Cosmic Kudos is one year old!

yes, we can have nice things // 10

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All smiles after my reading in the garden to close out my residency at La Macina.

Hello my friends!

Lisboa, Portugal: I am in a yoga class that begins with Savasana, or corpse pose, and as the class unfolds I think about how much my yoga practice has changed over time. The pleasure of meeting my body on the mat arrives again. And again. My form on the mat, reminding me that I feel so far from who and where I once was. And that that’s a good thing.

It has been a summer of doing, of moving, and of existing inside myself differently. There is movement, feverish movement forward after so much time stalling, questioning if I was in the right place—right city, right company, “right life,” whatever that may mean. When I was a child I assumed I would be married with a child on the way at the age of 27, just as my mother was; I never questioned this assumption. (I would also be the Persian equivalent of Carrie Bradshaw¹, living as a magazine writer in a cool loft apartment in NYC. Natch.)

I certainly did not think that at 32, I would be single, childfree, and traveling mostly solo through country after country I had never before visited. I did not even think something like this possible six months ago, when I wrote the following post:

And before I started out, I couldn’t help but question whether I should—dreaded word!—prioritize this little travel dream of mine. Wouldn’t it make more sense to put a portion of my savings on a down payment… for something? Or any number of practical, “real world” life things that didn’t involve shunting my former life aside to gallivant around the globe?

Probably. But it’s become ever more clear that making a choice simply because it looks stable, secure, and practical to the outside world is no longer working for me. Neither is ignoring the siren call inside of me. The one inside all of us that says, This just doesn’t feel right, that points us instead in the direction of the thing that may not make sense on paper.

The one that tells us, intuitively, decisively: true fulfillment lies this way—if we’re willing to brave the rocky footing to get there, and that if we’d just keep going, it will not lead us astray.

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I began writing this latest newsletter from Paros, a Greek island about four hours’ ferry ride from Athens. There I took part in an eco writing and yoga retreat hosted by the lovely

Ali Vingiano

, who in addition to being a truly inspired writer, teacher, and friend, authors Little Things here on Substack. I couldn’t have been happier to be in community with so many like-minded and talented writers, who ran the gamut from TV scriptwriting to memoir and aspiring novelists such as myself.

June widened my writing world in a way it hasn’t been in a long time, maybe ever. It made me further recognize the importance of community when it comes to sharing your work. That safe space of support and constructive criticism, of helpful feedback and insight provided by other trusted creatives.

It was also a space where I could come back to my yoga practice in an illuminating and fulfilling way. Classes there (including a deliciously fun and playful aerial yoga class!) reminded me of just how much I love yoga: feeling my body unfold into each pose, pushing myself to stretch more, expand more, or relax into the pose with more ease.

Something else I realized is that what I love most about yoga, and the reason why I feel it’s always been able to ground and transport me in such a transformative way, is that I don’t have much air in my birth chart. Fire, water, and earth, absolutely. The lack of air, though… one reason I have a long history of difficulty in “going with the flow.” Connecting with my breath, then, is most impactful. In the past I often felt that I couldn’t breathe properly on the mat (this is something that was brought up several times with other writers and new friends during the retreat). And chanting “Ommmmmm” at the beginning or end of class? Forget it. I struggled always.

What delving into modern manifestation practices has taught me is the importance of somatic work. Of relaxing the nervous system in order to take us from “survival mode” to “creative mode.” More and more I’ve been learning that breathwork is the bridge to get us there.²

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I have been building out a list of things to do so that I won’t be horrifically depressed when I land back stateside—when that happens, I’m not ready to think of it in full and naked detail yet!—and joining a new yoga studio, one I’ll become a regular at, is pretty high up on it.

Part of the magic of yoga is in the way it allows you to grow into your practice. To lessen the harshness of self-judgment and eventually, to accept and to allow. Now, I’m inviting more of a sense of playfulness into my own practice—and into my daily life. I’m determined to keep that going.

And I have so much to catch you all up on!

This week’s nice things. is a continuation of my travels through June and July so far, with plenty of room for Tuscan flare; the magic of the Greek isles and gorgeous beaches of the Algarve; and most recently the art-filled, hot and gritty splendor of Lisboa.

1. Say it with me now: one year of Cosmic Kudos! Well, I am a few weeks overdue, and this won’t be the kind of newsletter I put together for CK’s six-month anniversary, as I shared above. Of course, I have taken a longer-than-expected hiatus from Substack—one I’m working on not feeling supremely guilty about, even as I’ve hurtled through Asia and Europe at breakneck speeds.

What this has taught me is that my burnout at work bled, partially, into my writing life. In the six-month anniversary post, I wrote about my difficulties with consistency, with keeping up a regular publishing schedule, and that I discovered it’s more important simply to keep going. (Again, that siren call…)

And because what keeps me coming back to Substack is the inspired and inspiring community that stays building on here (I’ve missed you all!).

What keeps me coming back to the writing, always, is that it’s where I feel most myself. It’s meditative, and it’s becoming more open and exuberant—a recurring theme in my life these days. The joy isn’t in the undue pressure or guilt, it’s in the writing, and ultimately the sharing of it. One year on Substack is a glorious thing, and I am only looking forward to more expansion with all of you.

