ARTICLE
My Adoptive Parents Hid My Racial Identity from Me for 19 Years
By Melissa Guida-Richards — 2021
My parents successfully passed me off as a dark-skinned Italian for 19 years of my life.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
CLEAR ALL
BY TOPIC
BY TEACHER
BY TYPE
FILTER
TOPIC
- Family Dynamics (91)
- Trauma Healing (86)
- Children’s Well-Being (80)
- Racial Identity (80)
- Child’s Trauma (78)
- Racial Justice (75)
- Emotional and Mental Health (74)
- Child’s Emotional Growth (71)
- Identity (67)
- Trauma (66)
- Social Justice (59)
- Racial Healing (54)
- Indigenous Well-Being (53)
- Adoption (49)
- Cross-Cultural Dynamics (49)
- Dysfunctional Childhood (48)
- Well-Being (43)
- Personal Development (42)
- Resilience (40)
- Child’s Challenging Behavior (39)
- Activism/Service (38)
- Caregiver Well-Being (38)
- Intergenerational Trauma (35)
- Community Healing (34)
- Motherhood (32)
- PTSD (30)
- Neuroscience (29)
- Self-Development (29)
- Latinx Well-Being (28)
- AAPI Well-Being (24)
- Child’s ADD/ADHD (24)
- Women’s Well-Being (24)
- LGBTQIA Well-Being (23)
- Race and Gender (22)
- Communication Skills (21)
- Disabled Well-Being (21)
- Immigration and Assimilation (21)
- Memoir (21)
- Mind-Body Connection (21)
- Self-Discovery (21)
- Speaking Your Truth (21)
- Discrimination (20)
- Relationship Challenges (20)
- Self-Care (20)
- Whiteness (20)
- Young Adult Well-Being (20)
- Challenges with Teens (19)
- Child’s Autism (19)
- Christianity (19)
- Cross-Cultural Parenting (19)
- Indigenous Rights (19)
- Mental Health Challenges (19)
- Self-Esteem (19)
- Athlete Well-Being (18)
- Authenticity (17)
- Empowerment (17)
- Generational Healing (17)
- Belonging (16)
- Collective Trauma (16)
- Creative Well-Being (16)
- Fellowship and Community (16)
- Neurodiversity (16)
- Child’s Anxiety (15)
- Imagination and Creativity (15)
- Native American Beliefs (15)
- Self-Healing (15)
- Awareness (14)
- Child Depression (14)
- Connection with Nature (14)
- Poverty/Economic Inequality (14)
- Shame (14)
- Autism (13)
- Blended Families (13)
- Environmental Justice (13)
- Female Empowerment (13)
- Self-Limiting Beliefs (13)
- Addiction (12)
- Adjusting to Parenthood (12)
- Body Image (12)
- Gender Discrimination (12)
- Growth Mindset (12)
- Handling a Child’s Illness (12)
- Inner Strengths (12)
- Mindfulness (12)
- Spiritual Growth (12)
- Spirituality and Politics (12)
- Stress (12)
- Depression (11)
- Faith and Identity (11)
- Freedom (11)
- Happiness (11)
- Indigenous Healing Approaches (11)
- Inner Child (11)
- Meditation (11)
- Self-Acceptance (11)
- Sexual Assault or Abuse (11)
- Trauma-Informed Therapy (11)
- Access to Education (10)
- Fatherhood (10)
- Fear (10)
- Grief (10)
- Nonviolence (10)
- Physical Health (10)
- Positive Psychology (10)
- Abandonment (9)
- Anxiety (9)
- Attachment Theory (9)
- Child Defiance (9)
- Co-Parenting (9)
- Compassion (9)
- Confidence (9)
- Family Acceptance (9)
- Grit (9)
- Honoring Emotion (9)
- Identity Shifts (9)
- LGBTQIA Parents (9)
- Self-Love (9)
- Self-Realization (9)
- Self-Reflection Practices (9)
- Somatic Practices (9)
- Buddhism (8)
- Building Culture (8)
- Coming Out (8)
- Consciousness (8)
- Divorce and Breakup (8)
