Hope is holy imagination. And somehow it’s always tied close with grief - the loss of what was precious to us. Thoughts of beauty for the future. What could have been. And what still could be.

You don’t have to be defined by your past. You’re not what you did or what happened in the past. You’re not who you were. You get to choose who you are every new day.

It’s a good thing to be a soft and compassionate place for others to land. It’s also a very good thing to be a soft and compassionate place for yourself to land.

I’m not very detail oriented. You could say my mind yeets the deets.

You often won’t see the growth that happens from moment to moment. But when you look back on things and see where you’ve been and where you’ve gotten, I hope you recognize that the growth has been there all along.

I will probably get a lot wrong. But I am going to err on the side of love and of hope. I’m going to try and miss on the side of the things that make life brighter and lighter.

All of us have our insecurities that get in the way of loving ourselves and others as best we can. We try. And we learn. And we grow. And we heal. And we move towards secure. So we can love better.

Every situation is completely new. Our past can help us predict some of the possibilities of how things may go. But hope leaves space for the awe and the wonder and the possibility and the surprise.

Love is all around us. It just takes so many forms. It can look so many ways. But it’s there for us to see. And it’s there for us to create and channel. No love is ever truly wasted, even if it never comes back to us from the places we gave it.

Being soft is my act of resistance. Being tenderhearted is how I choose to show strength. Compassion is my act of resistance in the face of everything that’s trying to force us to fit whatever they want us to be.

I’m going to try and love you as much as I can wherever I am and wherever you are. But I’m also going to hold onto boundaries. And I also may love you best by leaving you to your own devices. But I still love you.

i don't know who needs to hear this, but don't stop making art

What was isn’t anymore. And it won’t ever be again. Which can be scary. Because the future is unknown. But… it’s also kinda exciting. There’s so much potential for a better world. If we get involved and make it.

Going back to the way things were isn’t an option. It’ll never be the same as it was because we will never be the same as we were.

Expecting everyone else to do things the way you do or have things only ever look the way you want it to will only ever close us off to the possibilities out there. Some things we should expect in common. Others, we can enjoy the diversity.

Our defence mechanisms often involve some tunnel vision. When we’re healthy and secure, we’re able to understand more deeply, be more curious, and seek out more prospectives.

Whatever light you have always fights against the darkness. It may seem dim at times, but wherever it is it is pushing back against what is dark.

The light you have in you isn’t fuelled by knowing more, or being right, or increasing wealth. Your light is made brighter with the love you have. You’re part of the brightness in this world when you lean into compassion.

Tenderheartedness becomes safer for people the more we normalize being tenderhearted.

Regardless of whatever anyone else does, I’m responsible for how I act and respond. I choose who I want to be and what that looks like. And I will always want to start with love.

Sometimes I wonder if I feel misunderstood by others because I’m not as smart as they are or because they aren’t as smart as I am. And odds are that it’s actually probably neither of those things and we’re all just folks trying to figure stuff out and see each other and be seen.