Joy on the Inside

No matter what's going on outside of us, joy, love, and peace are possible.

When I took this, I was remind of Erykah Badu singing, “I’m an orange moon, reflecting the light of the sun/son.”

Hey there, Family:

Today, as I sat in silence, the word that kept coming up for me was resilience. As I look back over my life, I realize that my bounce-back game has always been strong. I’ve danced with grief and bobbed and weaved my way through hard times. And even when the hits of life landed, God has been so gracious to me and I’ve usually recovered in remarkable ways. 

That said, there’s a part of me who deeply dislikes that I’m so good at bouncing back. She’s over having to constantly dodge a bullet or escape. She wants to one day have a streak of good days, months, and years that don’t require such intense maneuvering. 

But I suppose what I’m learning on my healing journey is that the peace and joy that we are all looking for has nothing to do with what’s happening on the outside. Even if our lives are forever tumultuous externally, we can have a steadiness, a quiet, that’s always accessible to us. A joy and peace on the inside that does not change with the “weather” of life. This is what I try to curate daily for myself.  I try to tap into that reserve when things are challenging, as they have been recently. And sometimes I suck at it. Sometimes I choose to allow the outside in. Because I’m human. And I get exhausted. But I’m still grateful for the awareness; the grace to return to myself and try again. I hope you are too.

May your day be blessed,

tmlg

---

Allow Us to Reintroduce Ourselves…

I know that many of you who have read and followed me over the last few years know me mostly for my essays and nonfiction. I’m forever grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to share my heart and work in books like “Black Joy” and “Then They Came for Mine.” But whenever I’m asked about my “lyrical” writing style, I can’t help but to point to my years of writing fiction and poetry. So I’m excited to announce that on NOVEMBER 14TH my co-author (Dr. Marcella McCoy-Deh) and I re-released an updated edition of my 2015 novel, THE SEARCH FOR SUSU. New cover, updates and all. Talk about a JUICY RIDE?! This is the one, Friend. As one reviewer said, Susu “is a page-turner with intellectual heft.” 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 CLICK BELOW TO ORDER YOURS TODAY

---