Notes from the Heart (Email Newsletter, September 9, 2021)
(1,200 words)
Hello sweet friends,
How is September landing on your heart?
For me, it's a light twinge of longing (just one more warm summer night. please!) and at the same time, a deeper more knowing desire for the kind of soul rest the darkening days of autumn promise.
My spring and summer were a blend of ease and overwhelm, a mixture of magic and mundane. Laying on my back in the grass watching clouds form (this was ease) and getting to the end of a work week feeling brain fried from screens (this was overwhelm).
My boyfriend and I managed to squeeze in four short one- and two-night camping trips this summer to some magnificent spots here in the Pacific Northwest, and for that I am grateful.
Most recently, we visited a small island in the Salish Sea where cinematic sunsets gave way to a night sky bejeweled by more stars than I remembered the cosmos having.
“We had a wide view of our own beloved and mysterious Milky Way.”
I saw several shooting stars, dozens of satellites (which were so incredibly RARE when I was kid, laying in the night grass in Salem, Oregon, that we would get really excited to see just one and now they are ubiquitous). Some bats fluttered around our heads, echo-locating and eating bugs right out of thin air.
I grew dahlias. Some have bloomed! Watering and tending to them throughout June, July and August helped me feel more ease. It was soothing to go outside and touch them, encourage them to grow and bloom, and gaze at their soft swirls. One day, feeling low, I went to look at them and right then a hummingbird appeared, enamored with the fuschia-colored petals, checking them for nectar. The tiny bird perched on a stem for several seconds, looking back at me as if to say hello and everything is going to be okay.
These moments were magic. I was paying attention.
This fall and winter, I am inviting two words to guide my creative life: attention and mischief.
Attention is basically magic. Our attention is valuable, it’s what everyone wants from us. Advertisers pay huge sums of money for our attention. We deal with so many distractions now with instant messages, emails, slacks, news, social media, text messages—we often go through the day with our mental energy dispersed in dozens (or hundreds) of directions. I want to practice focusing my attention where I want to place it, because this is powerful—this is good mental health.
“Mischief is necessary for regeneration. ”
The trickster archetype breaks the rules of the natural order, playfully disrupting normal life and then re-establishing it on a new basis. She does this by creating a little mischief. As we do the necessary work to recreate our lives and our world post-pandemic, I want to find ways to practice inviting regular doses of nonsense, silliness, monkey business, shenanigans, lighthearted trickery, play and good humor. I want to be in service to truth in a softer way. Ever-widening the aperture. The mischief that makes life beautiful.
the lucia collective
I have loved offering The Lucia Collective subscription this year.
The Lucia Collective is becoming a loosely-held community of creatives who value and celebrate beauty, interiority and holding space for the heart. Sensitive souls, empaths, introverts, HSPs, quiet seekers and beauty hunters of all kinds are welcome. You will find kindred spirits here.
Thank you to everyone who has joined!
More than 30 creative hearts from four countries (U.S., Denmark, Finland, Switzerland) and several states joined this year. We include authors, poets, yoga teachers, a library designer, artists, communications professionals, MBAs, therapists, movement instructors, a chief of staff, a winemaker and more.
Feedback has been positive, and I think we are creating something good. It is still in its infancy, but one of my favorite messages came from a member in August, she said:
““I feel like part of a really good secret, a whisper network. Thank you for making it!””
One other thing I heard from a lot of members is that you'd like more opportunities to connect with each other beyond our slow social space. Me too. I'd like to spend the next six months holding more space for creative connection and conversation. So...
A new season of The Lucia Collective starts September 19, and I'm excited about two NEW things:
1. The Conversation (NEW!). I will be hosting three live audio conversations for members to connect, explore a juicy question, peek into each other's creative lives, encourage and inspire.
2. The Journal (NEW!). We will publish an interactive (online) journal in March 2002 with writing, poetry, photography, artwork and voices of The Lucia Collective members. I think we will have fun co-creating this!
These new offerings are in addition to monthly themed notebooks to inspire journaling and reflection, and monthly recorded meditations. I also share longer audio voice notes, kind of like a private podcast. And, members have access to our private slow social media network - a quiet space that is NOT on a traditional social media channel, just for us.
From September 2021-February 2022 we will shift the creative focus of The Lucia Collective to three main themes--attention, beauty, mischief--because these are things I wish to invite more of in my own life.
We start the new season on September 19!
I hope you will consider joining us.
If this sounds intriguing, read more and sign up here: The Lucia Collective
lucia volume four
September was the goal for printing Lucia Volume Four, and while the issue is much closer than it was in May, it's still not quite ready. This independent magazine publishing thing is challenging, but I'm determined. Slow. But determined.
And, I am very excited about all of the contributions and new voices! You guys. So good. Nearly everything is laid out now and I'm hoping to bring our spectacular design advisor Karly back on board later this autumn to work her magic. Even the cover is done (which I cannot wait to share)!
My next task is to look closely at printing costs and volume, as the world has shifted quite a bit since 2019 when we published our third issue, Wild. And, of course, I need to determine how we will pay to bring this baby into the world and into your hands.
Thank you for your ever-present patience and encouragement. Stay tuned.
I hope wherever you are that you are feeling connected, held and inspired. Keep shining your light. This world needs your sparkle, creative life force and love.
I'm so glad you're here.
Yours in the eternal hunt for beauty,
~Laura
P.S. I am reading and loving A Ghost in the Throat, by Doireann Ni Ghriofa. She tells a rapturous story that interweaves her life as a wife and mother obsessed with finding and telling the story of the woman who wrote "Caoineadh Airt Ui Laoghaire," an 18th-century Irish poem about a slain beloved.
P.P.S. I am listening to the Lush Lo-Fi playlist on Spotify while I create. It feels like a nice, rich autumny downshift with just enough beat for creativity. Perfect after all of the airy "wind chimes" and "nature sounds" I've had playing in the background this summer!
P.P.P.S. To purchase Lucia's print volumes, visit our website, here.
P.P.P.P.S. To see more photographs, you can also read this love note at Lucia here.
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.