Letters From Layla

For as long as I can remember, I've loved books.

They have been the one thing, throughout the entire course of my lifetime, that have always brought me a true sense of joy, comfort and meaning. Losing myself in the pages of a book always feels like coming… home. And that's why it has always felt like a guilty pleasure to me that I get to interview some of the most incredible authors through Good Ancestor Podcast.

After two years of hosting the podcast and a long-burning desire to share my love of books with our book-loving audience, I am so excited to share the brand new Good Ancestor Book Club.

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I am so excited to share this news with you!

After two years of hosting Good Ancestor Podcast, and a lifetime of being obsessed with books, I am thrilled to share our brand new community for book-lovers and life-long-learners: Good Ancestor Book Club!

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This weekend I spent some time doing what I usually do on the final weekend of each month: reviewing the month that has been, and planning for the month ahead. My monthly planning weekend.

I like to think of these weekends as my necessary moment of pause and intentional re-centering. So much is going on - both around us and inside of us - and if January was anything to go by, we are only just getting started. Taking the time to stop, review, reflect, give gratitude, and decide how we want to spend the next few weeks can be a powerful practice in living with intention. In a world where we are increasingly hyper-connected to one another through social media, we seem to be becoming less and less connected to ourselves.

We recently had the wonderful Christine Platt on Good Ancestor Podcast, and she spoke so eloquently about the importance of living with intention.

Our conversation really made a lasting impression on me when we recorded our episode a few months ago, and it has been an important part of my nascent journey into minimalism and essentialism. I’ve come to understand that these concepts are not about just striving to have less or do less, or even be less ambitious or driven by the things that are meaningful to us. In fact I’ve come to understand it as quite the opposite. It’s about pruning away the non-essential, the distractive, the excess that is less meaningful to us, so as to nurture, fuel, and fully pour ourselves into what is most essential, most valuable to us.

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Amanda Gorman. That's it. That's the tweet.

In case you've been living under a rock since Wednesday night, twenty-two year old Amanda Gorman, the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate in the US, recited her incredible poem "The Hill We Climb" at the inauguration of US President Joe Biden.

And honestly, I can't stop thinking about it.

What is it about her recital that has so thrilled me?

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"It is not simply a question of finding time to write--one also writes against time, knowing that life is short."

- bell hooks in her essay "Women Who Write Too Much" from her 1999 book, Remembered Rapture: The Writer At Work

On New Year's Eve, half an hour before the clock turned us over into 2021, we received some tragic news.

One of my uncle's had passed away. Death always comes in it's own set time, but never at the time we want it to be (which is never at all).

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As you know, my team and I have been offline and resting for the last few weeks.

Taking time to re-source ourselves after one of the most challenging years we have faced in recent times.

While away I haven’t written a single word, read a single book, or thought a single complex thought. Instead I watched Netflix, decluttered the house, spent time with family, took care of my health, and just… existed. It was so freeing to switch from doing to being.

A necessary reminder that my Black life matters.

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This week I was grateful to be included in a Forbes article honoring "the Black women—who have been instrumental in exposing racial inequity and are some of the most influential drivers for societal change".

The article highlighted the work of many Black women I deeply respect, including Stacey Abrams, Cori Bush, Rachel Cargle, Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw, Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.

Good Ancestors.

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I recorded today's Letter From Layla video while on a short weekend getaway with my family.

Spending time with my parents and my children got me thinking about how we are always the bridges that connect past generations with generations of the future.

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Thank you for all the beautiful, Hope-filled birthday messages I received last week in response to my Letter From Layla last week.

I wanted to share a few of the messages that I received that really stuck with me, and reminded me that we are all, in our own ways, trying to practice hope in a world filled with so much chaos.

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Today I am celebrating my 37th birthday, and with it renewing my commitment to myself to show up for the journey of good ancestorship.

My 36th year was an incredible ride, and I am grateful to my family, friends, team members, book readers, podcast listeners and guests, supporters, and collaborators who helped make that possible. Thank you.

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