2. Clocking in at number two is my discovery of Florence’s “gli angeli del fango,” or the angels in the mud. During my residency in Tuscany, I spoke with another artist, Sue, a talented Australian mixed-media artist, about the November 1966 floods in Firenze, which submerged many of the priceless artworks in fetid water, mud, and rubble, in some places flooding up to 22 feet. Volunteers, in the form of university students, backpackers, and young people from all over the world and Italy, rushed in to lead rescue and cultural preservation efforts, in a show of solidarity and support for precious and timeless art. They became known as Florence’s mud angels.

3. Sue also recommended an absolutely gorgeous book to me, one that is set partially in Florence during and after World War II and which involves the gli angeli del fango: Still Life, by Sarah Winham. I’m only about a third of the way in, but have already found the character work to be masterful.

Like many of us writing on Substack, I read like the writer I am; whether it’s because I’m enamored with craft work at the sentence level or I’d like to experiment with a similar method or style I notice the author using, both have come up multiple times throughout reading. I’m zooming through and at the same time, striving to read more slowly so I won’t finish it so quickly. Love when that happens!

4. My residency at La Macina culminated in an intimate reading in the garden connected to the artists’ studio, followed by a potluck dinner party with Mimma, Duccio, and all of the artists. The weather actually held out, which meant no evening thunderstorms (as I experienced throughout most of my stay), and my reading went off without a hitch. It was such a lovely way to finish my time at the residency.

5. The time has come for me to admit that so far, Greece has been my absolute favorite of all the new places I’ve traveled (with Italy and Japan tying for a close second).

Of course, being held, seen, and supported by an incredibly kind and talented community of writers was a game-changer as well. I came away from the week feeling well and truly grateful for the experience and to Ali for bringing us all together, and even weeks later, the echoes are still reverberating.

6. June saw me making new headway on my book in such a major way! I’m all-around elated about it—not to mention more inspired than ever.

7. I made the decision to stay another night on Paros with a friend I made at the retreat, and it worked out perfectly. Part of the joy of traveling this way is in just that—manifesting little moments of magic along the way.

Laura Howe

, who writes the poignant Dispatched Divorcée here on Substack, had already booked a stay on the other side of the island, and I had an extra night that was unaccounted for before I headed to Crete for the next leg of my journey.

Laura and I spent a lazy Saturday afternoon at a tiny beach nestled along a bar and restaurant, complete with crystalline waters, a tiny secluded cove, and pebbled shores. Despite getting several splinters I had a lovely time (no matter where in the world I go, I remain my less-than-coordinated self). Dazed with wine and sun, I happily inspected—and documented—all the stunning pieces of sea glass I could find while she napped on the sand beside me.

8. This Clarice Lispector quote:

“What I desired was to live the moment until I wore it out.”

From her Completed Stories, which I picked up at Livraria Lello in Porto, also known as the most beautiful bookshop in the world (!).

9. What I’m most loving about Portugal, and my time now that I’m back in Lisbon, is the art (surprise, surprise!). The street art is unparalleled. And, everywhere I go I see San Francisco (they are sister cities, after all!), so being here alone is bittersweet in that sense. In another, I could never tire of the many cafes brimming with cool decor, delicious food and cocktails, and have found I could spend entire days wandering from one to another.

As much I loved spending time with them abroad, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting back to my own schedule after weeks of traveling the country with my family. Two cousins and my younger brother flew out to meet me here, where we engaged in a meandering trajectory that took me from Porto to Lisbon, then down to the stunning beaches of the Algarve in Lagos, Albufeira, and Vilamoura. We then looped back around to Sintra, and I’m now back in Lisboa, solo for the remaining part of my stay here.

Praia dos Estudantes, my favorite beach along the Algarve Coast.

10. In astrology news, the energy for the past week or so has most definitely been off. Well, tumultuous, to say the least. Not only did the new moon in Cancer knock a few of us on our asses (Cancer season has the tendency to do that…), but Mars made an opposition to Saturn on the 20th, Venus has just turned retrograde in Leo, and, as of July 17, the lunar nodes have shifted. I’ll focus on just the nodes here, but there’s a whole host of transformative energy swirling about in the cosmos right now.³

If you’re unfamiliar, the lunar nodes change signs around 18 months, and are a part of each of our individual birth charts. In addition to being the places where eclipses occur, they represent our soul’s evolution. The north node embodies what you are moving toward in your lifetime (some astrologers refer to it as guiding you in the direction of your life’s purpose), while the south is what you’ll be moving away from. They have shifted from the Taurus-Scorpio axis to the Aries-Libra axis, remaining here until January 2025. We’ll likely see an uptick of new leaders rising up in full Aries glory, as on a collective level, the places that contain Aries in our charts will gain stamina, feeling the need to charge ahead, and the areas we hold Libra will need extra nurturing and release.

11. As you all know, I’m nothing if not a “look at the moon!” girl, and June’s full strawberry moon in Sagittarius occurred while I was in Mykonos. Completely spoiled me.

I’ve shortened the list this week, since I’ve gone on and on and nearly hit the email limit—if you’re still with me, you have my love forever. Back to witchy tips and more recommendations in the next edition, and happy Leo season, lovelies!

xx, Kimia

1. Obviously, this was before I realized what a shitty and selfish person/friend Carrie actually is. Her career, though, remains undoubtedly aspirational. (With the disclaimer, here, that I haven’t watched the Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That.)

2. Definitely plan on exploring this in future newsletters :)

3. Remember, no doom and gloom astrology predictions here.