Welcome to Kind Words for Big Feelings. 🫶

Hi, I’m James! Kind Words for Big Feelings is a space for exploring self-trust, emotional resilience, and the way memory shapes us as we walk through the seasons of our lives—with love, heartbreak, and all their complicated combinations.

I am a poet and I will share poems here, but that’s mostly not what we’re here for. One of my favorite things about poetry is the striving for minimalism—for getting right to the essence of something. Other times, we’re called to take up more space. That’s what this space is for. It takes time, patience, and a lot of self-compassion to learn to trust the shape of our heart’s unfolding.

This Substack is called Kind Words for Big Feelings not because it shies away from emotions that feel hard, but because it doesn’t. Being nice or polite aren’t the same things as being kind. Still, this is a place to feel less alone in big feelings.

If you’re someone who feels everything deeply—a tenderhearted person or sensitive soul—you’re in the right place.

About me

I’m a Portland-based poet, writer, and business consultant for mission-driven creatives and organizations.

My first book, Unfolding Love: Poems for Tender Hearts, was published in July 2025.

It’s a collection for the tender-hearted—for those who were called “old souls” as children and “too much” as adults, and who carry emotions that don’t fit neatly into boxes.

If you’ve been struggling to navigate the soft, uncertain places where love has left or changed shape, these words are written to meet you in the in-between:

• following a breakup that still echoes

• after a friendship fades without explanation

• in the days after a decision—right or wrong—you can’t take back

• when it’s been long enough that people have stopped asking how you’re doing—but you still feel it

Get the Book

My Floofy cat Delilah is a contributor and will make her own appearances. A percentage of all paid subscriptions go to her treat fund.