do the next thing

January 29, 2016 - Daily Notes

Some days, everything happens all at once. 

You have a cold so you sleep in and when you wake up you remember that it is the last Friday in January and things are due. You owe emails, taxes, bills, reports, invoices and drafts. You have two afternoon appointments and a conference call on your calendar. You need coffee. You shower and stumble to Starbucks and they make you a venti when you ordered a tall but today that is a really good thing because:

Magic on the doorstep when you get back home...the FedEx man dropped a box of PROOFS from your printer...the proofs for Issue Two of Lucia are here and you were not expecting them until Monday. You squeal delight through your sore throat, nearly drop your cup and your umbrella, and rush to carry the box in from the rain. 

You consider for a moment not opening it until tomorrow. There is so much work to do today. You leave the box on the dining room table and head to your computer and the moment you sit down you know you cannot focus on anything else until this beauty is out of that box. So you go back to the dining room table that doubles as your layout desk and you rip open the package.

Stunned, you can barely breathe. The cover is more gorgeous than it looked on the computer screen. Everything is. Oh, my, god. You did this! It's here. You snap a photo in your excitement, dash to the computer to write a quick note on the blog to share the excitement with Lucia's growing family.

Your to-do list is still there, though. It is still long and everything is urgent. You remember what Pema Chodron says to do when you feel overwhelmed. She says to take a deep breath, feel your heart, and move into the next moment with an open mind. Then, simply do the next thing. Do it with your entire heart, give it all of your attention. When it is done, do the next thing. 

You smile. You did this. WE did this. 

xo,
laura

momentous and ordinary

January 26, 2016 - Daily Notes

Today is the day I will send Lucia Issue Two to the printer. Finally.

The FTP login is waiting in my inbox. The InDesign files have been pored over so many times I can no longer count the saved versions. Lucia's design advisor has given it her blessing. Our editorial advisor looked me in the eye with a smile last week and said, "Send it! Go!" 

I want to pause for a moment first. For me, this is a momentous occasion. 

Today is also ordinary. It is Tuesday, it is raining, I am sick with a cold. The furnace guy was here this morning. I have a conference call at 3 p.m. 

Sometimes we mark our achievements with big celebrations; red-letter days filled with family, friends, flowers, speeches, praise. But the very moments our most important achievements occur, we are often alone. Right there in the middle of normal, routine life something we've worked toward culminates. We feel it in our hearts. There is a quickening of pride, satisfaction, relief and excitement all bundled into one.

We must mark these minutes. Even if only with a deep inhale, a mental snapshot, a closed-eyes prayer. We must learn to whisper from ourSelves with a capital S to ourselves with a lowercase one, and with sincerity say, "Good job, you."

Life, after all, is made up of moments: they are ordinary and momentous at once. They are precious, important. Proof that we are living.

What will you celebrate this week?

I can't wait to share Issue Two with you very soon--it is so beautiful. Thank you for continuing to be part of this journey.

xo
laura

on being small

January 22, 2016 - Daily Notes

“Well-trodden paths from house to house, that is the image that holds hope for our future.”

— David Steindl-Rast on On Being, Anatomy of Gratitude

Every morning almost, I walk from my house to the coffee shop. I know the baristas by name and they know me. They ask things like, "How's Lucia coming?" and "Did you get any text selfies from your niece this morning?"

I ask them things like, "How was the show last night?" and "Have you found an apartment in New York yet?" We know one another. A little bit more each day. Enough to lift our spirits in small exchanges with genuine interest and curiosity.

Last night I had tea with a new friend. He is an entrepreneur with an exciting business that is helping people connect with one another face-to-face in meaningful ways at airports. We met last autumn while learning to dance salsa. He asked if I could do a small writing project for his startup--writing from the heart in exchange for exposure to his audience. What he proposed inspired me and I could feel new ideas bubble up as we talked. I said yes.

I've been thinking about the power of connection for awhile now. How huge and overwhelming the world seems when I enter the network of social media. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn...billions of links to be made. Creative possibilities seem endless but I think the real potential--the ability to inspire and enlighten--comes not with the number of followers one has or the size of the audience they reach, but with the meaningful exchanges that can only happen when there is a well-trodden path from one heart to another.

I think in order to have this sort of true connection, we must be able to inhabit and treasure smallness.

The women and men who have contributed writing and artwork to Lucia are people I know personally or have gotten to know better in the past year. Each new relationship is meaningful and will take time to develop. We listen to each other. Some stick around. Others flow away. It's really beautiful. 

My heart feels tugged in the direction of small. It might not be what Lucia's original business plan and cash flow projection called for, but it feels fundamental somehow. I can't quite put my finger on what this means yet, but I think it isn't so much about getting thousands of likes for a few fleeting seconds with a photograph of a cappuccino or paintbrushes on social media. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing beautiful images. But what I notice is that the more powerful inspiration comes from relating to and being inspired by real connection: conversations, meetings, meaningful exchanges. One heartbeat at a time. 

How will this translate into success in the independent magazine business? I don't know yet. I guess my work is cut for me. So I'm having another cup of coffee this morning and treasuring smallness for now. You?

xo
laura