I have just returned from my annual writing retreat with sister-leaders in Women Writing for (a) Change. United in our commitment to living a more conscious life in our lives and work, we function as a community of practice across the miles year-round. But four days each June, we meet in person to renew – ourselves as writers, our connections as wise leaders, our commitment to our work in the world. Looking back at a section of my first and last writings for the weekend, I trace those same three themes:

TODAY I BRING
less of anything and more of everything
than ever before –wanting more
time to write, to complete

what started with such promise
and keeps morphing
into more, then less

I arrive here emptied, prompted only
by desire to attend and attune
to what will fall, to fill

By Sunday, my words had become:

MORNING GRATITUDES