"We Released 30 Episodes in the First Half of 2025." with Zhou Fang, host of the Intersection, on Reset and Restore

Transcript:
0:13
Hello everyone, welcome to The Intersection, a podcast program about intersectionality, intersectional identities, and intersectional journeys, both personally and professionally.
I am your host, Zhou Fang, and today I am having a solo recording that's about our program hitting a summer break.
0:44
So, yeah, so the last few months have been busy at The Intersection, and I think we've had almost 30 episodes in the first half of 2025, which is awesome.
1:04
We're pretty proud of it.
And we want to take summer in the Pacific Northwest as an opportunity for us to slow down, to relax, to reset, to reflect, to restore and maybe to refresh our minds and our body a little bit.
1:29
So we are taking a break from recording in July and August, but we will be back in September when fall hits.
So that is a quick announcement.
1:45
And I would also like to really thank our guests in the past few months, and of course, since the launch of the program, we've had numerous wonderful speakers and guests coming to the podcast program.
2:07
And everyone was very willing and excited and just generous about coming to the program and sharing their journeys, stories, and wisdom with us all.
2:24
If you are a regular listener, you know our uniqueness of this program is talking about intersectionality and how that impacts us and shapes us as individuals and also as a community.
2:43
And storytelling is really important in our work of teaching and spreading awareness and hopefully encourage the practice of intersectionality as well.
And a really important component and one of the core values of intersectionality is the abundance mindset.
3:11
As we've shared and discussed in the program many Times Now, the abundance mindset is not about having more and more and more.
3:28
It is about everyone has access to what they need and we all have enough to sustain, to live and to thrive.
I think that's really important to clarify because in capitalistic societies we tend to link abundance to more or to wealth or to being rich.
3:59
I mean, yes, the abundance sometimes is about having, you know, access to resource whenever we need.
And I will say that actually signals more of privilege to me.
4:19
And I think the abundance is kind of a practice really.
It can counter the scarcity mindset because we, especially now, a lot of us are operating on the scarcity mindset, and rightfully so.
4:44
I'm not saying that's wrong.
The system is designed to condition us in the mindset of scarcity.
Scarcity means that isn't enough for everyone.
5:02
There is finite resources.
There is a limit and there is gatekeeping.
There is being protective of what we have and I think in some circumstances, yes, being protective is good, especially for communities that already don't have much.
5:30
Sometimes it is about survival, and I think if we step back and put things into perspective simply by being protective and keeping what we have and not letting other people get near, that's not growing.
5:54
That is surviving.
And again, sometimes that is necessary and which just makes it so much more special and important to have the opportunity and capacity to practice the abundance mindset.
6:14
And I think for folks who are at the place to do so, like perhaps myself, perhaps my guests on the program, perhaps our community members, our family members, our friends, our colleagues, our allies, our peers, our leaders.
6:37
If you are at a place to let abandoned the abundance mindset lead and let it guide you towards prosperity and community and togetherness and connections, and of course, under the guidance of the intersectionality framework as well, then I really encourage you to do so because it's such a rewarding, freeing, healing, restorative and liberating practice in our lives that we we sometimes don't get to enjoy.
7:30
And for me, that's very precious and special.
And in that sense, I think even having the opportunity and capacity to practice the abundance mindset is a privilege.
So I want to acknowledge that again, it's not something like I am better than you.
7:52
So I am practicing the abundance mindset.
No, it is because we want everyone to do well.
We want everyone to be able to heal, to restore, to have enough to thrive, to be able to live in as few fear as possible.
8:20
Yeah.
So that's that's what I want to share about the abundance mindset.
And another recurring theme or topic on the Intersection podcast is about hope.
8:40
It's a tricky word right now.
Hope does not mean being just blissfully optimistic without any reservation, or without any holding back, or without any observation.
9:02
Just say I am hopeful and I am optimistic.
That's not what hope is.
Hope is believing in.
It is possible for all of us to have a future that is good and good means peace and fairness and joy and stability and health, community, love for each other, care for each other, being kind and compassionate for each other.
9:48
That's good.
Good is when, even when times are hard, we can still hold on to that light that we will we will get to end of it.
10:07
We will get to end of the tunnel.
And that's good.
That's that's a sense of, you know, I can be good.
I can live a good life.
And that life is hopeful.
It's abundant, it's equal, it's equitable, it's joyful, it's peaceful, it's calm.
10:40
It is having the courage and bravery to embrace the currents and the tides, even when things are turbulent and from inside out.
11:02
It is to have their courage to try it.
And hope is believing that even even in the most challenging times, we still see the possibility, the possible, the possible goodness in humanity in in every one of us.
11:34
And that's hope.
And I know again, it sounds like, oh, it's so easy for you to say that it's true.
It's so easy to say than done.
And sometimes I don't feel so hopeful, like I've been kind of struggling with this health thing with myself for weeks now.
12:06
And I, I still yet to figure out how to, you know, tackle it.
And sometimes I'm just so like, what do you want from me?
12:26
You know, when you don't feel so well physically and health wise.
But The thing is, these two shall pass after weeks and sometimes months or years of struggle.
12:46
We can still get through it.
It's still possible.
And of course, that is not so easy for for the wandering spirits who are lost in conflicts, who are unwillingly taken from us too soon, too cruelly and cold bloodedly and and just inhumanely.
13:34
That is.
That is something for every one of us to sit with.
We need to sit with that for those folks, for those souls and spirits.
13:56
I my interpretation is they left their hope behind them and it is our job to continue to carry their hope with us.
14:13
It does not make their hope a burden or heavier.
It makes their hope that much more precious and important and significant.
14:32
And I would like to thank somewhere they know that we carry their hope and we move on.
14:49
Sorry, I shouldn't say move on and we move forward.
We March on, we live on, we carry on and hopefully when we see each other again, we can tell them that we tried and, and hopefully we can say we, we, we did well and we don't need to be sorry or regret.
15:29
And I hope the next generations will continue and they are continuing to carry their hope with them and live on.
15:56
So yeah.
So we're on a break from recording and but it does not mean our work stops here.
When we come back in the fall in September, we might have some changes to the program.
16:16
So we invite you to perhaps sign up, subscribe and come back in the fall, and we'll be together again.
Yeah.
And I hope you enjoy the summer.
16:39
Be healthy, be joyful, be hopeful, have abundance in your life and love yourself and love each other and be well, be well, and until then, take good care.
17:09
Bye.