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. I absolutely love creativity. I love making things.

I love putting things together. However, sometimes creativity can become exhausting,

especially when I feel like I have to find the right words,

when I have to figure out the best way to communicate an idea. We oftentimes have this pressure

in daily life to be able to find the right words. We have to find the right words to communicate at work, to express our

condolences and grief, to write email subject headlines and social media captions, to confront

someone on an issue, to express our gratitude, to respond to a request, express our feelings, and the list goes on and on. And we want to say

the right thing at the right time. And even when our heart is in the right place, it can lead to

putting a lot of pressure on ourselves. In a noisy world, this can be hard to remember.

Not every moment needs a word to accompany it. When something happens and you don't have an explanation for it, there's no need to

shame yourself for not having the right thing to say. I'm talking to myself here. We live in a time where we are bombarded

with other people's input on things and encouraged to share our own. Even input that isn't well

thought out or considerate of others ends up being broadcasted on a regular basis.

And as a result of this, we end up staying in this

reactive mode, a mode that makes us feel like unless we don't have something to say, then we're

not making a valuable contribution in some way. And while it's true that there are many moments in life that do require words,

there are many times where we don't need to say anything at all,

even though it feels that way.

Sometimes, instead of using words to figure out what we feel, we can pay attention to our body.

Is there tension in the neck, tightness in the stomach?

Are you tired in need of rest?

Or maybe if you're feeling like you need to say something to someone to make them feel better,

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