Well, hello there. My name is Morgan Harper Nichols. I'm an artist and a writer, and this is a space

where I share words that I hope can make a little room for you to slow down and take a few

deep breaths as you prepare for whatever lies ahead. Thanks for being here today. And now on to

today's episode. Perhaps the reason why it's hard to have hope for the

future sometimes is that we often feel pressured to have a plan that comes along with our hope.

However, I wonder what if, instead of pressuring ourselves to figure it all out, we let ourselves be filled with hope just because.

Sometimes hope does, in fact, come with a comprehensive plan.

But other times, hope looks like this.

Having the awareness of believing something is possible and letting that be

enough. If you're in a place right now where you'd like to have hope, just because, here are four

words to hold on to as you continue to seek hope. All of these words are written in the present tense because it's

something I hope we can continue to practice every day. The first word is noticing. noticing when our

minds trail off in the distance and actually have a positive thought about the future.

Noticing that even though we may have anxious thoughts about the future, every now and then

we have a vision or a dream of something good.

Or maybe it's just a question.

What if everything ends up working out in the end?

What if years from now we're actually all right?

If you don't feel like you can honestly ask yourself these questions at every point in the day,

that's okay. And when you do have these positive thoughts, you don't have to have a plan for them.

The mere fact that you were able to have a good thought about what's to come

is a sign of bold, radiant hope all on its own. The word hope gets used a lot for a lot of different

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