When you release the pressure, let the expectations go, change can be an enjoyable experience. When you strip your image of opinion and labels, you allow the energy of discovery to take up space in your life. Give your schedule and your mind room to breathe as you figure out what that means for you. Dig in. Take your time. In the meantime, may these affirmations inspire you to embrace the unknown and move closer to that which you love.

Living with intention is not about what you do, but how you do it. For me, living a meaningful life after loss has been a journey of self-understanding, self-advocacy, and spiritual maturity. I learned that I needed help, and that it's okay to ask for the help you need, especially when your quality of life is at stake. I also discovered this big truth: life is what you make it.

This poem, titled "Hurricane," is an example, as all true poetry tends to be, of exploring an element of life with such clarity and finding cause to look inward. If we're mindful and willing, what happens around us can be a catalyst for self-understanding. We learn that we see in the world what we carry in our hearts.

I originally wrote this Himalayan salt lamp meditation for my third book, Sleep Rituals. Not only is a salt lamp a helpful focal point for meditation, its warm glow encourages the brain to switch into "night mode.” Let's combine the elements of ritual and sensory delight for some well-deserved peace of mind tonight.

By giving meaning to hardship through words, you can structure a life around your values, your strengths, and your intentions. You get to choose how you show up. I created these affirmations to help us fully inhabit ourselves and our more difficult experiences, so we can tell a story of strength and perseverance.

This standalone verse you might've seen circling the internet: I have not heard your voice in years, but my heart has conversations with you every day. I call it Heart Conversations, an ode to the intimate dialogue that carries on after someone we love dies. I thought it time to revisit this poem and that conversation.

The newness of another year and another passion inspired me to write a letter to my future self. About all the things I hope for that person: healing, fulfillment, self-companionship. It's an enlightening practice because it sheds light on what matters most this year and right now. May this letter be what you needed to read today.

Together, it's easier to make space for grief and for the love and joy that it stems from, which is the same love it inevitably returns to, if we allow that spaciousness. May these quotes about grief comfort you, validate what you feel, and bring a little more light to the holidays. You belong in the light, too.