— “What if you are only ever to be yourself in pieces?
What if “you” is too rich a masterpiece
For someone to view as a whole?
So you are forced to break yourself down
Into digestible pieces,
Like light you secretly contain all
But people can only view what is reflected back to them.
Sometimes I wonder if sunlight gets lonely.
To be seen it has to lose itself in another So it cannot be without another,
But with another it is never itself.
I often feel like sunlight:
The soft orange glow gliding hesitantly up the sidewalk at dawn, The harsh midday glare outlining mistakes made,
The sunset fighting against its own retreat.
People never notice the warmth I provide Until they lose it to the seasons. — writes Nicole in her book “A Life Cycle”
Valeria interviews Nicole Asherah — she is the author of“ A Life Cycle: A Guide to Healing and Rediscovering Your Life.”
Nicole Asherah is the young, debut author of an inspiring and moving poetry book, A Life Cycle: A Guide to Healing and Rediscovering Your Life. Her goal, with her words and art, is to break your heart with the raw emotion that her pieces evoke. She hopes you find joy in heartbreak -- as she always does.
She is an artist whose main mediums are poetry, film photography, and abstract oil painting -- but she has a habit of dabbling in whatever sparks her creative juices. Switching between mediums of expression, Nicole tries to connect readers to intimate moments, feelings, and relationships experienced throughout life. She recently had two short stories published in literary magazines.
Her adventurous and curious spirit led her to backpack by herself, as a teen, across 15 countries.
The University of Roehampton in England offered her to attend its Creative Writing Poetry MFA program. Despite her not having a bachelor’s degree, they were drawn to her ability to describe the abstract feeling of emotions in a way that resonates with all types of people. Nicole employs this skill to help others come closer to the emotions they experience so they can name them, process, and release them.
Nicole, raised by a psychologist, was a peer counselor from ages 11-16. She has volunteered with Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) and other grassroots organizations that have synthesized to give her a broad understanding of people’s individual struggles and how to capture them in art. She is an intersectional feminist who is focused on social justice, the environment, and criminal justice.
She is an artist in the truest sense of the word. She is masterful in her penetrating word use to captivate her audience. She looks at life through a lens of curiosity and empathy to holistically portray raw emotional experiences in the medium (art, poetry, and photography) that will resonate with viewers most.
She resides in Los Angeles, California.
To learn more about Nicole Asherah and her work, please visit: nicoleasherah.com
— This podcast is a quest for well-being, a quest for a meaningful life through the exploration of fundamental truths, enlightening ideas, insights on physical, mental, and spiritual health. The inspiration is Love. The aspiration is to awaken new ways of thinking that can lead us to a new way of being, being well.
