Yellow dress theory

my theory plus two new workshops and poetry appreciation

Welcome to the Life Is In Love With Me newsletter if you’re new. If you’re a regular recipient of these reminders of love, welcome back! 🌹🥭🌹🥭🌹🥭

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Happy Sunday.

And happy full moon. Full moons always remind me of how we get to choose to be present in our fullness every 28 days. To be full in order to pour, in order to gather and release. There are a few things in life that remind to be full - my fullest - and that do so with such a natural joy that I trust it, spend mornings writing reminders to myself about it. Some of those things are the light pouring into the kitchen (any one I find myself in) on a Sunday morning, rereading old journals, text messages, old poems, coming across moments that were so sweet that we had to capture them, a mutual invitation to be yourself. Yellow, a reminder in itself.

My friend, Blege, sent me an image of us 7 years ago on graduation day. (We were babies, as she says). I chose to graduate in a yellow dress and it matched my sunflowers. Another friend immediately sees me and says ‘OK! I see you yellow dress’ because she understands the unsaids of my decision. When I travelled to Cuba for the first time, I decided to slip a yellow dress into my suitcase, it was the same one I’d wear to work when in need of a sunnier mood. I did not know it would match my red lip stain and the golden hour of Havana well enough to make me consider a life of yellow dress wandering around the world solo in the years to come.

I love seeing yellow-painted homes in the Caribbean or a heavy lemon tree in Cyprus, a street vendor carting yellow mangos from a dusty sun-coloured cart. But I especially love a yellow dress on a Black woman. In my mind, it symbolises something like a radiance hack. I think a Black woman in yellow uplifts everyone¹. Not only in colour therapy but as something maybe that signals to me and to everyone that this is what I choose to put on today: defiant vibrancy. I think about that, the intentional yellowing of my days, as I move through the rest of July.

Workshops

Lion’s Gate Portal Imaginings:: Poetry and Affirmation 8/8

Thursday 8th August, 2024. 12pm CST | 2pm ET | 7pm BST. $18.88 USD

What is your wildest dream for the world? How can you rise to the power of writing it down? In this virtual workshop, we'll be gathering on 8/8/8 (!) to make the most of the Lion's Gate Portal and write our imagined dreams into reality. The times call for all of us to trust our inner visions for a better world. We'll sit together in community to dream deeply while I guide us through poetry, affirmation and writing exercises, examples from writers, and space to listen and affirm each other's imaginations. Writers of all genres and levels are welcome to join! I look forward to early August every year because that brazen Leo energy is demanding and creatively authentic. I cannot wait to share space and affirm wild dreams with you.

Lessons from Black Women’s Writings:: Enoughness and creation

Sunday 29th September, 2024. 12pm CST | 2pm ET | 7pm BST. $28.44 USD

Black women’s writings deserve to be held closely, listened to, remembered, recited. I’ve written about ease and worthiness often with the direction of a legacy of Black women who have documented their own journeys and truths. I'll be holding space to learn from the lessons of Black women's writings from across the diaspora and generations. This is a session to write, respond and reflect together and inwardly. Creators and writers of all levels and genres are welcome to join this two-hour session. This session is dedicated to silenced Black women and is open to all who wish to participate in deeper listening, learning and intentional creation. This ticket includes full access to the workshop presentation with additional guided prompts and exclusive resources for your future self-study. Bring your open heart and notebook to this special gathering session.

A poem for you

Sharing a self-portrait with yellow dress. A poem by Safia Elhillo from her debut collection The January Children. This poem includes mention of death.

A melody to ease us back into being this Sunday, by Cleo Sol.

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Thank you, so much, for being here. Below I share some more writings that I hope you will enjoy.

An Origin Story: Food Poisoning In Mexico Turned Me Nomadic

Pisces season and the overstimulated artist, a remedy

The infantilization of kind people

A story about quitting my job to write

Musings on Black nomadism (pt 1)

The Friday unwind 004: When there is nothing to become

These love letters and travel memories remain free, always. This is an attempt to keep this space as an offering and resource for all. For a while, I’ve reduced annual paid subscriptions to $48.88 (from $88). I am preparing to show up with my paid readers in a new way and in the meantime, I’d love to grow and increase the paid support for this space. Paid readers receive 111 daily affirmations and a travel backstory upon subscription.

Love,

Amara Amaryah

1. Truly an ode to

Ashleigh Vaughn

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