my little morning habit

There’s this video that I’ve started watching most mornings before I head out the door. I started making this a habit about three weeks ago and, it sounds absurd and a little bit silly, but I genuinely feel like it changes how I approach the day. I have listened to people, especially my dad, go on and on about the importance of mindfulness and meditation and how even just taking a few moments out of your day to sit with your thoughts can really change your mindset. And I kind of got it. I mean it always made sense to me. I just never really took the steps to do that in my own life. And really, I don’t even know if this habit of watching this little video every morning counts. But it feels like mindfulness. It feels like reflection. It feels important. And it feels like something other people should do, or even just something people should know is out there.

Most mornings I watch a YouTube video of Sierra DeMulder performing her poem Today Means Amen. And you can watch it here too.

I was lucky enough to see Sierra perform this poem, along with many others, at Heart Camp in January. There was something special and particularly meaningful about first hearing this poem at Heart Camp. Heart Camp felt like coming home, it felt right, it felt honest, and Today Means Amen felt, to me, like a recognition that something was fundamentally right about my being there. The reasons that brought me to Heart Camp are too many to go into in this post but a lot of those reasons stem from places of hurt or from parts of me that felt broken. And so Today Means Amen was important because it was reassurance – reassurance that I was where I was supposed to be, that this moment had been waiting for me.

But this poem and this performance still means a lot to me even over a month after leaving Florida. It is a reminder that something is going right. And it does that in a way that still acknowledges struggle. Sierra has somehow managed to balance raw vulnerability with profound encouragement. She acknowledges that life is messy. But reminds us that we wouldn’t be where we are or who we are if it weren’t for our messiness. I don’t really want to dissect too much what this poem means, or at least what it means to me, because I think it can hold different meanings and messages for each and every one of us. And I think that should be an experience each one of us has for ourselves.

So today this post doesn’t really hold too many opinions or commentary or insight or anything like that. I just wanted you all to know that Today Means Amen is out there. And it is powerful. And Sierra’s words have the ability to change you and to inspire you. And it just feels important that you all know it exists.