- Finding Meaning (8)
- Gender Identity (8)
- Human Potential (8)
- Incarceration (8)
- Inner Life (8)
- Inspiration (8)
- Marriage (8)
- Raising Daughters (8)
- Self-Actualization (8)
- Self-Reliance (8)
- Social Responsibility (8)
- Somatic Experiencing (8)
- Transgender Well-Being (8)
- Unconscious Bias (8)
- Youth Activism (8)
- Acceptance (7)
- ADD/ADHD (7)
- Addiction Recovery (7)
- Child’s Social Media Addiction (7)
- Courage (7)
- Drug Addiction (7)
- Empathy (7)
- Habit Formation (7)
- Homophobia (7)
- Imposter Syndrome (7)
- Offering Support to Others (7)
- Philosophical Approaches (7)
- Post-Traumatic Growth (7)
- Psychology (7)
- Self-Harm (7)
- Setting Limits and Boundaries (7)
- Spiritual Development (7)
- Stress Management (7)
- Transformation (7)
- Traumatic Grief (7)
- Work Challenges (7)
- Anger (6)
- Building Character (6)
- Climate Change (6)
- Connection (6)
- Death and Dying (6)
- Digital Life (6)
- Disconnection (6)
- Global Challenges (6)
- Goal Setting (6)
- God (6)
- Hope (6)
- Inner Peace (6)
- Joy (6)
- LGBTQIA Children (6)
- Life Challenges (6)
- Love (6)
- Motivation (6)
- Negative Self-Talk (6)
- Neuroplasticity (6)
- Problem Solving (6)
- Raising Sons (6)
- Self-Worth (6)
- Social Presence (6)
- Spiritual Awakening (6)
- Suffering (6)
- Veteran Well-Being (6)
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (5)
- Cognitive Psychology (5)
- Death or Loss of a Loved One (5)
- Economic Justice (5)
- Emotional Intelligence (EQ) (5)
- Environmental Exploitation (5)
- Exercise (5)
- Family Therapy (5)
- Foster Parenting (5)
- Gratitude (5)
- Guilt (5)
- Habits of Mind (5)
- Leadership (5)
- LGBTQIA Sexuality (5)
- Memory (5)
- Moral Philosophy (5)
- Narcissism (5)
- Neuropsychology (5)
- Play (5)
- Presence (5)
- Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (5)
- Raising Nonbinary Children (5)
- Romantic Relationships (5)
- Self-Control (5)
- Self-Expression (5)
- Spiritual Life (5)
- Storytelling (5)
- Suicide (5)
- Transitions (5)
- Vulnerability (5)
- Work-Life Balance (5)
- Yoga (5)
- Adaptability (4)
- Brain Health (4)
- Bullying (4)
- Burnout (4)
- Codependency (4)
- Criticism and Rejection (4)
- Embodiment (4)
- Entrepreneurship (4)
- Feminism (4)
- Healing Approaches (4)
- Healthy Eating (4)
- Masculine/Feminine Dynamics (4)
- MDMA (4)
- Mindfulness Meditation (4)
- Mindfulness Practices (4)
- Nonbinary Well-Being (4)
- OCD (4)
- Oneness (4)
- Optimism (4)
- Productivity (4)
- Psychology and Spirituality (4)
- Relationship with Money (4)
- Search for Purpose (4)
- Self-Compassion (4)
- Self-Mastery (4)
- Sexuality (4)
- Spiritual Healing (4)
- Academic Struggles (3)
- Aging (3)
- Anger Management (3)
- Breathwork (3)
- Cancer (3)
- Chronic Health Conditions (3)
- Compassion Meditation (3)
- Curiosity (3)
- Death or Loss of a Child (3)
- Diet and Nutrition (3)
- Ecospirituality (3)
- EMDR (3)
- Faith (3)
- Fiction (3)
- Friendship (3)
- Gender Justice (3)
- Highly Sensitive People (3)
- Integrative Medicine (3)
- Intention (3)
- Interdependence (3)
- Intimacy (3)
- Kids and Sports (3)
- Learning Styles (3)
- Letting Go (3)
- Men’s Well-Being (3)
- Peak Performance (3)
- Perception (3)
- Polyvagal Theory (3)
- Psychedelic Research (3)
