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1 week ago | 
lauramckowen.substack.com | Laura McKowen
Join me for a small group retreat at True Nature in Carbondale, Colorado, from September 25 to 28. Learn more. Sobriety is hard. The Luckiest Club makes it easier. With 51 weekly meetings, 24/7 app support, a dogma-free community, and programs that help, you’ll get real support to stay sober and build a better life. Join now and get your first week of meetings free. No spoilers for White Lotus here, I promise. I’ve really been going through it lately.
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3 weeks ago | 
lauramckowen.substack.com | Laura McKowen
Hello, hello! I’m officially back after a much-needed, very beneficial pause. I’d planned to take two months off but only needed one-ish—turns out a hard reset works. In between making a lot of focaccia, successfully growing my first sourdough starter, riding shotgun without having an aneurysm (so far) while my daughter learns to drive, and getting ready to launch a new business with my brother1, I did what I set out to do: make real headway on my third book.
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1 month ago | 
lauramckowen.substack.com | Laura McKowen |Sarah Fay |Jonathan Fields
Hi All! As you may know, I’m on pause here until early May-ish as I focus on book writing, but I was asked by to join her and for a live call about mental health and creativity, and I couldn’t say no to that. This was my first Substack live, and I loved it. It makes me want to play with it on my own channel when I’m back. Sarah asked us some great questions, including:What does mental health mean to us? How do we know when we’re veering into an unhealthy space? What practices help us stay sane?
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1 month ago | 
lauramckowen.substack.com | Laura McKowen
If you’re new to sobriety or already sober but need more stability and support, The Sober 90 starts February 28. Create sobriety that sticks. Join me in gorgeous Carbondale, CO, for Threshold, September 25-28. Learn more and register. Last week, I emailed my agent requesting a 12-month extension on the book I’m currently writing. At first, I felt the glorious uprush of relief that comes from an extended deadline or canceled plans.
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2 months ago | 
lauramckowen.substack.com | Laura McKowen
If you’re new to sobriety or already sober but need more stability and support, The Sober 90 starts February 28. Create sobriety that sticks. Join me in gorgeous Carbondale, CO, for Threshold, September 25-28. Learn more and register. It’s February vacation week here, and for the past three years, I’d gone away with my ex to Mexico. My daughter typically went skiing with her dad, which gave us a good excuse to take off somewhere warm. Last year on that trip, things fell apart.
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2 months ago | 
elenabrower.substack.com | Elena Brower |Beth Kempton |Laura McKowen
Continuing a month of quiet practice with guest teachers and me. Below, welcoming Beth Kempton, an audio meditation, and 20% off subscriptions. Introducing dear colleague , of —a flow of consistent nurturance. Her response to my invitation to write on silence was a short letter and a haiku that pierced my heart. Quartz and Citrine at True Nature Healing Arts Foundation Carbondale, CO. Dearest Elena,Wow, what can I say? Such an honour to be asked by you, for your birthday. Thank you and of course.
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2 months ago | 
elenabrower.substack.com | Elena Brower |Laura McKowen |Kemi Nekvapil
. Emma Kunz, untitled, undated. Continuing our month of quiet practice with guest teachers and me. Below, welcoming , author of and one of my best friends, with an audio meditation and original piece from Laura. And 20% off subscriptions this month, in honor of my birthday. As I enter my fifty-fifth year on Earth this week, in nature with dear friends, hanging closely, sinking in, tenderizing my heart. Time in the sun, walking, sitting, a visit from my son with longer-than-ever hugs.
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2 months ago | 
elenabrower.substack.com | Elena Brower |Laura McKowen
About five times a night, he gets up to walk for several minutes to relax his muscles, to relieve the pain which is excruciating. And this guy has a high threshold. The nature of nerve pain is that we cannot see it. When I place my hand, I can feel the taut, caught energy in certain places along his leg. And I can hear his pain—his stilted breathing, then the long exhale toward which I anxiously turn all my attention. This is week three, and we’re feeling nervous.
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2 months ago | 
elenabrower.substack.com | Elena Brower |Laura McKowen |Kemi Nekvapil
Our Live Gathering with last week was a nurturing ninety minutes. The full recording is available for paid subscribers here, along with dates for next year’s Threshold, a short story, and a list of what it takes to be a good friend. The meaning of the word ‘dignity’ at this phase in our lives, prioritizing friendship, non-violent communication as a source of empathy for self and a tool for improving our relationships with everyone, what being a responsible citizen means.
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2 months ago | 
lauramckowen.substack.com | Laura McKowen
Sometime in my mid-twenties, my mom gently suggested that how I was with my friends might not be attractive to boys. We were too involved with each others’ lives, she said. They were too much of my identity. She said this because I’d called her crying every couple of months for years, late at night after too many drinks, wondering why no one was ever interested in me. I wanted so badly to be in love, to be chosen, to have this elusive thing that seemed to come so easily to everyone else.
