Laura Lavigne
  • Home
  • COACHING
    • COACHING PACKAGES
  • THE SCHOOL
  • Blog
  • ART
  • MORE
    • Happiness Retreats >
      • Sacred Joy Gathering 2023
      • La Dolce Vita Happiness Retreat 2019
    • THE HAPPINESS SPRINKLING PROJECT
    • THE CENTER FOR HAPPINESS
    • HAPPINESS SPRINKLING CARDS
    • BOOKS BY LAURA
    • Laura's YouTube Channel
    • Essence Facilitators

Leaving Pisciotta

11/29/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture

I am writing this from a green metal table in the Magical Garden, overlooking the Mediterranean sea, a few feet from my little house.

Today is my last day in Pisciotta.

I arrived in this small village a month ago, and it felt as though I had landed at the end of the world. It was dark, I was alone, and I spent that first night in a fit of allergies, not sure what was below my way-up window.

In the morning, there she was. Miles and miles of her dear familiar blueness. Lit up by the early sun, the Mediterranean sea wished me good morning, and she told that all would be well. Because she is one of my three moms, I believed her.

The following thirty days have been beautiful, difficult, rich, lonely, peaceful and  humbling.

Me who thought that left alone I would write pages of insightful and useful stuff, I found out that alone, I sat a lot. And walked a lot. And ate. And walked some more.

Me who came here hoping for Connection, it took me a couple of weeks to let the most important Connection of all come through: the Connection with me.

Me who thought that I would be relieved to leave when the time came, my heart is actually very tender, today.

Pisciotta, thank you.

Thank you for teaching me what I did not think I had come here to learn.

Thank you for being so heartbreakingly beautiful that even when I did not want to see your gifts, I could not help myself.

Thank you for your stairs and hills.

Thank you for your people, most of which looked at me strangely, thus giving me the gift of feeling like a stranger, a gift which I believe will come in handy in the next few weeks.

Thank you for introducing me to one of the most graceful women I know, even though I could not communicate with her as much as I wanted to. Thank you for her Limoncello and the tiny cups of dessert she gave me.

Thank for for giving me a place to painfully get in touch with how much I need Community and Connection, and thus giving me the courage to ask for it, and to create it in the very future (more on this very soon)

Thank you for the smile from the grocery man, often the only smile I saw for days, and somehow it was enough.

Thank you also, for showing no signs of commercial holiday madness, just a few weeks away from Christmas. Thank you for being so real, so very classy on the inside in your somewhat gruff outsideness.

This morning, I walked over to the Wednesday market, where most people still looked at me sideways, I saw your men talking with each other, I saw your mozzarella with that special branch on top of it, I saw the square, the many cats. I walked your tiny streets, I heard your beautiful language, and the whole time I said thank you, thank you, thank you.

Tomorrow, my backpack and I will walk the 4km to the train station, and you will be tucked in there safely, because you are in my heart forever, and I know that my gratefulness will ripen with time.

PS: Elephant Journal published (and edited a bit) a story I wrote about how my backpack and I got to be friends. Here it is .  I think you may enjoy it.


Share on Facebook
Receive my blog posts straight into your inbox
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    ♥️
    SUBSCRIBE
    TO MY BLOG HERE 

    ♥️

    SCARED OF THE SACRED

    Picture
    Picture

    HAPPINESS SCHOOL:
    90 days to up-level your life in a FOREVER way.


    My Elephant Journal Articles:


    Scared of the Sacred - Texas, Afghanistan and Sea Turtles

    What Happens When We Half A** Our Apologies

    I wasn't Expecting to Lose my Emotional Virginity on Lesvos

    Becoming One With My Backpack, at 53

    Some Days We Have to Mow the Lawn Twice


    The Lesson I Learned from a Moroccan Street Market

    Dear Man Who Says He Wants Intimacy

    How to Not Abandon Ourselves When the Going Gets Rough

    Just Sitting There Doing Nothing: What I Learned From an Italian Balcony
    Picture
    "Every time I read your blog I am so profoundly happy I did.  The truth you speak is just mindboggling.  The real, real voice you have.  It makes me almost crazy how much I love your words and your way of telling stories that cut to the quick- and I never have the words to really say how much this all means to me. 

    You put out so many heartfelt blog pieces that touch my heart and move me down the right path at the right time.  Pure beautiful magic girlie. I love you for this.

    Thank you for digging in there and finding the gems of wisdom and then just sharing them out as if there's an endless supply ... which with you, there is."


    "Thank you for sharing your wonderful, heartbreaking, exhilarating experience with the world."

    "Thank You Laura for sharing, for teaching and spreading loving kindness. "

    "I think I love you. You bring good things into my life, or remind me of things I love and know, but have let go of."

    "Laura, you are so good for me. I laugh and sniffle and get the shivers when I read your essays. Thanks so much for letting all your wonderfulness run around loose."

    "Heart-achingly beautiful, your words and how you reveal your truth."

    "Thank you so much for who you are and what you share with the world. Your mere being transforms lives as it has transformed mine. This particular post did to my heart what water does to parched soil."

    "Thank you for your gentle words that are packed full of wisdom. I have been struggling with the concept of what words can do to another person when they are negative words. Your words are the flip side of our word power, and shows how delightfully powerful kind words can be. Thank you."

    "Once again Laura Lavigne takes you on an adventure of the heart. She has a way of pulling you right in the car with her. Asking you to consider changing a fear to taking thoughtful action. Whether she's teaching a class, leading a retreat or heading for a happiness sprinkling, Laura will invite you to shed old ways of thinking and be completely authentic. Join in!"

    "Essentially pure love.
    I enjoy how Laura is kind to herself and to us other humans who dance in and out of each other's lives. "


    "Don't miss a post!
    You can count on Laura for warmth, humor, charm, and a lift to your day and your heart. She inspires me to be braver than I am, and to love the world out loud. She's a gem, and a generous one at that!"

    Me

    I write because this is the way I am able to  taste life more deeply.

    Archives

    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
  • Home
  • COACHING
    • COACHING PACKAGES
  • THE SCHOOL
  • Blog
  • ART
  • MORE
    • Happiness Retreats >
      • Sacred Joy Gathering 2023
      • La Dolce Vita Happiness Retreat 2019
    • THE HAPPINESS SPRINKLING PROJECT
    • THE CENTER FOR HAPPINESS
    • HAPPINESS SPRINKLING CARDS
    • BOOKS BY LAURA
    • Laura's YouTube Channel
    • Essence Facilitators