Notes from the Heart (Email newsletter April 16, 2018)

{400 words}

Hello loves,

Mercury leaves retrograde today. Hal-le-LUUUU-jah! The past few weeks were like a cat in the doorway. (Coming in. No, going out. No, just staying here for now. Wait, but I think I want to go out.)

Electronic communication went haywire. Texts disappeared into the aether. Phone calls were not received. Three people I know had computers crash and bought new machines. There is more...

The new space for Lucia I mentioned in my last note seemed all but certain. I had not yet signed a lease, but I was making plans. Business plans. Branding plans. Remodeling plans. Financial plans. Life plans. It is amazing how quickly an idea becomes an opportunity and then a plan.

On Sunday I received an email from the woman who holds the current lease, heartbroken because she lost the newer space she was planning to move her business into this summer. Someone else got it before she could. Commercial real estate in this city is cutthroat, it seems. So at least for now, she will stay where she is and I will not be opening a new space this July.

Start then stop. Yes then no. It feels like whoever drives the universe was pressing the gas pedal and the brake at the same time. Uncertainty and tension are the prerequisites for patience and so I practice. Curiosity helps. "I wonder why that space didn't open up for me like it seemed it would? What did I learn? What might appear next?"

In the meantime, I am participating in The 100 Day Project on Instagram by creating, filming, and sharing one new restorative yoga pose each day. I'm giving them creative titles like Chocolate Hamstrings and iPhone Antidote. Chocolate hamstrings? Yep. As in, they melt like dark chocolate. Slowly. With patience and time. You can find the posts here: @lauraloweryphoto.

This weekend I am breathing deeply after a moving Breathwork Ceremony a few nights ago and a fascia softening Hatha yoga class Saturday morning. Being at home is basically heaven for my introverted side, so I'm thrilled to have two mornings in a row to snuggle under covers (it's pouring rain here), make Ethiopian coffee, work on Lucia, and write. Divine.

I am counting down the minutes until Mercury (that little devil) leaves its appearance of retrograde. I am practicing patience. I am eating dark chocolate, I am slowly softening my hamstrings, and I am hoping you are well.

Sending love,
Laura

P.S. You can read the rest of this newsletter (including inspiring artists, poets, musicians who recently touched my heart) here.