Lucia

04/24/2022

Can you feel it? Spring is stirring up change and pushing us to grow.
In the middle of all this expansion and light, I am so excited to share something The Lucia Collective has been cooking up since late last year - our first online journal, Mischief!
The Lucia Collective formed in March 2021 as an inspired monthly subscription to invite intuition, beauty and voice to our heart work. By September a new theme emerged. Mischief is the lighthearted practice of inviting regular doses of nonsense, silliness, monkey business, shenanigans and trickery — the play that transforms our lives and our world.
Four of our members (+ me, so five?) generously contributed their work to be published in The Lucia Collective’s first journal - an online chapbook of sorts called Mischief.
Thank you MaryJo Fitzgerald (); Elaine Genest (); Lotta Leppällä () and Henrie Richer ()! Through your eyes, artwork and words, Mischief feels both deep and lighthearted, moving and playful.
I invite you to make a date with this unique publication. Get a cup of coffee or tea, curl up on your couch with your laptop or tablet and breathe slowly while you take it in. There is poetry, artwork, essay, imagery and sound.
Perhaps it will leave you inspired to create some mischief of your own?
To experience Mischief, visit the link in our profile and click "Read Mischief from The Lucia Collective."
Love,
Laura (.light)

10/01/2021

“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.” ~Mary Oliver
Our attention is all we really have to offer this world, if you think about it. When we boil down our talents, wisdom and offerings into a thickening sauce, it is our attention that emerges as the base.
Where we place our attention is how we experience life. Where we place our attention is what we *do* with our life. It can be focused or it can be scattered (mine often is). I’m not here to criticize the scatter—there is beauty and creativity that arises from messiness—but what I want to do is practice becoming more mindful of where my attention is going and who or what is “getting” it.
One old habit I have decided to break is scrolling Instagram in the evenings when I am tired. I am choosing to look during the morning or afternoon, and only at accounts that bring me a sense of connection, inspiration, joy, curiosity or encouragement for offline life.
One new habit I have started is “hiding” my smartphone from my view. I put it beneath a cashmere throw while I read, or under a kitchen towel while I cook, or in a drawer while I sleep. It’s amazing how “out of sight, out of mind” works, and this simple act frees my brain which is otherwise uncontrollably addicted to wondering what’s on the phone. This act of hiding the thing enables me more mind-space to dream, ponder, listen, perceive the world around me, and create.
I have more access to the real, the relational, the richer tapestry of dimensions I can touch and feel and smell and hear and inhabit.
-Excerpted from The Lucia Collective, September Notebook, “Inviting Quiet”
How do you practice paying attention?

09/15/2021

On Sunday, I spent the whole morning and early afternoon with a good friend at her kitchen table. Sipping dark coffee, creating together. Looking in each other's eyes. Listening. Talking in meaningful spirals and tangents, the way women do so elegantly. Spending this time together felt like heaven.
I was telling her about the coming season for The Lucia Collective, and she recommended I pick up Jenny Odell's book, "How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy."
Have you read it? I just finished the introduction and am feeling excited to be holding this book in my hands. Excited and relieved, as if I am about to be reminded why and how to come back to myself in an age of so many distractions.
Attention is basically magic. Our attention is SO valuable, it’s what everyone wants from us. And, we can choose what we pay attention to—it can be a choice.
In my line of work (communications) I receive so many distractions with instant messages, emails, slacks, news, social media, text messages—I often go through the day with my mental energy dispersed in too many places. I want to practice focusing attention where I want to place it, because this is powerful—this is good mental health.
This coming Sunday, we begin a new season of The Lucia Collective and as of this morning, four new creative souls have already signed up to join us! I'm feeling humbled and excited. With 30+ members (some staying, some going, some arriving) the size feels just right. There is always a part of me that thinks, "What if nobody joins?" and I'm learning to let that go and focus on the creative work, the offering, and paying sweet attention to those who are here.
There's still time. You can read our previous post for more juicy details.
The theme for September’s notebook, journal prompts, meditation and longer voice note will be "Inviting Quiet." And can we invite rest too? I don't know about you, but I have been feeling deeply brain-tired in the evenings lately. Let's place some boundaries around personal time to invite quiet, so that we can offer our attention to what nourishes us, what truly matters.
I hope to see you inside.
Love,
Laura

