June 12, 2026

Cheers to a new day Star,

Happy June! I'm sitting here with a full heart and a slightly upset stomach (too much ginger beer – we'll get to that). And I keep coming back to one thought:

We are alive.

Not in a Hallmark card kinda way. In a messy, emotional, I-just-saw-a-memorial-for-one-of-my-favorite-professors-on-Facebook-and-missed-it-by-an-hour way 😭.

This month has been a master class in life. And I’m here to share what I'm learning.

Life Changing Reminders

I had the honor of seeing Alok perform at the Paramount in Austin. Thank you so much to my friends who made that possible. My community is a big source of my abundance. Who you know matters.

Ok, back to the show…. LIFE-CHANGING… shoot, that word barely even embodies how I felt when I left.

One line from the show has been sitting with me like a stone in my shoe (in the best way):

Alok said it plainly, and the room went silent because we all felt the truth of it.

The judgment. The fear. The things we say we hate seeing out there? We're practicing them in us, through our emotions and thought patterns.

But what if we flipped it? What if we focused our energy on doing all the things we wish others would do?

That's the question I've been swinging with.

I’ve been reflecting in my hammock. Lately, nature has been that girl for me. Yes, Mother Nature rain on me as I draft this newsletter on my phone… I’m crying too! Something needs to chanage.

After the show, I was walking around my home, voicenoting about my show experience and thought about Inside Out 2 – specifically the end, when all the emotions hug. Joy. Fear. Anger. Anxiety. Sadness.

And it hit me: There's no character called Love.

Because love isn't just an emotion. It's what happens when all emotions are allowed to be present. They all express love in the way they know how. Anxiety is doing its darndest to protect me. Grief is loving what was. Each emotion has a different capacity and the most earnest of intentions. Anger and Joy both want to help me.

There's something about that, that leaves my heart a bit tender. Next time anger shows up I'm gonna whisper, "Why?" and listen.

We can’t always control how we react, but we can choose how to respond when we become aware that grief, sadness, or regret has decided to pull up with luggage at our doorstep again.

To feel is to win.

The expected and the unexpected feelings felt fully will pass through us and leave us with lessons.

Be present with what is.

Allow it to flow. Let it ease on down the road.

Even the nausea.

A gentle reminder that I am in this body. And even that, I'm grateful for. I know exactly why my stomach hurts. It's okay. I'll take my Pepto-Bismol and keep moving. All these things pass. All these things move. They're all part of the lyrics in the song of our life..

Don't sleep

I logged onto Facebook, something I rarely do anymore, and the first thing I saw was a memorial Zoom for one of my favorite professors from Bethune-Cookman, Mrs. Cathis Hall. Mrs. Hall was one of the hardest teachers I’ve ever had. I literally took courtroom stenographer-level notes in her class, AND I would type my notes and print them to study and do well in her class. She was no joke!

Her classes were super hard and they prepared me for the world. They showed me that I can focus and do great work.

I missed the memorial call by about an hour and a half.

And the password for the memorial? Dontsleep.

That was her line. She said it all the time. When a student wasn’t paying attention especially she would stay:

Thinking of her message mixed with what I just experienced at the Alok show is stirring together the importance of being awake and alive in my life.

I choose to be awake. I choose to be alive. I choose to be present here.

Such a beautiful reminder. Feeling all of these things? That's not weakness. It's proof of life.

To change the world, I gotta change me

I just released a song on YouTube. It's called Change The World.

Several months ago, I was in an extremely dark place, and this song came through me. It has yet to leave.

"To change the world, I gotta change me."

That's the sobering truth I keep coming back to.

We can protest. We can post. We can point fingers at what's wrong out there. But at the end of the day, the only thing I have full authority over is me. My choices. My presence. My willingness to feel.

Life is a song. And if we don't allow ourselves to make it through the song, we die. Our souls die when we don't allow ourselves to live.

No one is leaving this earth alive in their human body. But we all have the ability to experience this Earth, and whatever comes after, alive in our souls.

​Watch "Change The World" on YouTube →​

Your experiment this month:
Living on purpose

Your invitation, not as a task, but as a gift to yourself.