- Religious Experience (3)
- Sex (3)
- Sleep (3)
- Social Media Addiction (3)
- Social Psychology (3)
- Sustainability (3)
- Tibetan Buddhism (3)
- Visualization (3)
- Weight Concerns (3)
- Wholeness (3)
- Work Relationships (3)
- Affirmations (2)
- Anorexia (2)
- Asking for Help (2)
- Autoimmune Disease (2)
- Body Positivity (2)
- Child’s Alcohol Addiction (2)
- Chronic Anxiety (2)
- Cognition (2)
- Death or Loss of a Parent (2)
- Domestic Abuse (2)
- Eating Disorders (2)
- Ego (2)
- Enlightenment (2)
- Failure (2)
- Focus (2)
- Gender Challenges (2)
- Genetics (2)
- Global Food Supply (2)
- Guided Meditation (2)
- Integrity (2)
- Jungian Analysis (2)
- Kindness (2)
- Leaving a Religion (2)
- Loneliness (2)
- Love Languages (2)
- Lovingkindness Meditation (2)
- Manifestation (2)
- Mentoring (2)
- Personality Disorders (2)
- Positive Thinking (2)
- Relationship with Time (2)
- Ritual (2)
- Sacred Feminine (2)
- Spiritual Direction (2)
- Spirituality and Health (2)
- Talk Therapy (2)
- Transpersonal Psychology (2)
- Trust (2)
- Values (2)
- Women’s Rights (2)
- Work Ethic (2)
- Accepting Love (1)
- Acupuncture (1)
- AIDS (1)
- Alcohol Addiction (1)
- Altered States (1)
- Anat Baniel Method (1)
- Archetypes (1)
- Art Therapy (1)
- Awe (1)
- Ayahuasca (1)
- Ayurveda (1)
- Biofeedback (1)
- Bodywork (1)
- Choosing Childfree (1)
- Chronic Fatigue (1)
- Chronic Pain (1)
- Collaboration (1)
- Comparing Belief Traditions (1)
- Competition (1)
- Compulsive Lying (1)
- Conflict Resolution (1)
- Conscious Evolution (1)
- Decision Making (1)
- Dharma (1)
- Doubt (1)
- Drug Policy (1)
- Ego Dissolution (1)
- Emotional Labor (1)
- Endurance (1)
- Epigenetics (1)
- Facing Own Death (1)
- Fatigue (1)
- Forest Bathing (1)
- Forgiveness (1)
- Gaming Addiction (1)
- Generosity (1)
- Handling a Loved One’s Illness (1)
- Healing Touch (1)
- Higher Calling (1)
- Hinduism (1)
- Holism (1)
- Homeopathy (1)
- Household Labor (1)
- Hypnosis (1)
- Islam (1)
- Jealousy/Envy (1)
- Journaling (1)
- Judaism (1)
- LGBTQIA Relationships (1)
- Life-Altering Injury (1)
- Longevity (1)
- Loss of Appetite (1)
- Lovingkindness (1)
- Magic (1)
- Managing Energy (1)
- Midlife Crisis (1)
- Mythology (1)
- Near-Death Experience (1)
- Nightmares (1)
- Non-Duality (1)
- Obsessions/Compulsions (1)
- Othering (1)
- Passion (1)
- Patience (1)
- Performance Pressure (1)
- Physical Therapy (1)
- Poetry (1)
- Positive Self-Talk (1)
- Prayer (1)
- Psychoanalysis (1)
- Qi (1)
- Rebirth (1)
- Reproductive Health (1)
- Rest (1)
- Science and Spirituality (1)
- Self-Pressure (1)
- Self-Reckoning (1)
- Sexual Health (1)
- Shadow (1)
- Shamanism (1)
- Social Anxiety (1)
- Sound Healing (1)
- Spiritual Practices (1)
- Synchronicity (1)
- The Feldenkrais Method (1)
- The Unconscious (1)
- Time Management (1)
- Toxic Relationships (1)
- Unfulfilled Career (1)
- Unity (1)
- Wake-Up Calls (1)
- War (1)
- Western Astrology (1)
- Willpower (1)
FILTER
TEACHER
- Peter A. Levine (9)
- Michele Borba (8)
- Mona Polacca (8)
- Daniel J. Siegel (7)
- James Baldwin (7)
- Monnica Williams (7)
- Nadine Burke Harris (7)
- Alice Miller (6)
- Bessel van der Kolk (6)
- Louise Erdrich (6)
- Malcolm X (6)
- Agnes Baker-Pilgrim (5)
- Becky Kennedy (5)
- Joanne Cacciatore (5)
