Laura, USA
Hello,
My name is Laura Gaudioso, soon to be Laura Winter in September 2021! We are located in West Medford, OR. I live in a cute little purple cottage on a one-acre farm that I rent from my friend Terry. He has chickens that roam freely in the backyard and I get to feed them the scraps from the kitchen. I sing, “Gooch Gooch” out the back French doors and they come running. There is nothing quite like seeing a healthy chicken run about 50 yards straight at you. They look like miniature Tyrannosaurus Rex and it brings me great joy. The picnic table in the background serves as their ladder up to the tree that they roost in at night.
How Covid has affected me:
I run a bakery business where we service the farmers markets. Since the markets are primarily outdoors, we have been actually busier since people feel relatively safer shopping for groceries outdoors. The most challenging parts are not being able to see my parents often and dealing with the folks in America who think their freedom lies in wearing or not wearing a mask. Seeing people get angry, yell, scream, scoff and just be mean to each other because they are asked to put on a mask. Seeing how ignorance puts others’ lives in danger. It is an exceptional challenge in the area of customer service. I try to practice patience and compassion for them.
In addition, Covid affected our India trip this year. It was sad to not get to go to India this year and see Acharya in person. However, it was very comfortable at my house listening to the teachings in the comfort of my own home and without the hardships of traveling to India. I also felt that I was very connected to Acharya through the Zoom and felt very present with him and the class. I was also able to work, as I do not have the good fortune yet to step away from work completely to do a silent retreat. I did my best, however, to drop in as deeply as I could.
Overall, I think Covid is teaching and helping me to become better; to be grateful of all the things taken for granted and helping me to edit the things that are not serving me in my life. It will be interesting to see how each individual emerges once this has all past. I feel we are learning a tremendous amount of information and hopefully will be able to see more clearly once the dust settles.