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. Today's episode is inspired by an image that I

painted of royal blue flowers. It's one of my favorite floral patterns that I've ever created,

and I even went as far as to turning it into a pillow that now

exist in my house. And I will also include the link in the show notes if you'd like to see

both the painting and the pillow. And oftentimes when I'm painting, I'll look up flowers

for reference. But for this particular piece, I just relied on my imagination.

What I love about this painting is that I don't know if this flower actually exists in nature,

but because it exists in my imagination, I was able to bring it to life anyways. If there's

anything that making art has taught me, it is the power of imagination and how imagination can

broaden our minds and help us see unexpected beauty in the mundane. There's no way to zoom out on our lives. We can't

rise above the clouds to get a bird's eye view of everything that has happened or will happen.

There's no way to look down on the maze of our various journeys to get a full picture of where we are in relation to everything else.

But this is also true. Imagination teaches us that it's okay if we don't know how everything will play out.

Imagination allows us to envision what our lives can be, even if we don't know for certain what they will be.

When we allow our fear to detach us from the present moment, we miss out on so many of life's most beautiful details.

The shimmering sunlight in the morning, how it feels to hold our loved ones close, we miss out on

ourselves too, on the feeling of recognizing our growth. When we worry so much about what might happen,

our imagination suffers. We miss out on the chance to imagine what could be. Imagination brings us back into the present

moment, where we can take action towards the work that needs to be done right here. And when I say

work to be done, I don't just mean the dishes in the sink or the bills that need to be

paid. What I'm really getting at is the work that needs to be done on the inside, the internal

work that requires us to ask ourselves this. When was the last time I allowed my heart to soften

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