"If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is "thank you," that would suffice." ~ Meister Eckhart"
GRATITUDE
Silence Alone/Quiet Together A Guided Renewal Retreat for Women
September 15th-17th 2006
Each year, Women In God presents four seasonal retreats designed to deepen our connection to the natural world and to our inner self. In a community of women, we explore, reflect, and meditate on the season’s theme, creating potent images to carry with us and remind us of our path.
This Fall, we focus on GRATITUDE. In this very moment, no matter how hard or challenging your day has been, millions of small things have gone beautifully. How often do we stop and acknowledge how many things are going "right" in our lives? How frequently do we reach out to our family and friends, or even to intimate strangers, to thank them for the ways they support and believe in us? How do we find gratitude even for the challenges - the places where it feels like the Universe is designed to deliver pressure and punishment? Our retreat weekend includes discussion of these topics, guided meditations, silent reflection, and creative processes designed to explore and affirm the gifts, blessings, and holy challenges growing wild through our daily life.
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TURNING TOWARD SPRING
Silence Alone/Quiet Together A Guided Renewal Retreat for Women
7 p.m. Friday evening March 17 through Sunday lunch March 19th, 2006
Living Water Spiritual Center
Winslow, ME
We pause at the turning of the seasons to renew ourselves and reflect on who we’ve been and who we are becoming. We gather to acknowledge what we have learned through winter’s darkness and to witness what is ready to be born with the coming spring. Our retreat weekend will include guided meditations, silent reflection and creative processes designed to explore and affirm our shed skins and new growth.
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Saturday, November 12, 2005
A call to ‘Spirit in Action’
By JUSTIN ELLIS, Portland Press Herald Writer
Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
What good is spirituality if it exists some place away from everyday life? Despite how you find faith, where does it go outside of the times you express it? Not easy questions to answer, and that’s the reason for this year’s Women in God, Women in Good conference at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland. The conference will take place Sunday and Monday and feature panel discussions and workshops from women’s groups as well as people of various faiths.
The theme of this year’s annual conference, “Spirit in Action,” is a call to seek new ways of expressing beliefs in everyday life, said Jane Honeck, founder of Women in God. “How do you start leading your life operating from a spiritual point of view . . . make a change in yourself and the way we do business in this world?” she said. This is the second conference held by Women in God, Women in Good, an organization created to bring women of all denominations and creeds together to talk about their beliefs.
The conference starts Sunday with a discussion on exploring a spirit-led life, with panelists such as Marcelle Pick, founder of Women to Women, and Karen Packhem of Scarborough-based Project Granting Resources, and Assistance, through Community Effort - known as Project GRACE. Monday features a slate of workshops designed to show how to recommit to a spirit-filled life, Honeck said. Rabbi Carolyn Braun of Temple Beth El in Portland is scheduled to speak, as well as Dr. Lonise Bias, a motivational speaker from Hyattsville, Md. Bias is the mother of University of Maryland basketball standout Len Bias, who died from a cocaine overdose shortly after being drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1986.
In a time of international conflicts and devastating natural disasters, Honeck said she hopes the conference will offer tools to view life’s events through a new light. She said it’s a form of “spiritual activism,” focusing on the positive and finding the deeper meaning in life. Packhem, from Project GRACE, attended the Women in God conference last fall and said it was a valuable experience. She said she enjoyed “connecting with other women that are on spiritual paths of all different types.” Packhem said Women in God creates an environment to explore other religions in an open and accepting way. Packhem said Project GRACE is a good example of how she lives out her spirituality on a day-to-day basis. The organization works in local communities reaching out to families in need either through donations of food and clothing or temporary help covering bills. “For me, spirit in action is to wake up each day and see what opportunities present themselves for me to be in service,” she said. Packhem said she sees the volunteers and donors who help out Project GRACE as another sign of spirit in action.
Honeck hopes Women in God will continue to grow each year. Last year’s conference had 145 people attend over two days. The group holds regular meetings for women to discuss current events as well as express new ideas and beliefs. Honeck said one of the reasons she created Women in God was because she felt the need to bring together various discussions on faith and spirituality and focus on how to use those ideas to change the world.
“God means a lot of things to different people. We’re not looking for one universal image of what God is,” she said. “We’re all looking for the same thing, something bigger and deeper than ourselves.”
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Reprinted with permission from Maine Women's Journal, Summer issue, 2005
Each day, our TV’s, radios and print media bring us stories of hopelessness and fear, stories that keep us focusing on the negative side of life; stories that disconnect us from who we really are. Women in God, Women in Good, believes that for our world to change to one that is more loving, spiritual and connected we need to bring messages of love, hope and inspiration to our world. In this spirit, we create programs that remind us that we are loving spirits in a human world longing to live in connection with one another.
Created in the summer of 2004,Women in God, Women in Good (WIG) held the First Annual WIGout Conference, a one and half day conference bringing women of all spiritual paths together for fellowship and sharing. On February 17th and 18th, 2005 WIGout held it’s first community programs. That Thursday evening at McAuley High School, Dr. Lonise Bias presented her program, "Reversing Learned Helplessness: Every Child is Valuable."
The evening began with a local youth band, "The Error", performing their own music for the audience of youth and parents. Dr. Bias then spoke to both parents and youth about attitudes and behaviors that take away personal power. At the close of her presentation, Mayor Jill Duson gave Dr. Bias the key to the city.
Dr. Bias’ message was delivered again the following morning to all students at Portland High School. She told them, "Young adults in America don’t love themselves. You discount yourselves as nothing. You don’t appreciate the beauty and creativity in each one of you." Her passionate, honest presentation drew frequent, spontaneous applause. Judging from the students who lined up afterwards to receive a hug, Dr. Bias made an impact in many lives. WIGout intends to bring this program and others like it to the community and to the larger world. If you would like to have Dr. Bias’ presented to your school or organization, please contact us. WIGout also invites ideas for additional programs that align with our mission and beliefs.
women in connection changing the world
through programs of love, hope and inspiration……
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