- Resmaa Menakem (5)
- Temple Grandin (5)
- Andrew Solomon (4)
- Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance (4)
- Cornel West (4)
- Edward Hallowell (4)
- Jack Canfield (4)
- Joseph M. Marshall III (4)
- Richard Davidson (4)
- Ta-Nehisi Coates (4)
- Winona LaDuke (4)
- Eckhart Tolle (3)
- Ellen Bass (3)
- Gordon Neufeld (3)
- Howard Thurman (3)
- Jacqui Lewis (3)
- John Gottman (3)
- John Perry (3)
- Nelson Mandela (3)
- Oprah Winfrey (3)
- Stephen Porges (3)
- Toni Morrison (3)
- Valarie Kaur (3)
- Virginia Satir (3)
- Alan Watts (2)
- Alice Walker (2)
- Alison Gopnik (2)
- Allison Briscoe-Smith (2)
- Amy Morin (2)
- Andrew Weil (2)
- Anne Lamott (2)
- Brian Tracy (2)
- Chelsey Luger (2)
- Claudia Black (2)
- Daniel Goleman (2)
- Danya Ruttenberg (2)
- Dorothy Firman (2)
- Gary Chapman (2)
- Harville Hendrix (2)
- Jan Willis (2)
- Jay Shetty (2)
- JoAnna Hardy (2)
- Judith Blackstone (2)
- Ken Wilber (2)
- Lama Rod Owens (2)
- Mark Victor Hansen (2)
- Mark Wolynn (2)
- Martin Seligman (2)
- Maya Angelou (2)
- Misty Copeland (2)
- Prince EA (2)
- Ramani Durvasula (2)
- Rick Hanson (2)
- Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance (2)
- Rita Pitka Blumenstein (2)
- Ruth King (2)
- Sadhguru (2)
- Spring Washam (2)
- Stephanie Y. Evans (2)
- Terri Cole (2)
- Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche (2)
- Zainab Salbi (2)
- Aama Bombo (1)
- Acharya Shunya (1)
- Anat Baniel (1)
- Angela Duckworth (1)
- Anna Sale (1)
- Arianna Huffington (1)
- Arielle Schwartz (1)
- Audre Lorde (1)
- bell hooks (1)
- Bernie S. Siegel (1)
- Brendon Burchard (1)
- Brené Brown (1)
- Bruce Lipton (1)
- C. S. Lewis (1)
- Chalene Johnson (1)
- Christine Caldwell (1)
- Dana Ullman (1)
- Daniel Amen (1)
- David J. Wolpe (1)
- Dilip Jeste (1)
- don Jose Ruiz (1)
- Donna Jackson Nakazawa (1)
- Elaine Aron (1)
- Elizabeth Lesser (1)
- Eric Maisel (1)
- Gangaji (1)
- Gaylon Ferguson (1)
- Geneen Roth (1)
- Glennon Doyle (1)
- Grandmother Flordemayo (1)
- Harriet Lerner (1)
- Helen LaKelly Hunt (1)
- Huston Smith (1)
- Ibram X. Kendi (1)
- Jack Kornfield (1)
- James Baraz (1)
- Jana Long (1)
- Jazmine McCoy (1)
- Jean Shinoda Bolen (1)
- Joan Borysenko (1)
- john a. powell (1)
- John Firman (1)
- Joseph Chilton Pearce (1)
- Julie Schwartz Gottman (1)
- Julieta Casimiro (1)
- Kathy Freston (1)
- Kelly McGonigal (1)
- Kenneth Robinson (1)
- Latham Thomas (1)
- Lewis Howes (1)
- Linda Graham (1)
- Linda Hogan (1)
- Luisah Teish (1)
- Margaret Behan (1)
- Maria Alice Campos Freire (1)
- Maria Popova (1)
- Maria Sirois (1)
- Marie-Nathalie Beaudoin (1)
- Mark Hyman (1)
- Mark Nepo (1)
- Martha Beck (1)
- Mel Robbins (1)
- Michelle Obama (1)
- Mitch Albom (1)
- Moshé Feldenkrais (1)
- Nicole Cardoza (1)
- Oliver Sacks (1)
- Pema Chödrön (1)
- Philip Goldberg (1)
- Piero Ferrucci (1)
- Ram Dass (1)
- Rich Roll (1)
- Robert Firestone (1)
- Robert Hand (1)
- Rosie Molinary (1)
- Rudolph Ballentine (1)
- Shakti Gawain (1)
- Sharon Strand Ellison (1)
- Shauna Shapiro (1)
- Stephen Covey (1)
- Steven Kotler (1)
- Swami Mukundananda (1)
- Tara Brach (1)
- The Dalai Lama (1)
- Thich Nhat Hanh (1)
- Thomas Hübl (1)
- Traci Blackmon (1)
- Tsering Dolma Gyaltong (1)
- Wayne Dyer (1)
