Author: Morgan Harper Nichols

There are many things in life where, on the surface, it might seem very simple, but in reality, there is pressure toward making quick progress and obtaining linear results. One of these unexpected places is the seemingly simple act of filling in a blank page. As the pen glides along the page, line by line, it might seem simple at first, but eventually, the pressure to fill it perfectly can be overwhelming. Sometimes, a simple practice of trying a notebook without lined paper or turning the page into a bullet point list format can help ease the pressure of having to write everything in order. Sometimes, just giving yourself some space to breathe…even if it’s just on a page can serve as a reminder of how moving line by line on a page or moving hour by hour in a day does not have to be this a strict, unyielding process. You don’t have to fill out the whole page or fill out the whole day for it to be meaningful. Notice how the ink grows in shape as you find new ideas across the page, even if you don’t fill it completely. Notice how you discover ways that you’ve been growing in life, even when you haven’t been “climbing” all the time; just like roots grow underground, and just like ink-traced paths emerge gently on the page, you too can find your own unique ways to grow, even in subtle ways. The page speaks, even half-filled.

You are allowed to reframe expectation: it doesn’t have to look like steady progress or polished results to be real or meaningful. Allow yourself to consider what possibilities might exist beyond the invisible demands of making everything look effortless. And remember, by acknowledging the effort, you create room for the kind of discovery that allows you to be in process.

– Morgan Harper Nichols

Amidst all that feels fast-paced, may you allow yourself to be grateful for the good things that bloom quietly yet still meaningfully. For not everything that happens in your life that is something of substance will be out there in a way that others can easily perceive. There will be times when you give your all to things and you nurture them, slowly but surely, but the recognition does not come. It is okay to desire the acknowledgment – it is only human to do so…while also knowing what wildflowers know: it is possible to spring up from the ground fully and wholeheartedly at your pace, even in a community of wildflowers. Allow yourself to embrace whatever seems like a small, quiet bloom in your life, and may you create room to practice noticing how this too is meaningful, however you can.

– Morgan Harper Nichols

Fireflies produce light in fleeting moments. Bioluminescence is a process in which chemical reactions within their bodies generate light without producing heat. This light is a signal that only lasts so long before fading. It’s beautiful, but it only lasts a season.

Many things in a person’s life are like this: wonderful and full of life, but only for a short time. We may find ourselves taking in all of the beauty and joy of something, only to have to eventually let it go…

Sometimes letting go isn’t even about releasing something we don’t want, but rather acknowledging that something may have been for a time. Perhaps time spent living in a particular location is coming to an end. Or saying goodbye to a special relationship or friendship, or simply moving on from a stage of life.

In this space, you can grieve what you’ve had to say goodbye to, even if it was fleeting, while also making way for new seasons.

Things will be different, but in a unique way. Some days, ‘letting go’ may just look like taking one exhale while you deal with the larger “letting go’s” in the background.

But even that small act creates space for you to be a little more free, as you learn what it means to carry on after letting go.

And it’s fine if this takes time and isn’t a linear process. This cannot be said enough. What matters is that you understand that it is okay to make room as you let go.

– Morgan Harper Nichols

Letting go can contain both endings and beginnings and lots of feelings and thoughts in between: You might feel nostalgic or even mournful for what was. You could find yourself reflecting on lessons learned while also feeling hopeful for what could be. There could be confusion about what to do next, intertwined with anxiousness, and perhaps, moments where you suddenly want to dream and plan ahead. In that space, may you know that you don’t have to sort it all out before you can recognize: right here, there is breathing room. And sometimes that “breathing room” might look like taking more intentional, literal deep breaths, but other times, it might look like letting yourself say, “I’m not sure quite yet,” or “I’m going to set a reminder on my phone to come back to this in a few days.” Of course, we may not be able to do this in all areas of life, but you’re allowed to seek out as many spaces as you can where this is possible. It takes a lot to leave something behind, and it also takes a lot to look ahead…so create some breathing room wherever you can.

-Morgan Harper Nichols

Notes from the ocean during times of minimal wind:

When the wind is calm, surface currents slow down, but deep currents keep moving, driven by temperature and salinity differences. This hidden power shows that even in stillness, profound shifts are happening.

Just as the ocean finds clarity in the wind’s pause, we too can learn from these quieter moments. The ocean’s deep currents, driven by density differences, continue their slow, powerful flow even when the surface appears still.

In our lives, like the ocean, clarity can emerge in stillness. Hidden changes and transformations continue, even when it seems like nothing is moving.

Find clarity in the pauses by noticing quiet changes, observing subtle shifts, and recognizing the depth of small movements.

Our lives may not mirror the ocean exactly, but we can learn that change happens even in apparent stillness. The ocean’s currents keep flowing, driven by the weight of the water. We too can keep moving with great depth, even in quiet times.

Embrace the room for movement and transformation over time, wave by wave.

-Morgan Harper Nichols

Before becoming a butterfly, the caterpillar begins on a host plant chosen for what it can provide at one stage of life. The plant may not stay the same or remain part of what comes next. Still, it makes early change possible. In this case, the beginning is supported by something specific, temporary, and just enough for that moment.

It is hard to believe real change can begin in a place that feels temporary. When the rest is still shifting. When nothing feels clear or whole. But the caterpillar’s host plant invites a different thought..that something important can start in a place that is filled with questions. 

A moment where the usual story feels distant, yet something still asks to be tended.

An hour that holds no answers, only a small refusal to give up entirely.

A return to something once left behind, not to finish it, but to remember it mattered.

The host plants of the world are the conditions that hold just enough for something to take shape, even if they are temporary places.

Notice what offers just enough to start: for perhaps, it is a reminder to begin forming, anyway.

– Morgan Harper Nichols