the epic signature drink: “The Flirty 30”), fire-lit strawberries, my incredible dream team for all their hard work and time pulling off this party (@karmapictures, @mthsieh2, @stonewrk, @mr.bryandang, @cscottwing) and more… I seriously cannot imagine my life without you. Love you all 💕

30 🥰 When I turned 25, I told myself that ever

30 🥰

When I turned 25, I told myself that every day after this day is extra credit. I’d hit a quarter century and had already lived such an incredible life. 5 years later, I’ve had 1,825 extra credit days! I hope to have many more in the future, but even if today were my last day, I’d be happy. I’ve led with my heart, choosing love over fear, and am becoming more and more my true self every day. I’m currently flooded by gratitude that I get to experience all these miracles on this beautiful planet with extraordinary humans like you.

I know a birthday is just a day, and 30 is just a number, but I like that each birthday gives us an opportunity to reflect on our lives—how we’ve grown, what we’ve learned, how we want to recalibrate towards our North Star for the next year. My North Star is Love, especially self-love. In every interaction, my goal is to reflect that person’s best self back to them so that they love and appreciate themselves more than they did before we connected. I ask myself daily: “How can I spread more love in this world?” I hope in this moment, you feel how loved, loving and incredible you are. You are the only you in this world, and YOU are a gift.

*******************

I’ve been reflecting on what my 20s represented for me, and what my 30s will be like. I don’t know what the future holds (we never truly do), but all I know is that I’m extremely grateful and excited to be living in this moment. If you are reading this, thank you for being in my life. No matter how long our lives have crossed, I am grateful for you. You have helped make my life magical 🥰🙏

P.S. Huge shoutout to the multi-talented @21md__ for capturing my essence with his 📷!!

Happy Father’s Day to the most amazing papa ever

Happy Father’s Day to the most amazing papa ever!! Like father, like daughter (we even unexpectedly wore similar color shirts today)! You’ve always been my role model, champion, advisor, travel companion and friend, and I am so grateful that I get to be your daughter in this lifetime. You bring so much love, laughter, joy and inspiration into this world. Thank you for being you! I celebrate you today and every day. Here’s to many more adventures together!!! All of my love, K

📷: @karmapictures

I’M FEATURED IN @forbes TODAY 🥰😭🙏!!!!!

I’M FEATURED IN @forbes TODAY 🥰😭🙏!!!!! (Link in bio)

Huge thank you to the incredible MeiMei Fox for writing this article on me, @generatelove.us, my backpacking journey, poetry and how to help others follow their hearts! It means a ton that you’re sharing our work with the world so that we can help our AAPI community and raise more funds for @ihollagram to stop harassment in all forms.

Feeling extremely grateful, humbled and excited all at the same time—that others would want to hear my story or find what I’ve done inspiring?!

If you have an idea, you can manifest it. We are powerful beyond measure. Everything you do has a ripple effect in the world, and you make a difference. YOU matter 💕

Happy birthday to @stonewrk the most incredible br

Happy birthday to @stonewrk the most incredible brother in the whole world!! Thank you for always brightening every space you enter with laughter, sass, wit and love. We’ve had so many adventures all around the world since you were born, and I can’t wait for all that are to come. I can’t imagine life without you! Thank you for being my “twin”, gayster and the best friend a girl could ever ask for. I love you to the moon and back!! Love, Jie Jie

When was the last time you caught a sunset? This o

When was the last time you caught a sunset? This one yesterday stopped me in my tracks. Puffy, pink clouds peppering the sky, the sun dipping just below the mountain, a hawk gliding on thermals... Beauty. Peace. Magic ✨

I call moments like these “bliss points”—where I am suddenly flooded with gratitude and joy. There’s actually so much joy that it can’t be contained within my body and overflows out of me. These occasions take me out of my head and back into this moment, back into this exquisite world of ours. In our busy, hectic lives, I hope you get stopped in your tracks, flooded by admiration and gratitude at least once today 🥰

Massive shout out to @the.mostsatisfying.co for ge

Massive shout out to @the.mostsatisfying.co for generously donating 100% of proceeds from the first 50 shirts with their design! They helped us donate $1,000 of the $3,500+ that we’ve raised for @ihollagram!!! Check them out—they’re incredible and oh so generous!!! I couldn’t have done this without you!! @generatelove.us is truly a global collaboration 🙏💕

Thanks to High Tea AnyTime, @ouiboogie and I will

Thanks to High Tea AnyTime, @ouiboogie and I will be presenting our current endeavors to address the violence against Asians in our *Transform Hate to Love* Zoom conversation! We'll be sharing ways for you to be empowered, safe and proactive in these difficult times.

This is a 90 min. program
(Hosting in English, with Mandarin and Cantonese translation)

June 10th Thurs US/Can:
🕑 8:30pm- New York, Toronto
🕑 7:30pm- Chicago
🕑 5:30pm- California, BC Canada

Zoom link in Bio. Password: 10888
Hope you can join us! xx

Thank you SO much to @abc7newsbayarea and @kristen

Thank you SO much to @abc7newsbayarea and @kristen.sze for having @generatelove.us and @ihollagram on your channel yesterday! We are so humbled that you allowed us to share our missions—to make the world a safer, more compassionate and loving place! We have raised almost $2,000 for Hollaback! since we launched Generate Love 3-4 weeks ago thanks to your support!! And huge shoutout to my extraordinary designers (@nulondon_design @nuno_amarelo @usagi.designs @letterjoc @the.mostsatisfying.co) and printers @acmpny.us without whom none of this would be possible!

