Notes from the Heart (Email Newsletter, November 10, 2019)
(500 words)
Hello sweet friends,
Morning is here. Candles warm the room and soft rain falls while the crows call to each other outside my window. I am quiet, dreaming. I've been feeling the pull to rest, deeply, since Samhain.
The days have shortened and dark comes by 5pm. It's like the soft light is whispering, "slow way down" and welcoming me to burrow under my blankets like a little seed, holding a coffee mug all morning and hearing my heartbeat.
I've had an ache in my head that has persisted for two weeks. I've done all the things...taken epsom baths, practiced yoga, gone to acupuncture, exercised, ingested ibuprofen, stopped the sugar, cut back on coffee, hydrated, had a massage, and a eucalyptus and thyme steam. They all helped, and yet the ache returned.
"It feels deep," said my massage therapist. "It feels like your body is bracing for something, like your spine is stiffening in response to an impact you anticipate arriving."
Tears came. As I thought about unspoken worries, I could feel the tension double in my head and throb. But then as I spoke these fears aloud through watery eyes, the pain relaxed.
She asked,
“In what ways can you be kind to your body?”
Rest came to mind. The word "rest" sounds easy, but practicing rest can feel awkward, uncomfortable, even unattainable. I think true rest is actually a formidable art to master because when the body gets still, that's when the mind tends to go wild.
I took my body for a long, slow walk just before dusk. I left my iPhone at home and brought my camera instead. It had been weeks since I'd gone for photo walk with my real camera.
The freedom and ease of not having the iPhone with me quickly became evident in my shoulders, then my neck relaxed, then the way I held my head and gaze loosened. Soon my whole spine began to feel more fluid. I was walking but I was also resting. When I came home, I slept for 12 hours.
I am beginning to accept that the time to rest has arrived here in the Northern Hemisphere. It feels like it came earlier this year than usual. Maybe that's because I'm a little older, or maybe that's because of some unseen cosmic force like a sun flare or a quantum shift. Whatever it is, it is insistent, "Rest, now."
The holidays are coming and I know the more I can fill my cup with rest now, the better prepared I will be to surf all the emotions with grace and love and maybe even ease. I'm keeping a late-autumn rest rhythm that is simple. Eight steps:
1. Sleep
2. Wake
3. Move my body
4. Nourish my body
5. Create things (new phrase for "work")
6. Love my people
7. Unwind
8. Then sleep more.
holiday presents
Holidays are on the horizon, and Lucia makes a thoughtful gift.
Volumes One, Two, and Three are in-stock and together they form a gorgeous winter reading stack! All the savvy brilliant heart-centered women in your life will love it. :)
Be sure to order early (2-4 weeks) for delivery before the holiday. In the spirit of making sure Lucia orders meant as holiday gifts arrive on time, I'm delighted to share a special offer for the Notes from the Heart tribe:
Orders in November receive 10% off. Use code GIFTLIGHT10 at checkout.
Here's the link to order. Thank you for giving Lucia.
P.S. Lucia print subscribers, Watch your mailboxes in early December for a little present coming from me. Eeep! I'm excited. I hope it inspires you. Thank you for being part of Lucia's tribe. xox
call for submissions
I am excited to open submissions for the print edition, Volume Four! The theme is Home and we want to see your inspired original essays, poems and photography.
We invite you to move us with words and images that are heartfelt and intimate, vulnerable and real, curious and light. On behalf of Lucia's readers and all they touch, we invite you to tell us a story up close. To make us think. To delight us. To feed our souls why not, yes please.
Deadline is January 15, 2020. Volume Four will be published in September 2020. Details can be found here.
I hope November brings you lots of good juicy rest. Be kind to your body.
Sending so much love (from beneath a blanket with coffee),
Laura
P.S. I am reading Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything by Ervin Laszlo because the cosmos and quantum physics and light fascinate me. I'm also reading Foxfire Wolfskin and Other Stories of Shapeshifting Women by Sharon Blackie because myth and women are infinitely intriguing.
Laura Lowery is the founder, editor and publisher of Lucia. She does her best to lead a creative life. Whether triumphant or stumbling, Laura shares daily notes (that are often weekly) here on luciajournal, including stories, behind-the-scenes happenings, little doses of inspiration, and large quantities of curiosity and heart. She is pleased to meet you.