Morgan Harper Nichols' Blog

Tag: life

  • A Space to Just Be and Belong

    A Space to Just Be and Belong

    inhale, exhale
    and take a moment to imagine
    you have followed a forest trail down to

    a river
    where the banks hold the weight of past centuries,
    and yet also, the generous shade of the enduring trees
    all bending together to create room to breathe.

    time slows down here
    and for a moment you finally feel:
    you don’t have to hurry anymore.

    and even when you feel this distinct gap between you and the water below,
    you are still free to be connected here.
    yes, you are still free to be connected here…
    for you are both shaped by the same gravity of everything,
    and you are both learning to move through it all.

    notice when the surface water appears restless.
    notice when the pull beneath appears constant.
    notice when you feel this tension within you, too.
    notice how both ways of being here can be true.

    notice when the water sings,
    “all is passing. notice how all is passing.”

    and even as the hours start to rush faster for you,
    you are still free to carry the river’s rhythm with you.

    for yes, you are free…
    free to hold on
    to any little part of this rhythm that helps you breathe:

    “even here, I am steady and I am safe
    to envision forest trails
    that lead to the kind of place
    where a river keeps flowing,
    amid all the unknowing,
    and I can arrive, with it all, and belong.”

    –

    I wrote this piece while thinking about a video game concept where the character you’re playing enters a landscape. Before there are quests, tasks, or goals, the character simply has space to roam and explore. I started wondering what it might feel like if a voiceover or poem played as the character moved into that environment.

    It began as just a concept, but as I wrote, I realized something similar happens in real life. We often find ourselves stepping into situations where it feels like we have to play a role. For me, that sense of being “on” or having to perform rarely feels calm. Instead, it can feel draining, tied to responsibilities or expectations. Even when we are grateful for the roles we have, it can still be difficult to find space to just be and belong as we are.

    With this poem, I wanted to create a different feeling: becoming a character who doesn’t need to perform, who can simply sit by the river, breathe, and exist without pressure. I wanted to show that even if it’s just for a moment, it matters. Even if the space to just be and belong at first only exist as an half-conceptualized image or idea in our minds, the fact that we took time to even imagine is significant all on its own and it’s something we can build upon.

    We all know what it means to carry roles and these roles bring responsibilities and are a part of who we are, but they don’t define the whole of who we are. And it makes a difference when we have spaces where we get to ask: what does it look like to just belong, as we are? What are the challenges that come with trying to create that space? How can we create rhythms that acknowledge both the tensions and need to just be?

    I don’t have a clear answer for what that looks like for every single scenario, but I hope I at least touched on this in this short poem. May we continue to create spaces where we feel free simply to arrive, to belong, and to be.

    Thanks for listening / reading! – Morgan Harper Nichols

    (This piece has been cross-posted on my Substack. You check it out here!)

  • Connection, even from far away

    Connection, even from far away

    When bioluminescent algae light up the ocean at night, it makes the water glow. This happens when lots of tiny algae come together and react to the water’s movement, creating light through a chemical process.

    What if we could see meaningful relationships in our lives in a similar way? As we react to the “movement of the water” in daily life, where we adapt and interact, we’re not the only ones seeking to produce light, seeking to navigate each experience. Like algae, we are in community with one another, whether we are directly connected or spread out in different places. And when we come together and interact, there’s this exchange of thoughts, emotions, and stories that together create a vibrant, illuminated network. This exchange can lead to new ideas and connections…just like how the algae’s chemical reactions produce a visible glow.

    It might be hard to see in a very literal way how algae lighting up the ocean is like our relationships, but think of it like this: both are about small, individual things coming together to make a larger group. Just as algae create a glowing ocean, our relationships and interactions create a network of shared experiences that enrich and brighten our lives. Think of moving through the day in a way you might think of algae moving through water: reacting to the movement and mixing with other algae to make a glowing web of light.

    Just like algae in the ocean, we move through our days reacting to what’s around us and mixing with others to create a glowing web of connection.

    Being present in our relationships isn’t about always finding a large, ideal group of friends or always spending lots of time together. Of course, it can be those things, but it’s also about noticing and asking questions about how you’re moving through things together. Even if it’s just noticing that you have moved from Monday to Tuesday with others, these shared moments are meaningful and worth noticing and talking about, wherever we are. Like bioluminescent algae in the sea, our small actions and interactions can spark a bright web, creating and deepening relationships in more ways than we realize. Connection can be created up close, and perhaps, like bioluminescent algae show us, far away. – Morgan Harper Nichols

  • Courage is an ongoing process of small shifts

    Courage is an ongoing process of small shifts

    Dragonflies are known for their ability to hover and swiftly change direction which is surely a testament to their agility and precision. Their two pairs of wings can move independently and this mechanism is what actually allows them to maneuver effortlessly in all directions, even backward, when they need to. Their 360-degree vision makes them adaptable and agile, like a courageous dream could be: gliding over serene ponds and through lush wetlands.

