Morgan Harper Nichols' Blog

Tag: daily reflection

  • Courage comes in many shapes

    Courage comes in many shapes

    Courage comes in many shapes, and strength can look different day by day. So remember to pay attention to what this might look like in small ways. Sometimes courage is pressing “send” on that one message. Sometimes, strength is saying “no” and sticking to it. Sometimes courage is having a brief moment where you remember that you are proud of yourself for letting go or walking away. Sometimes strength is gentle, and it sounds like a single deep breath that you took today. May you never discredit the courage and strength that might appear more subtly, but still matters in significant ways.

    – Morgan Harper Nichols

  • Small Practices for Intentionality

    Small Practices for Intentionality

    For all of the things in life that require a sense of urgency, it can still matter to create space for making the kind of connections that turn passing details into reference points. Not only does a brief pause allow real rest, it also builds new links that matter for the journey ahead.

    Some of the most profound connections and understandings emerge slowly. It might not feel like it in the moment, but a year from now, you will be able to look back on the notes you took today. The small things that you captured that seemed mundane. The lessons learned, the wisdom gathered. You will be able to realize that even in small ways, you have been allowing yourself to continuously engage in life, one day at a time. Focus on taking note of the small things and give yourself something to look back on.

    Here are a few ideas of things you could try:

    – Open up your notes app or your notebook and write down five things you’re grateful for. However, make an effort to write down the kind of things that would normally be overlooked.

    – Record a voice memo that is a note to your future self. If you find that listening to your own voice is distracting, you can use a transcription tool to just read it later, too.

    – Take five photographs of something in your environment––no matter if they have a beautiful aesthetic or not. You know those nostalgic photos from the 80s and 90s? They were taken in moments like this, oftentimes when someone was just testing out a disposable camera. Embrace the spontaneity and document, even when it seems unremarkable right now.

    Let small practices like this become a part of intentionally allowing some things to grow slowly in your life. Even if you don’t use what you’ve created for some kind of final product or creative project, it is still something you can try to practice noticing the details, right, and allowing this to be something that can grow with time. In other words, do them with the intention that they will gain significance with time in their own unique way, and as you grow, you will recall it all in new ways, too.

    -Morgan Harper Nichols

  • Pace Yourself Through These Mountains

    Pace Yourself Through These Mountains

    Pace yourself through these mountains.
    One breath at a time.
    One day at a time.

    For all of the slopes, ridges, and rocks, there is a lot to consider here…
    And as you encounter nature’s rugged steps and feel the need to take a breath, may you know that it is just as courageous and honorable to seek out a mindful way to move through this space. This is how you grow in awareness: by adapting your approach as you go.

    So when you start to notice shifts within your environment,
    and when you start to wonder how you will make it ahead,
    and you feel the altitude rising,
    know that any pace you take from here, whether you move at a slower pace, a faster pace, or you take a moment to pause, all of it is, in fact, a pace and also a space for which you are becoming more aware of how to move through this space, even without having it all figured out.

    Pace yourself through these mountains.
    Pace yourself through these mountains.

    -Morgan Harper Nichols

  • Emerge from the chrysalis

    Emerge from the chrysalis

    Emerge from the chrysalis,
    come into the sunlight…
    after all of the waiting,
    now is the time to fly.

    I hope you can find at least one area of your life where you can say, “now is the time. After all the waiting, now is the time.”

    Of course there are many things in life for which we cannot control how long the waiting will take, but at the same time, it can still be worth it to identify where we can say “now is the time,” anyway. To say:

    “When will I stop waiting on approval from others? To stop thinking I have to have it all figured out perfectly before again? Now is the time.”

    Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, let yourself begin to look for ways to come alive, beyond the waiting. And even if it’s subtle, know that it matters to come forth into the sunlight this way. This too, is transformation.

    – Morgan Harper Nichols

    A colorful digital illustration of a butterfly emerging from a pink chrysalis hanging on a branch. The butterfly’s wings are vibrant shades of blue, green, and yellow, with black edges and orange dots. The background features a pastel mountain landscape at sunrise or sunset, with a gradient sky of pink, blue, and orange hues. Beneath the butterfly, white handwritten-style text reads: "Emerge from the chrysalis. Come into the sunlight. After all of the waiting, now is the time to fly."
  • Let today be what today needs to be

    Let today be what today needs to be

    as you move through the day,
    may you know it’s okay
    to create a little space,
    to let this day be
    what it needs to be.
    and however you can,
    create room to simply breathe.

    for you have already been through
    so much,
    and to simply breathe
    through this moment
    is more than enough.

    inhale,
    exhale,
    and pace yourself
    through the landscape
    of the day,
    gathering what you need as you go.

    grace,
    gratitude,
    space,
    hope,
    joy,
    love,
    rest,
    room to feel what you need to feel,
    room to grieve,
    room to embrace gentleness,
    slowness,
    room to learn what it means to be free,
    room to breathe,
    room to
    breathe.

    in your stillness, in your motion,
    in your silence, in your song…
    breathe.

