The Women's Institute of Maine

As spring blossoms at last across our state, I am reminded to give thanks for being able to count on the promise of each new season and stage in life.  Often what we think we are building may falter, but something else turns out to blossom in unexpected ways and places.  Since the spring Equinox  March 20th, I have been reminded of this blessing again and again, challenging me to remain wide open to what the universe wants me to do, and letting go of any delusion that I hold the wheel, map, or watch.  

What has arisen for me so suddenly and surprisingly has been two opportuntiies to write in national online publications. My three part series, "Feeling Shaky?  Common Ground is on its Way"  is hitting the presses starting this month at www.soulfulliving.com .   In addition, I have been asked to write for "Allies for the Common Good," an online interorganizational newsletter which goes out to the memberships of a dozen of my very favorite women's organizations across the country.  My first article, "Appreciation - A Secret Portal?" will be appearing  on their site, Allies for the Common Good,   within weeks.  We've provided links to these amazing organizations on our global links page.  They include:  Gather the Women Global Matrix, Circle Connections, LightPages, Imagine the Good, Sole2Soul Walk, Women of Spirit and Faith, Spheres Circles, Standing Women, Women Waking the World, Evolutionary Women, Weaving the World, Ways Women Lead, Millionth Circle.

As you may know, I began WIM as an online and in person community hoping to spur and support women's circles across the state.  I have had challenges building a network of circles thus far but I haven't given up yet!   I will soon reveal my big surprise - an international collaboration   I am cultivating this month which will act as a firecracker to light and unite women's circles.  But while I am waiting for the circles to be ready to catch on,  the publishing opportuntieis arrived unexpectedly. Rather than lamenting my "failure" to get circles going, I never lost sight of the absolutely precious lifelong friendships I have made through the circles I have hosted so far.   I've realized that while I thought I was serving others through WIM, the joke was on me, as it is MY life which has become so enriched by the women in WIM.  I am truly in awe of each woman I have met in our circles. You are all remarkable beyond words!!! How lucky am I to know you?  Is there a number beyond gazillion?  

So what this confirms for me once again is that the form our contributions take aren't what matter. Just keep doing what you love and eventually the universe will find just the right niche for your gifts and will shower you with unexpected blessings. But you must let go.  Trust it...Expect it....and don't forget to notice what else has blossomed in your life that you weren't consciously cultivating!  Remember you weren't really in control of the wheel anyway, and something which fits you much better is on its way.

We've made a big decision at our first Action team meeting.

While creating WIM, I've always held a motto, kind of a personal mantra which is for this endeavor to be created with grace and ease, and for whatever we create to be light and lean. I pledged  this once again to the action team last weekend at our retreat.  No one needs another obligation. What we create needs to be synergistic, done with joy, and must offer to give us back what we put in and more. We work smarter, meeting multiple goals at once and thinking outside the box to new ways of being and doing. It's very exciting! We are consciously creating from a brand new paradigm, one largely outside the old, money-based, limited access one. The team embraced this concept (It didn't hurt that we had the alternate human capital guru of Maine, Linda Hogan, the Director of of Portland Time Dollars, in our midst! Thank my lucky stars!)  

A huge step in this direction is that we have decided that membership will remain free for anyone who wants to use it - forever. As the need arises, we may ask for support (which will aim to be  absolutely guilt free!) and will produce sellable products and services. It is important to say that this does NOT mean we are repeating the thought that women's work is not "valuable" enough to ask for remuneration. In fact, our belief is that it is invaluable and priceless. Money is just one form of energy and the important thing is to not block the circular flow of reciprocal energy. Therefore, we hold a faith that abundance and flow is already ours in this community. We support and are supported. What we need flows towards us with grace and ease, and out to our community with grace and ease. We are part of a self-reinforcing system!

So spread the word.  Membership is free and everyone is welcome, even males who honor and appreciate their feminine side!  

Dear sisters,

After a powerful and energizing retreat in Boothbay Harbor,  I am pleased to announce we now have formed an action team to guide WIM now and into the future.  This action team will take on the name, "The WIM Guiding Circle." 

The sacred wisdom circle we've been holding for three months (and were referring to as the Guiding Circle) will seed four new wisdom circles, each autonomous and based in one place - one in Falmouth, one in South Portland, one in Dayton, one in Portland, and a weaving circle based out of Scarborough that will travel to each of the other circles occassionally to "weave" them all together.  

While we always welcome more to our action circle (or any circle for that matter), those who have already made consistently invaluable conributions of heart and spirit to this creation are:  Bonnie-kate Allen, Jackie Belanger, Anni Campbell, Joan Candelmo, Joyce Donald, Tammie Fowles, Jill Hackett, Linda Hogan, Laurie McCammon, and Linda Stilphen.  I also want to express my deepest gratitude (and admiration) to Deborah Knighton Tallarico, Linda Stilphen, and Andrea Ferrante, the owners of the healing centers who have enthusiastically offered to host our three new women's wisdom circles. Their anchoring is an invaluable gift and an important part of our plans. We hope our circles will add to their abundance and further success. 

I wish to thank ALL of these gifted and deeply wise and talented women for helping me to hold and nurture the vision and provide the energy for the Women's Institute of Maine. I am truly humbled by the collective power and insight generated when we all come together in the spirit of service and sisterhood!.......  Wow!  We're really doing it!

Keep it spiraling upwards, sisters!

Warmly,

Laurie McCammon

Founding Collaborator of WIM

WIM is for me a little dream whose time has come. The past couple years have been somewhat grim for women in our state, with the folding of our state's only women's magazine, funding drying up for Maine Cooperative Extension's Beauty Inside Out program and Eleanor Days Retreat, and the dissolution of USM's Center for Continuing Education Enrichment program and along with it the venerable Women in Management Conference.

As the economy tightens, we have a tendency to pull back spending time and money on nurturing ourselves and our dreams. Many wonderful workshops and conferences go empty or cease to go on. We stop investing in ourselves. Yet in lean times, it seems we should do just the opposite. What investment is more worthy than our very selves? Material things pale in comparison to simple joys like time spent in nature, time spent expressing our creativity, losing ourselves in our most heartfelt dreams. An investment in ourselves often assures us the largest and most certain dividends.

This may be a time of economic constriction, but let's not let it be a time of constriction of the human spirit. I hope WIM will contribute to the rekindling of the flame which burns within, offering new and exciting opportunties for women to come together to learn, grow and share. In these times, we are guided to build light and lean, and so we've built WIM intentionally with very low overhead, and all volunteer. We build only what we can sustain long term, and we do it together by whatever moves and attracts us most deeply as individuals. No guilt, no top-down directives, no piling on of volunteer responsibilities. We are simply a collective of women leading ourselves from within our own hearts who recognize the amazing multiplying effect of sharing and combining our gifts.

I hope WIM will be a place you choose to come to incubate your dreams, to find helpmates, mentors, and kindred spirits and to share your many gifts with the world. I invite you to connect with us and help us to expand the circle! I am truly grateful for your good company and wish for your fondest dreams to come to fruition.