Survivor Affirmation: For Opal Lee, Who Walked Until the Nation Had to Remember
Some people wait for permission.
Opal Lee did something older, wiser, and stronger. She walked.
She walked with history in her bones and freedom in her feet. She walked for Juneteenth when many people treated it [...]
Black Classics Reading List Created by Chelsea Yvonne
In the spirit of Juneteenth, free your mind!Â
These Black literary classics are worth a read or re-read.Â
Gratitude to Chelsea Yvonne for compiling this list of all-time greats.
🌤️ Clarity After Chaos [...]

Hidden Black Film Herstory: Stompin at the Savoy | Directed by Debbie Allen
Sometimes Black women’s films are praised for being “nice,” “nostalgic,” or “beloved,” while the craft gets undercounted. Stompin’ at the Savoy was not just charming. It was skilled. It was layered. It had emotional architecture [...]

For the Hate Crimes Prevention Act: Affirmations for Black People Carrying Too Much Hate from Too Many Directions
racism chases us down for miles.....
On this day, the anniversary of The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009. It expanded fede [...]
Emotional Bandwidth: Why You Sometimes Can’t Be There for People You Love | Dr. Tracey Marks
Emotional bandwidth explained: why cognitive load and stress make empathy harder, and why low bandwidth looks like emotional unavailability in relationships. Take my FREE 3-min Brain Quiz to master focus & [...]

A Juneteenth Reflection for SurvivorAffirmations: Not a Bill. A Bridge.
Some of us grew up hearing about sacrifice in ways that hurt.
“I did everything for you.”
“After all I gave up.”
“You owe me.”
Those words can land heavy in the body when love has been tied to guilt. Survivor [...]

10 Facts About Lift Every Voice and SING!
So my childhood was spent learning this song. We sang this and other songs like it for assemblies. I get out into the world and learn not only have others not heard the song but they see it as "hateful"?
Me: But you don't kn [...]

There Are Souls Beyond the Scoreboard: A History Lesson in Hope, Radio, and Second Wind (podcast episode)
We are not living in the time of afterschool specials, radio dedications, and songs that reached through the static to touch a hurting child’s heart.
So sometimes we have to borrow from the past.
We have to go back to song [...]

Before You Yell “Cocaine,” Learn What 1980s Black Joy Looked Like
The 1980s Were Competitive Joy
A room full of Black people dancing hard.
A Black singer sweating through a performance.
A Soul Train line with everybody dressed like joy had somewhere important to be.
A big Black [...]

Dr. Tracey Marks: People Who Drain You vs. People Who Energize You
Why do some people calm your brain while others drain it? One of our favorite psychiatrists, Dr. Tracey Marks, explains how your nervous system regulates with safe people—plus a simple body check.
[...]
What “Find 100 Ways” Teaches Us About Uplifting the People We Love
There are some songs that do not simply play.
They enter the room.
They adjust the light.
They sit beside you with a kind of grown tenderness and remind you that love was never supposed to feel careless.
James Ingram [...]
The Playlist: Funk, Soul, and Body Release
Some anxiety does not need another explanation. It needs a doorway out of the body.
Sometimes anxiety does not leave through thinking. Sometimes it leaves through the shoulders. Through the jaw. Through the hands. Through the b [...]

The Empty Nest is a Healing Space
The empty nest is not the end of motherhood.
It may be the beginning of a woman’s re-encounter with herself.
Not just a quiet house.
Not just “the children are gone now.”
Not just a season people joke about with sadness, lon [...]
When Dismissal Tries to Turn You Against Your Own Body
“The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being.” Toni Morrison
Mistreatment often tries to make th [...]

Elizabeth Packard: The Woman They Called Insane Until She Changed the Law
Elizabeth Packard was not simply a “wronged wife.”
She was a mother. A thinker. A religious dissenter. A wife under the rule of a husband who believed disagreement was disobedience. She was a woman living under laws that trea [...]
Affirmations for Patients Who Are Afraid They Will Not Be Heard at the Doctor’s Office
There is a particular kind of tired that comes from knowing something is happening in your body, then having to gather your strength to explain it to someone who may or may not listen.
Some patients walk into the doctor’s offic [...]

Different Go-Go, Same Refusal to Disappear into Misery
I just discovered something beautiful.
There are two kinds of “GoGo.”
One was born in Washington, DC.
One comes from Tanzania.
And somehow, both are rooted in survival.
Many of us Black Americans kno [...]
Mama I Love You: Women Are Amazing, Unique, and Special!
Tyron Woodley’s mother congratulates Kamaru Usman at UFC 235
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"It's all good, baby. It's all good. It's your turn. It ain't his turn."Â
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Please, do not ever let anyone convince you of false th [...]

Ketty Lester: Honor the Firsts, Remember the Closed Doors
Ketty Lester deserves more than a passing mention. She deserves the kind of appreciation that slows the room down.
Born Revoyda Frierson in Hope, Arkansas, she came from a farming family and grew into a singer and actress whose [...]

