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.

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.

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.

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.

When we carry the people we've loved in our hearts, in our conversations, and into the work we do and the actions we take, we bring them forward and allow them to not only be an element in our lives still, but to make an impact. In that same way, they bring us forward, toward them. We do this thing, together. We rebuild, together.

Over a decade after losing my brother to suicide, I still wonder “Why him?” and grieve for what could have been. We need to be allowed those times, too. We need to say “Let me be angry.” “Let me have this pain.” “Let me find my way through it.” We must be allowed to be real and human. There is always work to be done.

These November affirmations are my tribute to a time of sacred intent and a token of my growing fondness for the journey that links all things. These affirmations are small decisions to carry on with the meaningful and often demanding work you feel called to do. To stay true to the process. To trust in what we love.