Lets Show Maui Some Love!

Want to show Maui some love with a small act of kindness, while also lowering your stress levels and learning to set powerful intentions for a more peaceful, loving, and abundant life? Buy my meditation book for $2.99 on Amazon. All proceeds for my meditation book: The Art of Flow: Mindful Mini Meditations will now go to organizations in Lahaina that are helping their displaced residents.

How? A good friend, a long-time Lahaina resident and attorney who lost her law firm and house in the recent fires, is helping to distribute funds to those who need it most, so they can purchase WHAT they need most. Here's the 411 on my book: It is now available in virtual format on Amazon HERE . It provides 5 minute meditations for beginners, affirmations for a variety of desired manifestations, a wonderful journal to track your healing journey, and a showcase of my photography - most pictures were taken within Maui or other Hawaiian Islands.

SO WHY AM I SO PASSIONATE ABOUT HELPING MAUI?

I've been connected to the Hawaii islands - whether Oahu, Kauai, Big Island, or Maui for a long time. In fact, two of my upcoming novels are both partially based in Hawaii. I guess it all started in 1999, when on my first trip to Kauai. I woke with a start, as I had a vivid dream. It was about someone linked to a Hawaiian king, yet living in dire poverty and recovering from a disaster, and it was within a movie. Flash forward to 2013 on a trip to Oahu with my boys. Then another trip. Then a trip to the Big Island. Kona, Maui, Oahu, Kauai again. I purchased a time share in Oahu, since sold. My boys and I worked on a farm in the Western mountains of Oahu and met with teens who worked there. We learned about high school drop out rates and those trying to get scholarships to go to community college. It was for research for a book, but also to learn more about how tourism and our military installations and governing of water flow access has affected indigenous Hawaiians.

In late 2019 I was about to publish my novel Between Thoughts of You, which is based partially in Oahu and partially in Tuscany (my agent describes it as a cross between The Descendants and The English Patient.) I had decided to move to Maui with my youngest son, as my oldest would be starting college. As a FT single mom without parents and whose ex had been living in London for 11 years, I needed to be sure my youngest son would be in a safe place on the one week a month I'd need to travel to promote my book. I found a private school that would let me teach journalism and yoga, and let him board. I'd be there three weeks a month, and he'd be safe and within a beautiful community (Ohana) when I was traveling to promote the book. I found a few apartments in Lahaina. It seemed like a win-win.

Then COVID hit. And my oldest decided to defer going to an expensive university and stay in Los Angeles and attend community college for free for two years, with the goal to transfer as a junior to better school - which he did. (Such a great decision on his part!) So, I walked away from the publish date of my novel (how does a debut author successfully launch in the pandemic?) and we all stayed here, hunkered down, in Los Angeles.

When the fires raged two weeks ago, I was struck by how my son and I would have potentially died if we had moved. AND, I couldn't stop thinking about my friend Valentina. I don't know how she survived! She grew up in Lahaina and we stayed with her when there in Nov. 2019. She lived just one block from the great Banyan Tree and her law firm was on Front Street. Needless to say, she lost everything and somehow she and her daughter are okay. She has offered to help distribute funds from my book sales and that's wonderful as she can distribute to her former neighbors and business leaders in Lahaina. So far, I've been able to send $550.00. Want to help? Even if $2.99 for the book is all you can afford, let me tell you, a small act of kindness goes a long way. In fact, research shows that when we are kind to others, it lifts our serotonin levels and those who hear about it, just as much - or more - than those who benefit from the kind act! So just reading this blog post will boost your happy hormones! And if you forward it to someone else, or tell someone else about it, they will get a little lift of serotonin in their body.

Doing Good = Feeling Good. And Feeling Good Manifests Wellness in the Body, you Life, and our Community. As a meditation and pranayama (breathing) and yoga teacher for 10 years I know this for sure: Just smiling at someone will uplift YOUR mood - and theirs of course. The vibration of the solution is FAR more powerful - and healing - than the vibration of the problem. So in alignment with the Aloha spirit of Hawaii, share the love today. I'll keep you updated. :)

Have a beautiful day. Take a deep, grateful breath, and focus on works, flows, and brings you joy.

Mahalo -

Laura