    -Morgan Harper Nichols

  • You Are Allowing To Try Again In A Different Way

    You Are Allowing To Try Again In A Different Way

    There are many ways to begin again. And you can find this to be true when it comes to what growth looks like over time. Growth in nature often begins with some kind of roots, and there are many different kinds of roots. There are taproots, which go deep into the soil. There are fibrous roots, which spread out wide and near the surface. There are also aerial roots, which can grow above the ground. But what they all have in common, despite their differences, is their vital role in providing nourishment and connection.

    Remember this diversity in the moments where things aren’t quite connecting in the way you hope. Whether you’re trying to connect with others, trying to connect ideas, or something else, there is room to explore how different connections might be made that are meaningful and supportive. Consider how, even if there has been a disconnect somewhere, it doesn’t mean you’re no longer worthy of connection. If you can observe how the trees outside need connection, then perhaps, it is okay for you to say, “I need that, too.” Even if it takes time to find, like a root finding its way through rocky soil, you, too, are free to explore the possibility of what deep and lasting connection might look like in your life. It might change from season to season. It might look different as you move from landscape to landscape. And yet, it is something worth nurturing all the same.

    Let this be one way among many to stay open to what connection might become.

    -Morgan Harper Nichols

  • The Importance of Sharing Your Story

    The Importance of Sharing Your Story

    Imagine buying a pot with soil for a plant to grow. The entire experience of going to the store and selecting the pot is an important part of the process, even before the plant begins to sprout. This experience is a part of the story, just as significant as the growth that will follow.

    Now, picture meeting a friend later that day and they ask you about your day. You share the story of going to the store, choosing the perfect pot, and picking out the seed. As you recount the details, you express your emotions and excitement about watching the plant grow in the future. This narrative can be complete and meaningful story even without the plant’s growth.

    Perhaps, in some ways, your life, as it is right now, has parts that can be shared like that. It’s a story unfolding, filled with experiences, emotions, and anticipation for what’s to come. You might not have the exact details of how everything is going to turn out, but you’ve been fully engaged with the steps of the process not because you have all the answers but because you’ve lived it…and it’s something you can share with others.

    Pay attention to the moments of your life where you start to tell the story of where you are and who you are. Notice how there might be storylines unfolding in your life right now that quite have this easy-to-explain metamorphosis moment, but it’s still something worth telling because it’s real, and it also reminds others that they don’t have to have every storyline figured out before it’s something worth telling.

    There are moments in life when advice is given, but perhaps, there are even more moments in life where stories are untold. But who says they have to be perfectly polished stories? Who says there can’t be places for stories to be shared, even while they’re still in the making?

    Even before the next chapters are written, your current story is valid, significant, and worth sharing.

    An illustrated image of a small potted plant with green leaves, centered against a background of radiating teal, dark blue, yellow, and peach beams that resemble stylized sunlight or energy. The pot is terracotta-colored and sits on a dark shadow. Below the image is handwritten text that reads: “This life, right here, tells a story as it is… even before new chapters have been written.” The overall style is painterly and contemplative.

    – Morgan Harper Nichols

  • Stories of Change: How Clarity Emerges Over Time

    Stories of Change: How Clarity Emerges Over Time

    In some stories, a character may find themselves in a place where everything feels uncertain, where the path ahead is unclear. And even though the answers don’t come all at once, with time, something shifts…whether in what they understand or what they are ready to reconsider.

    In other stories, characters may start with a clear sense of direction, only to have it unravel, forcing them to look again, to reconsider, to notice what they hadn’t before.

    And then there are stories where characters resist change, holding on tightly to what they’ve known, until something (whether it be small or significant) breaks through, and suddenly, they can’t help but see differently.

    All of these kinds of stories are examples of many different shapes a life can take. Whether it’s a fictional story or a real-life story someone is telling, no two unfold in exactly the same way. But what they all have in common is that somewhere along the way, clarity began to take shape. And not because the confusion disappeared all at once, but because they started paying attention. A pattern appears. A question becomes clearer. Something makes sense that didn’t before. And these things took shape not because the character instantly arrived at a place where everything made sense at once, but because they had been on a journey…one that wasn’t always linear or clear, but a journey where understanding shifted, not as a single moment, but as layers forming and reforming over time…A journey with many components that allowed them to notice…perhaps even to wonder.

    There are different ways that clarity can emerge in a story. Through layers: when meaning builds gradually, one piece at a time. Through movement: when a shift in direction changes everything that came before it. Through openness: when an unanswered question holds more than a single answer ever could.

    And these are just a few. But they are all examples of how, even before things make sense, the journey itself can still be significant…a place where meaning takes shape…not by figuring it all out at once, but by learning to pay attention, on the journey.

    -Morgan Harper Nichols