Practising self-love, simplifying the complicated, and letting intention be lived.
MONTHLY REMINDERReader, the most enduring love is the one you practise daily with yourself. February often frames love as something to seek, secure, or perform for others. But the love that steadies you over time is quieter and closer. It shows up in how you speak to yourself, the permissions you give yourself to rest or try again, and the small choices that protect your energy and dignity. This month invites you to practise a form of love that doesn’t require an audience. REFLECTION PROMPTS:
FEBRUARY'S REFLECTION PROMPTIn February, I will simplify what feels complicated by… When things feel tangled, it’s often not because they’re too complex, but because we’re trying to hold too much at once. February invites a quieter kind of discernment: noticing what actually needs attention now, and what can be softened, delayed, or let go of. Simplifying is about creating enough space to move with steadiness and attentiveness. 2 QUOTES WORTH PONDERING
“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” REFLECTION PROMPTS:
2. Behavioural designer and author Nir Eyal on interrupting overthinking and choosing forward motion: 1. I don’t need certainty to act.
2. If it’s reversible, I decide fast.
3. I choose one next step, not ten.
4. I don’t solve feelings; I surf them.
5. My thoughts are not instructions.
6. Action creates clarity, not thought.
7. I write it down so my brain can rest.
8. I’m allowed to move with partial information.
9. I give myself a deadline, then choose.
10. I ask, “What’s the next visible action?”
11. I schedule thinking so that I don’t spiral.
12. I trade rumination for one small experiment.
13. I let future-me correct, not present-me freeze.
14. I’m aiming for progress, not the perfect plan.
15. I ask, “What would this look like if it were easy?”
16. I accept that some questions stay open while I move.
17. I notice loops and ask, “Is this helping or just hindering?”
18. I’m the kind of person who stops rehearsing and starts doing.
19. If it won’t matter in five years, it doesn’t get this much brain space.
20. I’d rather be roughly right in motion than stuck perfecting ideas.
REFLECTION PROMPTS:
INTENTION WORDSHow are your intention words going? At the start of the year, my three intention words were Simplify, Invest, and Prune, with Restraint and Space sitting quietly as sub-words. What I’ve noticed over the past month is that those “sub-words” were never secondary. They were governing principles all along. Restraint has become the core ethic. The question it keeps asking is simple and clarifying: What is this for? This is what intention looks like when it’s alive. It evolves. It clarifies. It teaches you how to live the word, not just name it. If you’ve chosen an intention word for the year, I’d love to hear how it’s unfolding for you. You’re warmly invited to press reply and share your word. Next month, I’ll share a selection of intention words from this community, anonymously, as a way of noticing the collective themes emerging. If you're new here, welcome. The Word That Finds You: Intention, Magic, and the Power of Naming Your Year is the first essay shared from my forthcoming anthology, Daughter of the Soil. It explores intention not as a goal or resolution, but as something we listen for. A word that arrives through experience and truth, shaping how we live rather than what we try to achieve. Alongside the essay, I’ve created the Intention Words Workbook — a reflective guide to choosing and living an intention word in a grounded, embodied way. It includes an Intention Word Library of 250 carefully curated words, designed to be moved through slowly, until a word meets you. You can read the essay, and download the workbook and word library here. Move through it in your own time. There’s no right pace. Sometimes the word reveals itself slowly. Sometimes it’s already been living with us quietly. NOW AVAILABLE
POPULAR IN JANUARYPODCAST EPISODE 30: Four modes of functioning (a 2-minute listen)
INSTAGRAM (@noticingwithrebeccamonique and @rbccmnq) YOUR MONTHLY BREAST CANCER REMINDERAs we move through the early months of the year, let this be a quiet nudge to listen to your body. Familiarity, attention, and regular breast checks are small acts with powerful impact. Early detection saves lives. You can learn the key signs and symptoms here . In August 2025 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I shared openly about it on Instagram – the loss, grief, trauma, inner-healing and self-care that comes with it – and from that tender space I created what I needed most: a reflective journal to walk me through the first 30 days. 30 Days Through Breast Cancer is available as a free resource for anyone affected. Please feel welcome to pass it on to those who may need it. Thankfully my diagnosis was early, and my focus is on treatment, healing and deep listening to my body. You can find more about my journey and resources on my breast cancer page . SPOTIFY PLAYLISTSSoul-stirring. Empowering. Wholesome. This one’s for the moments when you remember who you are. A musical exhale—part prayer, part power, part poetic awakening. Let it carry you into the marrow of your truth, especially on days when you forget how luminous you’ve always been.
Griefy. A playlist for the ache that won’t be rushed. 'Griefy' is a tender companion for the days when your heart feels too full, too empty, or both at once. These songs don’t try to fix it—they sit with you in the softness, the silence, the sacred unraveling.
SUBSCRIBER RESOURCESRacial Trauma and Grief – Reflective Journal Who do you know would benefit from or appreciate this content? Be sure to share this muse-letter with them by forwarding on this email. USEFUL LINKSLet's stay connected. Here's where else you can find me: Website | Podcast | Blog | Instagram | Recommended Reading List* You can view the muse-letter archive here. Not yet subscribed? You can sign up to this muse-letter here. New to the mailing list? You can view the archive of the first few editions here. About this muse-letter: You're receiving this email because you've subscribed to my mailing list. You'll typically receive an email from me once a month. Rarely will I send stand-alone emails about promotions, new products or services, and partnerships. Affiliate links within my emails are marked with an asterisk (*). Update your subscription preferences: You can unsubscribe from 'Reflect with Rebecca-Monique', or manage your subscriber profile via the respective links below. |
Rebecca-Monique (rbccmnq)
MONTHLY REMINDER Reader, you don’t have to reinvent yourself to begin again. There’s so much noise in January telling us to become someone else overnight. But real beginnings are often subtle. They build on who you already are, what you’ve already lived, and the wisdom you’re already carrying. This month invites you to begin again without erasing yourself; to let continuity be just as sacred as change. REFLECTION PROMPTS: Where am I placing pressure on myself to “reinvent” rather than gently...
MONTHLY REMINDER Reader, you're allowed to arrive at the end of the year unfinished, unfolding, and enough. December has a way of tempting us into self-audit: tallying what we did or didn’t do, what bloomed or broke, what we held together or held onto. But you are not a project to be completed by year’s end. You’re a living, breathing becoming. Let this month soften the pressure to “wrap things up,” and instead invite you to meet yourself with gentleness. REFLECTION PROMPTS: Where am I...
MONTHLY REMINDER Reader, don’t be so hard on yourself. Even the river bends before it reaches the sea. We are often our own harshest critics, measuring ourselves against impossible standards or berating ourselves for mistakes. We forget that growth is rarely linear; that taking detours or pausing doesn’t mean failure. Just as the river bends and flows around rocks, so too can we move with gentleness, patience, and self-compassion on our journey. REFLECTION PROMPTS: In what ways am I being...