A few weeks ago I was lucky to attend a women's slow living retreat at a farm retreat center in Maryland. It was two blissful days away from the farm full of journaling, locally sourced meals, thoughtful conversations, and plenty of talk about sustainability. It was forty-ish women from all walks of life, at all different stages in their life journeys. Perhaps my favorite part of the weekend was the conversations we had exploring truth, and that no-one was so sure they were right about anything. We talked about diversity and the privilege of growing up exposed to it. We talked about aligning our values with the choices we make in our every day lives. Vegans, meat eaters, Democrats, Republicans, Christians, Buddhists, corporate women, and farmers alike broke bread and found the human-ness in each other. In that safe space together the labels fell away and we saw each other's hearts. At night we built a fire in the wood stove and one kind soul read Tarot cards for many women in the room. The brave women who had their cards read exposed their souls, their fears, and their hopes to complete strangers and we learned from one another. I came away from that weekend even more determined to tread thoughtfully on this earth.
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