Little By Little

From Taj Arora — London-based self-love coach, and travel photographer (@tajaroraa on Instagram). A certified transformational life coach who works with women and creative entrepreneurs using cognitive-behavioral coaching, positive psychology, and mindfulness practices. "Little by Little" is her debut poetry collection. The book's central premise is captured in a single distinction that sets it apart from most self-discovery writing: this is not a journey toward a new self. It is a journey back to who you have always been. Arora's frame is excavation rather than construction — the belief that what we lose in the process of living, performing, pleasing, and surviving is not gone but buried, and that the work of self-love is the slow, patient clearing of what's covering it. Hence the title. Not overnight. Not a transformation. Little by little. "Little by Little" is a collection of poetry and prose that moves through the terrain of self-love, self-acceptance, and healing — not as three separate subjects but as three movements in a single arc. The poems sit with the difficulty of staying open when openness has cost you something. They address the habit of carrying other people's burdens at the expense of your own. They name the way we lose ourselves in relationships and in the performance of what others need us to be. And they offer, poem by poem, a path of return — not to a fixed destination but to the ongoing practice of choosing yourself. As Arora writes in her own preface: "I hope the words on these pages give you the courage you need to keep your heart open — to feel the heights of light and feel the depths of darkness." That invitation — to stay open to both, not just the light — is the emotional register of this book. Not relentlessly positive. Not promising resolution. Honest about the depths, and honest about what it takes to stay present in them. The form is accessible and warm — poetry and short prose pieces written for someone who may not read poetry regularly but who will recognize themselves on every page.