09/12/2021

I have *loved* offering The Lucia Collective subscription this year. We are beginning a new season September 19, and I’d like to invite you to come along!
It feels like we are creating something good. One of my favorite messages came from a member in August: "I feel like part of a really good secret, a whisper network. Thank you for making it!"
The Lucia Collective is 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.
More than 30 creative hearts from four countries (U.S., Denmark, Finland, Switzerland) and several states joined this year.
I'd like to spend the next six months holding a bit more space for creative connection and conversation. So, I'm excited to share 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.
These new offerings are optional, and in addition to the quieter, internal work The Lucia Collective invites and celebrates. You’ll still receive monthly themed notebooks, recorded meditations & audio voice notes, and access to our private slow social media network - a quiet space that is not on a traditional social media channel, just for us.
Our creative focus for the next six months will be attention, beauty, and *mischief*
You can read more juicy details and join by visiting Lucia’s website (link in profile) and clicking “Join The Lucia Collective.”
We start September 19! Hope to see you inside.
Love,
Laura (.light)
#2021

07/11/2021

One of the things I love about The Lucia Collective is the quiet way our members share little glimpses of what they are reading, absorbing, experiencing and creating. Our "slow social space" is quite opposite the eight-lane freeway of information that is the wonder of Instagram. Our space is more like a single-lane country road with bumps that slow drivers down. It’s dotted with an occasional surprise, like a serve-yourself flowerstand or a hand-painted sign along the way.
Last month, one of our members shared a book she is reading by Minna Salami (), "Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone."
Intrigued by the description, I ordered a copy from my local bookseller, Madison Books (). I am only halfway through but have felt myself resonate with the concept of reimagining the narrative of knowledge. She writes about decentralizing what she calls "Europatriarchal Knowledge" and recentering what she calls "Sensuous Knowledge," that which affects the interior as well as the exterior, has a poetic and kaleidoscopic approach, combines emotional intelligence with intellectual skill--and, ultimately, is centered in beauty.
Minna's book is filled with gems and historical tidbits. She blends her personal stories with modern Black feminist voices like Lauryn Hill, Beyoncé, Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison and others. She invites us to unlearn what we think we know about power and expand our knowledge: "The more we understand knowledge as an ecosystem that reflects interbeing, and that flourishes when our relationships flourish, whether they are relationships with facts, with nature, or with the people, the more our world expands."

06/21/2021

Beauty can be a balm if we look for it, make room for it, and soften
our focus each day. When we make an intention to see what is beautiful
first, before all else, it shapes the way our lives unfold. In finding
the beauty, we make a beautiful life.
For years I have watched creative hearts whom I admire and resonate
with as they post photographs of beautiful flower mandalas on summer
solstice. Until this year, I never paused to create one of my own.
Gathering the blooms and seeds from my little yard on Sunday morning
felt like an exhale. Placing them into a circle outside my door,
lighting a candle, speaking some words to the wind about what I'd like
to release, and what I'd like to invite, was like taking a bath in
relief and possibility at the same time.
Inside The Lucia Collective, this month's notebook theme is
"Lightbathing" and it includes notes on how to create a ritual similar
to this one. Mostly, I love knowing that our 35 members across five time
zones and four countries are also pausing right now, each in their own
way, to appreciate and bathe in the light of June, solstice, and
summer. Each connection is a special kind of quiet inspiration to me.
Consider joining us? July's notebook and theme is Be Like Water (with
a nod to Bruce Lee, for the inspiration, and the
astrological sign of Cancer). Learn more by visiting the link in our
profile and selecting "The Lucia Collective" from the menu. I'd love
to welcome you.
Happy Summer, everybody! Soak in the light.
Love,
Laura

03/05/2021

The evening light lingered last night, giving my subtle body a tiny jolt of recognition—a connection of synapses firing in remembrance of what this means: spring.
We are re-emerging from winter and it's strange and beautiful and I'm not sure I'm ready, but I've learned we never are. Life is less about being ready and more about being willing. Or at least accepting of whatever appears, curious to know more and cognizant of our own power to create and transform.
Tomorrow we begin The Lucia Collective and as of this morning, 23 creative souls have signed up! I'm feeling overwhelmed and humbled and excited. There was a part of me who thought, "What if nobody joins?" and I was preparing myself for that. So I'm just tickled that so many of you would like to be part of this. Thank you.
There's still time... you can read our previous post for more juicy details.
To join, visit Lucia’s website (link in profile) and click Join The Lucia Collective.
The theme of the first month is "The Beauty of Re-emerging." And can we do it gently please? Re-emerging, I mean. Easy does it. With lots of crawling back under the warm blankets. It's totally allowed. Forever.
We start tomorrow! I hope to see you inside.
Love,
Laura

02/28/2021

Hello! I’m excited to invite you to something new.