Choose two commitments for the month of June:

1. Create one way you're committing to living. Not surviving. Not performing. Living. Being present. Maybe do the thing you're afraid to do or simply listen deeply.
2. Create one your choosing to change. A behavior. A thought pattern. A story you've been telling yourself that isn't yours to carry.

Then, each week, reflect on your experience.

• How did it feel to show up?
• What got in the way?
• What surprised me?
• What did you learn about myself?

You can do this in a notebook, a notes app, or, if you want structure, grab a copy of my journal, Relax & Remix: A 4-Week Journal to Get Unstuck and Evolve Your Life. It's literally designed for this: weekly check-ins, morning stand-ups, evening wind-downs, and a full retrospective at the end.

You don't need my journal. A blank page works fine. Just make sure you have reflection in your life.

You cannot change what you don't notice.

A final reflection from my bathtub

The night I channeled that song, I was crying in my bathtub.

Life has been changing a lot for me. And even though moving through it with God and community has felt quite lonely at times.

But loneliness isn't the opposite of connection. Numbness is.

And I refuse to go numb.

So I'm choosing to feel more inspired. More brave. More at peace. Daily. Moment by moment.

That choice – the one we make within – is the choice that changes the world.

Not because we're superheroes. Because we're awake.

Don't sleep Star.

Be well, love yourself, and keep feeling. ✨

Elayna Ayo

🌎 Good News from Around the World

👶🏽 A baby was “born twice” after being diagnosed in the womb with a rare and often fatal airway condition called congenital high airway obstruction syndrome (CHAOS).

🐶 About 1,500 beagles rescued from a Wisconsin research and breeding facility are being relocated across the country, with 50 of them headed to Northern California for adoption.

🌳 Ecuador has announced the creation of a new biological corridor designed to connect the eastern ranges of the Andes with the Amazon Rainforest, part of a larger initiative to strengthen ecological connectivity and protect biodiversity.

⭐️ Music star, Usher surprised Georgia mom Rose Diggs on “Good Morning America” for Mother’s Day after she spent years opening her home to more than 300 foster children.

🦜 Kākāpō are large, ground-dwelling, flightless parrots that were once widespread across New Zealand but hunted to near extinction. Thanks to highly specialised conservation efforts, these unique birds are slowly bouncing back.​

🧁A woman in the Portland has built a thriving community-focused microbakery by selling homemade bread and pastries from a self-serve stand in her driveway using the honor system. (I'd love to see something like this focused on healthy nutient dense food!)

🚫 Cities from Amsterdam to Sydney are banning fossil fuel and meat advertising, using the same playbook that helped curb smoking.

🦦 An orphaned sea otter pup named Sunny, rescued from a beach in California, has been paired with another rescued otter named Rey, who is now acting as her surrogate mother.

💰The historic European Union-Australia Free Trade Agreement eliminates over 99% of tariffs on EU goods and 98% of Australian export duties, opening new markets for 450 million consumers. For Australia, it is projected to boost GDP by nearly AUD 10 billion annually. (May we see beautiful trade agreements like this in the future for the US 🙏🏽)

🔬Physicists at CERN successfully achieved the first-ever road transport of antimatter. By moving antiprotons suspended in a portable magnetic "Penning trap" on a truck, scientists proved that this volatile, incredibly expensive substance can be safely relocated without annihilating when it touches regular matter.

❤️‍🩹 The World Health Organization (WHO) has verified that Chile eliminated leprosy as a public health problem, making it the first country in the Americas and second globally to achieve this. Chile achieved this milestone after over 30 years without locally transmitted (autochthonous) cases, with the last local case recorded in 1993.

Build your sustainable systems Stop performing. Start reflecting. Relax & Remix isn't another self-help book telling you who to be. It's a 4-week journal that gets you into the practice of noticing who you already are – and choosing who you want to become.Each week includes: • Morning stand-up (set your intention) • Evening wind-down (track what actually happened) • Weekly retrospective (see your growth in real time) No pressure. No perfection. Just a system to get unstuck and evolve your life – one honest reflection at a time. Track your truth. Create your rhythm. Remix your reality. Purchase your copy

Thank you for reading.​
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