    To dream is to explore possibilities beyond the constraints of what’s been done in the past, yet still slowly learning to use patience to navigate. And this practice of dreaming leads to the freeing act of learning to hover, despite our fears, even before the fears fully go away. To hover amidst the reeds. To glide even in the winds. Like a dragonfly, we can find our way through the reeds and lily pads of all of the curiosities, convictions, and stories that make up the dream.

    As dragonflies pivot and adapt in mid-air, when it comes to our dreams, no matter how old or new, how vivid or fleeting, perhaps, we too can pivot, adapt, adjust, and thrive. Courage, like a dragonfly’s precision, can continue to transform paths we journey through, as we learn to adjust and evolve, like the dragonfly in the ever-changing winds. It’s okay if courage requires adjustment. You are free to let it become an ongoing process of small shifts.

    Amidst all of the wonder typically associated with dragonflies, there’s a flexibility we gain from dreaming. And even as we face the unknowns of those very dreams, like a dragonfly, we still learn to fly right where we are. – Morgan Harper Nichols

  • Small Joys, Even in Fragments

    Small Joys, Even in Fragments

    Remember the small moments that bring warmth and joy to your life, for even if they feel far away or no longer as potent or relevant as they used to be, the fact that you can remember them at all is a reminder that through it all, you have been connected to this life. Through it all, you have been alive. Notice how many things that bring warmth to life are connected. Whether it’s spending time with other people or spending time with other people’s stories as you read books or listen to music, it’s all connected somehow. Even if you’re just passively observing or vaguely remembering those warm moments, that’s still something worth holding on to and building upon, no matter how small it is.

    And when it comes to the present moment, and how you seek to find joy and warmth in the days to come, allow yourself to think of the smallest things. In addition to all the good things that could be connected to other people, these things can also be connected to your senses as well:

    What specific color makes you think of joy?
    What song seems to have a sense of warmth to it?
    What scents or textures help you remember joyful moments yet again?

    Increase your ability to notice what might grow right here by allowing yourself to ask these kinds of specific questions. Use your available senses to anchor yourself in these small joys and let them be a pathway for finding warmth and happiness in the present and in moments to come. And if you’d like, you can also ask someone you know to answer these questions and explore the many nuances and ways different people move through these more subtle experiences and how they connect to a bigger picture. – Morgan Harper Nichols

  • Small Ways to Expand A Sense of Possibility

    Small Ways to Expand A Sense of Possibility

    Allow yourself space to explore new connections, even in small ways. There are so many things that you can pay attention to that might seem small or seemingly insignificant but that can actually tell a story of something so much more.

    Consider the photos on your phone. When was the last time you printed some of them out? How might looking at a moment that you were really grateful for in a physical piece of paper help you remember it more? It doesn’t even have to be a formal photo print. You could print something on a black and white piece of regular paper, fold the page, and use it as a bookmark in your journal.

    Of course, a printed photo might not change everything, but in a life where so much is fleeting, it can become a symbolic act of taking a little extra time and effort to find value and appreciation in an easily overlooked place.

    This is an example of making new connections—allowing yourself to connect one small thing to the other in pursuit of something forgotten or never realized before.

    A new connection could be a photograph you took years ago; that’s “old news” that takes on new life when you print it.

    A new connection could be a moment when you think of two people who don’t know each other but know you, and you introduce them so they can become friends.

    A new connection could be realizing that you already have a skill in one area of your life that comes naturally to you and that you can apply to another area of life.

    These are just a few of many examples and you are free to go in search of many more, one connection at a time. – Morgan Harper Nichols

  • 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

  • Collecting Meaningful Moments in Life

    Collecting Meaningful Moments in Life

    Even when it is hard to find joy, whenever or however you can, it still matters to recognize that it is something worth treasuring.

    To “treasure” something is to “keep it carefully.”

    Allow yourself to consider the multiplicity of this:

    How can you find things worth treasuring, to build upon them over time? How can you begin to collect things that are worth keeping? In a time where hidden algorithms determine so much of what we encounter and engage with, taking a moment to collect things worth keeping is a way to stay engaged with life, in ways big and small.

    Maybe you’re the one who holds on to the journey in its memory form. You remember what was as so much more than just nostalgia, but as a layered record of unfolding and becoming.

    Perhaps you’re the one who knows where laughter can be found. Even if it’s in the smallest moments, you know that laughter is its own form of release and working through the tension.

    Maybe you’re the one who is grateful for the small things that get overlooked or underappreciated… being the one to elevate and highlight what is meaningful with quiet attention and honest enthusiasm.

    Maybe you can be the one who continues to bring up the dreams… whether that be your own dreams, the family’s dreams, the community’s dreams. The things that seem to light up the room when someone talks about them, even before they come into fruition.

    There’s nothing wrong with longing for big moments of joy. And at the same time, you are free to allow yourself to seek out moments of a more subtle or overlooked significance. Because sometimes “joy” looks like this: the possibility that treasured things can still be found here and they can matter, even if they are small. And even when those treasured things are small, they are still worth pursuing… and not only for ourselves, but for others, too.

    – Morgan Harper Nichols