The Lucia Collective. It’s an inspired monthly subscription to invite intuition, beauty and voice to your heart work.

It’s also a *slow* social media space, created just for Lucia. Think private, no advertisements, not on Facebook. Calm, clean, soft and spacious—an online conversation designed with simplicity and care so that we can connect with each other in a slower, more meaningful and artful way. At the presence pace.

Whether you are a full-time creative, a moonlighter, or a dreamer envisioning what’s yet to come, there is something here for you.

You can read more juicy details here: https://www.lauralowery.com/the-lucia-collective

This offering is something I have been dreaming up for a long time, and I'm looking forward to spending 2021 re-emerging, inviting more beauty, exploring intuition and voice, and sharing the whole process in The Lucia Collective.

Each month you will receive a themed notebook (delivered digitally), a creative meditation, and a private podcast-like audio recorded just for members of The Lucia Collective. I'll share practical and imaginative support for listening inwardly, seeking beauty each day and weaving it through your life and work. Inspiration, encouragement and space to connect with each other at a slower pace are here, too.

This is a six-month offering to begin, but you can sign up for just one month at a time if you’d like. Let’s see where it leads!

We start March 6. I hope to see you inside.

Love,
Laura

{In case we haven’t met yet, hello! I’m Laura Lowery, founder and editor of Lucia, and I’m pleased to meet you. Thank you for following Lucia here. Welcome.}

#2021

01/31/2021

Here is the link to the full and newest piece at Lucia, "New Year in County Dublin," by Gráinne Conroy.

She writes, "Hours pass as I sit there watching the scene through the window­­—the light and the tides changing; the tower and the headland in the distance; the lighthouse being hidden and revealed by the passing clouds; the odd boat at sea.

"I need to send one email but it takes me days­­—because of the patchy internet, but mostly because of my submergence into an existence far from the city and far from everything."
..

Gráinne captures a sentiment I believe so many people are feeling at this time, and reminds us how quiet time—just for ourselves—to do nothing but walk and soak in beauty can restore our weary souls. I hope you enjoy it too. ~Laura

"Lying in bed in the darkness I scrolled through my phone for some kind of getaway within the county limits."

01/30/2021

"I light a candle a friend gave me before Christmas. The same friend texts to ask what I’m doing for a week at the beach off season. But I’m here to do nothing. My whole self is tired. Tired of the pandemic. Tired of the festivities. Tired of the internet. Tired of the relentlessness of modern living, the constant pings and updates. Tired of all expectations­—both mine and not mine." -Gráinne Conroy
When Gráinne's essay and photographs landed in my inbox, I opened the message and began to read. I could feel my heart rate calm, and something deep and knowing was pulling me toward the experience she shared of her solo retreat at the beach house in County Dublin for a week over New Year's Eve. She captures a sentiment I believe so many people are feeling at this time, and reminds us how quiet time—just for ourselves—to do nothing but walk and soak in beauty can restore our weary souls. I hope you enjoy it too. Find more of her words and images at the link in our profile under "Stories." ~Laura
Read the column by Gráinne Conroy : luciajournal.com : Stories : "New Year in County Dublin"
Gráinne Conroy is a writer who lives in Dublin, Ireland. Find her here on Instagram at .n.conroy

10/11/2020

“You should become a dahlia farmer,” she said to me.
Something else Sarah gave me on our walk was a piece of advice for how to approach my desire to create and write during this time, when I cannot plan or focus well, and when creativity hides away from the pressure of performance.
“We have to approach it a little bit side-eyed.” she said.
What she meant (or at least, what I interpreted) is that we have to take the focus off of creativity in order to find it. Make the space, but be okay with whatever arises, even if it's just laundry, dishes, raking leaves, making soup or watching the rain. Then, out of the corner of your eye, totally unexpected, be surprised and delighted when creativity comes. It feels like, "Oh! What's this? This is fun, I am going to do this now."
"Remember," she texted me, "side-eyed."
-Excerpted from: "Notes from the Heart: Planning Flowers" October 11, 2020. Visit luciajournal.com to read the full story and sign up to receive Notes from the Heart by email.
Love,
Laura

09/19/2020

Thank you for everything you did for women, and for all people in this country, with your one brilliant life. We are forever in gratitude. Thank you, from our hearts. Thank you. Rest in peace, Justice Ginsburg.