The 12 Somatic Knots of Trauma — The Complete Map from Sacrum to Jaw (and How to Untie Them)
updated from March 24, 2024
Somatic healing is not just “take a deep breath and calm down.”
Sometimes your body is holding a story your mouth got tired of telling.
Your shoulders may remember what you had to carry.
[...]
AFFIRMATIONS AND SELF LOVE
Survivor Must-Read Reading List: Black Widow by Leslie Gray Streeter
I've been familiar with the power of Leslie's pen for years. But when a storm of loss and change came around just when her b [...]
HEALING JOURNEY
Affirmations for Boundaries and Transformation for Empaths
🌹 Affirmations for Transformation
My compassion includes myself.I can love others without abandoning me.
Healing is not my j [...]
You Do Not Have to Keep Company with Those Who Only See Shadows
You do not have to keep company
with people who are incapable of sharing light.
Some folks walk into the room
and instead of lifting the load,
t [...]
Artist Jossie Harris Thacker: Building On Where You Come From — Without Going To War With It
Some of us were taught that “healing” means disowning everything that shaped us.
The accent.The neighborhood.The elders.The songs.The faith.The grit. [...]
They Spoke Labels. I Lived Through Fire.
✨ Affirmation ✨
They tried to pin me down with names that never belonged to me.
They whispered labels meant to wound, meant to cage.
But I rose t [...]
CONFIDENCE/POWER/RESILIENCE

Before MTV: The Hidden Story of the First Black Music Video and the Legacy It Built
There’s something powerful about this moment in history.Not just the music—but the intention behind it.Movement. Precision. Style. Storytelling before [...]

You’re Not Healing to Be Liked—You’re Healing to Be Free
✦ [SurvivorAffirmations.com] ✦
Dear Survivor,
This healing path you're on?It’s not about gaining approval.It’s not about being nice or easy to und [...]

Women Are the Source, Not the Punchline
“It is not inclusive to sit silent while people mock the beauty and humanity of women. That is not progress—it is plain old misogyny. The same misogyn [...]
HEALTHING JOURNEY
Great Re-Inventors: Eartha Kitt #courage #changeyourlife #comeback
After being blacklisted in the United States in 1968, Eartha Kitt had several choices. She chose to find new doors and soar.
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[...]
Why Now is a Good Time to Be a Good Person…For Yourself
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Unfortunately, on this planet, many of us female human beings have been programmed since childhood to "be nice".  I implore you to consider un [...]
Survivor Affirmations: Actually, I CAN and I WILL (podcast short)
Building on the true story of the United States' first elected woman mayor, Susanna Salter, this short episode inspires listeners to believe t [...]
🌿 Halimah Yacob: She Was Not Handed Ease. She Built Something Anyway.
Halimah Yacob did not begin life surrounded by comfort.
She lost her father young.Her family struggled.There were real limitations. Not imagined ones [...]
7 Ways Listening to Sad Music Can Relieve Sadness (podcast recording)
Podcast Episode Link
[...]
She Is AMAZING
Playing by Heart: Alberta Hunter and the Power of Soul Wisdom
Alberta Hunter’s life was a testament to the power of the "unpolished" authentic soul. She was a woman who conquered the world's stages, walked away t [...]
18 Things You Didn’t Know were Invented By Black Women
Just because some people try to keep you unsung doesn’t mean your melody is lost. “Innovation is my inheritance, and I multiply it daily. [...]
Hajia Gambo Sawaba: She Did Not Wait to Be Allowed
(You should see how elated I am! This series is going to give me those laugh lines we are supposed to hate.)
There are women who were toldto stay sma [...]
🌿 Meghan Markle: Affirmations for Those Still Standing
I am still here, and that alone is a victory.
What tried to break me did not get the final word.
My spirit bends, but it does not [...]
Congolese Women, Sacred Knowledge, and Spiritual Leadership: A Gentle Introduction
There is a quiet truth that has always existed, even when it wasn’t written down.
Across the lands now known as the Democratic Republic of the Cong [...]
🌺 You Are the Proof — Not the Problem
They said you were the problem.Too loud. Too soft. Too different. Too much.But the truth is, you were only ever too real for a world addicted to pre [...]
ART HEALS
She Quit Dancing for Britney Spears and Janet Jackson to Design Luxury Shoes Janet Wears
This entrepreneur quit dancing for Britney Spears and Janet Jackson to follow her passion for designing luxury shoes - Face2Face Africa
Giving [...]
Healing Words: Women with Controlling Partners by Carol A. Lambert, MSW
Carol-Lambert.com
To leave an abusive partner is complicated and challenging.Â
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Most people in this position feel highly ambivalent or just [...]
They Went to a Jamaica Retreat Before a Hurricane and Found Belonging
I am a fan of how people from the African diaspora give love and how we embrace others.Â
There are seasons when life feels like a storm that just won [...]
The Black Woman Who Invented AI Before It Existed (w/affirmations)
✨ Affirmations for Women Who See Differently
My vision is a gift; I honor the way I see the world.
I trust my insights, even when they [...]
JOURNALING/WRITING IN A HEALTHIER WORLD
WE Survive Abuse Podcast














