Zen Medicine

Evelyn: The universe (as Monica said) decided to slow me down. Better said, stop me in my tracks. In the midst of errands and a downpour of rain, I called my dad to open the garage door so I didn't have to get soaked and my full run and busy mind prevented me from noticing that the garage door was not high enough to clear. I ducked, then slammed full-on into the garage door, which knocked me flat on my ass into puddles. My effort to immediately get up was thwarted by a strong pain in my head and a gash above my eye (plus two additional knots and three scrapes along my forehead and into my hairline). I had to sit there a moment to get my head back on. "Slow the F@^$ DOWN!" shouted the universe. "You don't have to run so hard anymore! I totally got you here, but you are NOT LISTENING!" And all I keep thinking is "I am trying to slow down...it's just a habit!"

Monica: In the last couple of months, several cannabis cooperatives have sprung up in town. We stopped in Mendocino for a bit and there was another one, right across the street from the ice cream shop. The door was open and we could see a clean, spacious, and sleek interior with polished hardwood floors—not your typical hippie cooperative with Bob Marley and Grateful Dead posters on the walls. It had more of an upscale zen day-spa vibe. Right above the water-cooler was this poster, which I had to photograph to send to my best friend, Sativa. (She's been on the receiving end of a lot of raised eyebrows and jokes over the years, but I still think she has the coolest name. (Sativa means "cultivated from the wild" in Latin, and "seeker of wisdom and truth" in Sanskrit.)