Morgan Harper Nichols' Blog

Tag: mental-health

  • 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!)

  • Reframing what it means to even “try”

    Reframing what it means to even “try”

    Sometimes it’s hard to engage in new experiences when you feel that you might not be able to do it perfectly or avoid making mistakes.

    What if you said “yes” only to realize it’s not what you expected?
    What if it doesn’t go as planned?
    What if you find it overwhelming or challenging?
    What if not doing it correctly leads to new kinds of judgment from others?

    It’s only human to have these worries. It’s only human to ask “what if” when you’re faced with new unknowns. And at the same time, it is also only human to allow yourself room to breathe as you ease your way into new things. Allow yourself to acknowledge the courage it takes to move through something new: even if that something “new” is just a new day you’ve never experienced before.

    For instance, when it comes to moving through a new day as a new experience all on its own, it’s easy to overlook the strength required to do the most simple things or the energy needed to navigate even the most subtle changes.

    If you’ve made it through anything today, even if it’s just a series of regular breaths you took without thinking about it, no matter how small and whether anyone noticed or not, take this as a reminder of how you’ve been engaging with the new experience of a new day. Reflect on how, even when you weren’t thinking about it, you were breathing and moving through each hour. You were subtly but surely learning to be present in this new experience of a day, even without being able to make perfect sense of everything.

    Carry this with you as you engage in new experiences that ask more of you. Remember the countless, everyday ways you’ve been moving through each new day with courage, even when you weren’t fully aware of it. Look for areas in your life where you try something new, knowing the courage to move through unknowns has already been rising up within you.

    So here’s to moving beyond the need for perfection by reframing what it even means to “try.” Let this be a form of grounded hope, allowing onward and upward movement to arise gradually.

    -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

  • Grace for Unfinished Chapters

    Grace for Unfinished Chapters

    When you are able to cultivate gratitude in the present, you are also laying the foundation of contentment that you can carry with you, toward the future.

    This can especially be true when it comes to how you relate to other people. In moments where you find yourself being compared to others or something was said to you that doesn’t reflect who you fully are, it’s in moments like this where you can remember what’s actually true about you, and how that’s something worth being grateful for.

    If there is a moment in the future where someone says, “Oh, you’re still working on that? I thought you’d be done by now.” In that space, you can reflect on all the ways you’ve been learning to be grateful for your own pace and growth.

    There might be times when others tell you (or you tell yourself), “It’s surprising you haven’t moved on to bigger things yet.” And in those moments, you remember how you’ve been learning to be grateful for your unique journey.

    When you’re hearing, “Are you still doing that? I thought you’d have found something else by now,” You can remember the small ways you’ve been learning to be grateful for your own strengths and progress.

    There is no way to perfectly prepare for everything that will come, but you can still take moments right here in the present, learning to be grateful for what you have, what you’ve learned, and what you’ve been becoming more aware of each day. On this last day of May, may today be a day filled with gratitude that sets the stage for all that is waiting to be discovered. May there be grace for unfinished chapters. May there be spaciousness in the journey of becoming. – 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