When women experience the encouragement of an actively supportive community, challenges or dreams that otherwise might feel overwhelming or impossible begin to look promising. In 2006, a smaller closed group called Walking Our Talk spun off from the monthly gatherings. This more intimate setting was developed to encourage and support individual women’s pursuit of specific projects and/or personal challenges. We met bi-weekly over a four-month period, progressing through concrete steps to energize previously stagnant dreams and facilitate accomplishment of each woman’s vision. These included:
- Cultivating, clarifying and articulating each woman’s vision
- Creating a plan and calendar of action steps
- Brainstorming through road blocks and sharing successes
- Celebrating the progress and attainment of our goals
This group has decided to continue intact, and will initiate other Walking Our Talk seedling groups forming in the future.
A New WOT Group is forming!
Based on the outstanding success of the Walking Our Talk group that formed three years ago, several women have asked for guidance in starting a new group.
As an outgrowth of the Gathering with Spirit meetings, nine women decided to form a smaller group to focus on moving along their own projects or intentions with the support and structure created by a committed group.
We invite you to learn about the Walking Our Talk experience and get involved in forming a new group that is coming together now.
Interested participants need to attend (or have already attended) at least one of our Gathering With Spirit meetings in order to follow the structure and values inherent in Claiming Our Voices’ circle work.
Contact Mary or one of the WOT sisters to learn more about joining the WOT sisterhood!
Testimonials:
“The experience of being in our WOT group has given me a family, a presence of unconditional support in my heart and my life, a returning-to point each month when we witness the flow of life through our nine separate but intertwined paths…” — JC
“Another thing I have loved about the group is that nobody ever has to pretend that everything is going great when it’s not. Tears and frustration are real, joy and accomplishment are real, confusion or fogginess are real, and all of that can be shared at any one meeting. We’re not trying to impress each other—we’re just sharing and getting and giving genuine feedback.
“The ability to truly listen while someone else is speaking, which we’ve all developed through these meetings, is astounding. It is healing to tell my story and have eight sets of caring, supportive eyes focused on me. It is healing and satisfying to listen to another person with full attention, and the insights that can come from being fully present in that way are sometimes remarkable.” — TA
“I love the ideas, suggestions, etc that we have to offer one another. I feel like WOT is a bank and that I am rich in ways that matter…in ways of the heart and community. I am home…” — ES
“An essential element to the group’s success is that it encourages me to pay attention to the emotional, spiritual and physical aspects of my personal growth that present as I further my goals.
“I become increasingly comfortable sharing my vulnerablilities (as well as my strengths and successes, frustrations, etc.) because of the authentic intimacy that we continue to build upon. This intimacy develops through all the opportunities we have to respond to one another with trust, generosity and good will, meeting by meeting as we spontaneously and collectively choose to attend each other’s events, share professional resources, offer kind words of support, reality checks, hugs, treats, child care, celebrate, hold each other dear, etc. It is a living and organic process- not at all a shell.
“So, in addition to the support we offer one another on our road to achieve individual goals; there is the question- what are the values of the group as a whole? We are consistant. We bring into the world the same values we offer each other in the group. WOW. It would be a different experience if on the inside the group was supportive, but members were selfish in the community at large.” — ES
“The love, support, safety and respect that is inherent in the Walking Our Talk group allows us to each authentically express our dreams, challenges, failures and successes without the fear of being judged negatively. We can ask for feedback from the group or we can make it clear that we are not open to feedback. The space is ours to safely state whatever it is that’s on our mind and to use the openness of that time to process it within ourselves or with the group.
“One of the most profound aspects of the WOT experience is the feeling that we each reported having in the beginning, that of feeling a confidence we’d not previously experienced because we felt the presence of the entire group of eight women – our WOT sisters – at our back, supporting and cheering us on with whatever challenge we were facing. No longer feeling alone and unsupported, we found ourselves stepping up to the plate in ways we hadn’t had the courage to do before. We found ourselves stating what we wanted in the outside world, and growing into our light. This sensation continues even today, three years later, only deeper and stronger than ever. Having the support of our WOT sisters motivates us to stretch beyond our comfort zone, knowing we will be acknowledged and celebrated for our achievement by our sisters, giving us the courage to reach for our dreams.” — GS