Women with women

I'm at Oceanstone (www.oceanstone.ns.ca) for another 10 days. Today is Day 1 of the 2nd 'Whispers from Within' women's writing retreat
(http://www.wel-systems.com/programs/WR.htm) and already it's clear that it will be another powerhouse experience for us all.

Smart women. Courageous women. Funny women. Women waking up! Not exactly a burden to spend five days in whatever conversations prove to be meaningful for us to engage. And that is how it will unfold - without agenda, without predetermined result, without work or effort or struggle - as we each become willing to just show up, be ourselves and engage.

Already, from just three hours of conversation, we've discovered that to be inspiring to others we must first - ourselves! - be inspired! To attempt the second without the first is short-lived and has a hollow ring. More like getting people to do things that inviting people to become something authentic to themselves.

And joy! Already we're aware that it is not that joy is absent from our lives, it is that we've learned to ration it out so as not to overdo it! Are we saving for the lean years?

And doing nothing. We are about to discover that our greatest contributions come not from doing but from being. As we become, so do our lives unfold.

There's that thought again: 60 seconds of authentic presence will undo decades of habituated thinking. I know that this week will be a succession of 60-second's that will change us all.

Breathing is good....