The Voices We Carry: Finding Your One True Voice in a World of Clamor and Noise - Paperback

by J. S. Park (Author), Red Hong Yi (Foreword by)

Reclaim Your Headspace and Find Your One True Voice

As a hospital chaplain, J.S. Park encountered hundreds of patients at the edge of life and death, listening as they urgently shared their stories, confessions, and final words. J.S. began to identify patterns in his patients' lives--patterns he also saw in his own life. He began to see that the events and traumas we experience throughout life become deafening voices that remain within us, even when the events are far in the past. He was surprised to find that in hearing the voices of his patients, he began to identify his own voices and all the ways they could both harm and heal.

In The Voices We Carry, J.S. draws from his experiences as a hospital chaplain to present the Voices Model. This model explores the four internal voices of self-doubt, pride, people-pleasing, and judgment, and the four external voices of trauma, guilt, grief, and family dynamics. He also draws from his Asian-American upbringing to examine the challenges of identity and feeling "other." J.S. outlines how to wrestle with our voices, and even befriend them, how to find our authentic voice in a world of mixed messages, and how to empower those who are voiceless.

Filled with evidence-based research, spiritual and psychological insights, and stories of patient encounters, The Voices We Carry is an inspiring memoir of unexpected growth, humor, and what matters most. For those wading through a world of clamor and noise, this is a guide to find your clear, steady voice.

Back Jacket

You are a whole world of voices. We all are.

J. S. Park has come to understand that we all carry a steady stream of internal messages that we gather over time. These deafening voices arise from the events and traumas we experience, things people tell us, and the things we tell ourselves. The noise of these voices affects our choices, relationships, and estimation of our own worth.

J. S. has witnessed this as a hospital chaplain, where patients struggling between life and death confide stories, confessions, and urgent last words. And he has experienced this personally through the challenges of growing up as a second-generation Asian-American. In The Voices We Carry, J. S. invites you on his own journey and presents the Voices Model to help you recognize, wrestle, and even befriend the voices you carry so that you can find among them your own authentic voice.

Author Biography

J. S. PARK, (BA Psychology, Univ. South Florida; MDiv, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is a hospital chaplain, viral blogger, and teaching pastor. As an interfaith chaplain at a large hospital in Tampa, he provides grief counseling and assists with end-of-life care. He also serves as a community care chaplain at Metropolitan Ministries, one of the largest nonprofit charities on the east coast, which serves the homeless in Tampa. He loves to play the drums and guitar, and has a sixth-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. He lives in Tampa, FL with his wife, Juliette, a nurse practitioner.