Love Story Newsletter

The heart of the matter is surrender. You surrender to the mystery, because I don’t care how sharp your intellect, you can’t figure this all out with your mind. The beauty, the heartbreak. The great mystery is meant to be revered, not solved. —Mirabai Starr, Ordinary Mysticism This month’s Second Sunday topic was surrender. I chose the topic because this summer has been a big season of surrender for me. I shared what it’s been like on the call, but the gist is I couldn’t see my way out of a situation.

There are now a few spots available in my Push Off From Here retreat at Kripalu October 16-18. Learn more & register. Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life. — Eckhart Tolle I’m looking forward to our monthly gathering today, Sunday, September 13 at 8 am PT / 11 am ET. I chose the topic of SURRENDER because I had an experience recently where I was very intensely “opposing the flow of life” and it brought me all the way down to my knees.

The Love Story Writing Group is a community for writers of all kinds who want to in learn, connect, and grow as people and artists. Weekly co-writing on Thursdays at 9 am PT / 12 pm ET. Access to author interviews, craft discussions, and resources. Open to all paid subscribers. The Love Story Writing Group is a community for writers of all kinds who want to in learn, connect, and grow as people and artists. Weekly co-writing on Thursdays at 9 am PT / 12 pm ET.

Hello, September, my favorite month. I breathe a huge sigh of relief every time the summer ends, school starts again, and the air chills. I like the idea of summer more than the season itself. This summer, especially, it felt like the sun was just so aggressive. The heat and the beating brightness. The urgency to enjoy, soak up, get out there.

Get more from Laura McKowen in the Substack app Available for iOS and Android

Hi all — I’m thrilled to announce that I’m teaching The Practice this fall. I built this course from almost twenty years of teaching yoga and twelve years of writing and teaching. In that time, I’ve come to believe one simple thing: the answers we need are already inside of us; we just need the support, presence, and clarity to hear them. The Practice is 40 days of daily prompted writing, meditation, and embodiment work—the three tools I’ve found most reliable for grounding, guidance, and insight.

My phone started blowing up last week after the Brad Pitt Esquire piece dropped, wherein he discloses he’s back to drinking after seven years of sobriety. Instagram messages, texts, a few emails, and a lot of buzz of in The Luckiest Club community and meetings. My feeds have been flooded too—even here on Substack.

Buddha is actualized when our human striving, desires, ambitions don’t work anymore. The times when I have borne witness to such parts of myself as hopelessness and loss were the moments of deepest self-acceptance. —Katherine Thanas, The Truth of This Life Thank you to all who joined our Second Sunday last weekend, with special guest Elena Brower. Below is the replay and notes. Our next session will be on Sunday, September 13.

Hi all. Earlier this week, I published a piece about how I’m feeling lately, and your responses have brought me such comfort, truly. I’m still reading through them, each one a hand on my back, a little bulb of insight, a voice of solidarity and kindness in a shaky time—and I love that it’s all there for you to see, too, to provide the same for whoever needs it.

It started around the time I bought my house. I began to get restless around bedtime, just as I was meant to wind down. At first, there weren’t any thoughts attached—it was more of an inner trembling, a vague feeling that something was wrong, or about to be. Getting to sleep became difficult, and then I started waking in the middle of the night shot through with adrenaline, sheets soaked with sweat, breath caught in my chest.