If you had told me March 25th, the day the Generate Love idea came to me, that I’d be on national TV in 7 weeks, I wouldn’t have believed you. SO I want you to know that no matter who you are, you CAN make a difference in this world. If you have an idea, you can manifest it. We launched Generate Love in 3 weeks! We are never too small to make a difference. Each action has a ripple effect, and even small actions matter such as a knowing glance or a kind word to another so that they know that they are seen.

We must remember that we are humankind. We are both. Human. Kind.

Check out my bio link for the full interview. So flooded with gratitude and still dazed by yesterday 🥰

@abc7newsbayarea will be doing a live interview th

@abc7newsbayarea will be doing a live interview this Thursday, 3:20 pm PDT with @generatelove.us & @ihollagram!!! Thank you so much @kristen.sze and the ABC7 team for having us on your show. We’re so thrilled and grateful. Blown away by the support we’ve gotten so far after launching just 3 weeks ago! Thank you all!! 🥰🙏 (Replay link now in bio)

#aapiheritagemonth #generatelove #stopasianhate #aapi #abcnews

Happy AAPI Heritage month! I’m so excited to joi

Happy AAPI Heritage month! I’m so excited to join @storey.line - a mission-led shopping platform that’s created by a fellow AAPI, and two other kickass advocates & creators @ygwengrace & @thelaurendevera to openly talk about the many issues and violent attacks that our community have been facing, as well as how other communities can be better allies. Join us for our IG Live this coming Wednesday at 1:30pm PT/4:30pm ET!

Happy Mother’s Day to my magical, miracle Mother

Happy Mother’s Day to my magical, miracle Mother @karmapictures! Thank you for being my mother, best friend, collaborator, inspiration, and so much more! I am grateful every day that you gave birth to me, and that we now get all of these bonus weekends together to create, play and manifest whatever we want!! You truly make the world a brighter, kinder, more creative, fun and magical place. All of my love, K 💕

I’m proud and thankful to be Asian American. It

I’m proud and thankful to be Asian American. It hasn’t been easy for my ancestors coming to America, laboring over the first transcontinental railroad, being excluded by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, murdered for the color of their skin (Vincent Chin), etc. Now, with the rise in violence against AAPIs during the pandemic, it’s even more important to celebrate and uplift each other, especially during AAPI Heritage Month! America and the world would not be where they are without AAPI achievements.

A team of incredible designers and I wanted to help our AAPI community, and thus created “Generate Love” (@generatelove.us), a t-shirt campaign that donates 100% of our profits to @ihollagram, a non-profit that runs free bystander intervention trainings. Check out our other designs at www.generatelove.us!

This design by @usagi.designs is 🔥
爱 means “Love” in Chinese.

Also shoutout to my other talented designers @nuno_amarelo, @nulondon_design, @the.mostsatisfying & @letterjoc, and @acmpny.us for printing these amazing shirts! I couldn’t have done this without you 🥰🙏

#generatelove #aapiheritagemonth #supportasianbusinesses #stopasianhate

I did a thing 🙃💇🏻‍♀️

I did a thing 🙃💇🏻‍♀️

@the.mostsatisfying.co is generously donating the

@the.mostsatisfying.co is generously donating the first 50 shirts with their design meaning that 100% of each $20 shirt goes to @ihollagram to help the AAPI community!! Check out our @generatelove.us shirts! Link in bio. Hope you like them 🥰

Sizes from left to right: black medium, white small, black large (goes up to 3XL)
📷: @karmapictures
#generatelove #stopasianhate #stopaapihate #love #oneheart

The Power of Manifestation: creating “Generate L

The Power of Manifestation: creating “Generate Love” (link in bio) in 3 weeks!

Recently, I’ve been devastated by the thousands of violent attacks against our AAPI community, especially the Atlanta shooting last month. I felt heartbroken, numb, angry, helpless and stuck, not knowing what I could do, or how I could contribute. Then exactly 3 weeks ago, this crazy idea came to me—to create a t-shirt campaign to donate 100% of profits to help the AAPI community. I reached out to my network to see if any designers would be interested in helping me create my vision (HUGE shout out to @nuno_amarelo, @the.mostsatisfying.co, @usagi.designs, @letterjoc, Leighton & @acmpny.us). 3 weeks later, we’re launching “Generate Love” (generatelove.us) into the world!!! We’re donating 100% of profits to Hollaback! (@ihollagram) an incredible non-profit running free bystander intervention trainings and other effective means to end harassment in the world.

I’m seriously blown away by how fast we’ve manifested this whole vision into reality, and have come together from all over the world (Singapore, London, Japan, Hong Kong & the United States)! Today, we present to you 5 different designs, in black and white (and one red option!), and a lovely keychain. We fully support the #StopAsianHate movement that raises awareness of the violence against Asians and would like to add on to the conversation to #GenerateLove focusing on what we want to manifest on this planet.

We are one heart, one people. Thus, our shirts revolve around the themes: "One heart" (一心) and Love (爱), the everlasting bond that connects us all (∞).

In these difficult times, we must remember that we are one. Humankind. We are both. Human. Kind.

Let's Generate Love,
Karina 💕

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