by Laurie Wagner | Oct 17, 2017 | Blog
Every day for the last week and a half the Bay Area has woken up to the smell of smoke – an instant reminder that the North Bay is still burning, and that the lives of many of our Northern neighbors have been completely altered. At last count, 40 people had died, 217,000 acres of land had been ravaged, 75,000 people have had to evacuate, and 5,700 homes had been damaged or destroyed. This on the heels of an already incredible month of hurricanes, a devastating earthquake, an unbelievable scene in Las Vegas, and while we’re at it, a series of high profile men in Hollywood and other places who are being outed by women who’ve had their fill of being sexually humiliated. And this, on top of a life that already felt like it was flying out of a blender without its top on. My friends, and maybe yours, feel hurried, distracted. They can’t get their heads on. The best, most mindful people I know talk about needing to get into nature, and put their phones away. If only we could. Simply leaving the house for two hours without the phone becomes a triumph, a show of personal power. This is how it is for me. It’s like some crazy rip tide taking us farther and farther from the shores of our own humanity. Lately, I’m astounded that the simple act of sitting across from one another, knee to knee, phones down, has felt absolutely revolutionary. Like some ancient medicine called Me and You that is grounded in eye contact, and in speaking and listening to one another....
by Laurie Wagner | Oct 3, 2017 | Blog
Friends, artists, activists, writers, and lovers of everything beautiful, Our world is spinning off its axis. We lost Tom Petty, Las Vegas is reeling, Puerto Rico is still waiting, Florida and Mexico are recovering. Not to mention all the people we love who are sick, or in trouble or scared. It’s hard to know how to respond in a way that matters. Gandhi says, “Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it.” So we do the one or two things we can do; The music makers make music, the bakers bake, the artists paint. If you do yoga, do it with love, if you teach, teach with love. Call your mother, tell your siblings you love them, pet your cat. Pray. Be grateful. If you breathe without a tube, bow down. If you walk without assistance, go you! If all you can scrape up is a smile for someone you pass on the street, it’s plenty. Pick up trash, catch your hand before it hits the horn, forgive someone, let them off the hook because they probably didn’t mean to hurt you. Be kind. I listen to music, I get out into the dirt, hang with friends, make things with my hands, love on my children. I also write – which is my way of taking the chaos and the beauty that’s inside of me and bring it out into the world – for my own healing and the healing of others. It’s craziness out there. So much is flying at us and it’s hard to hold. If you’re needing...