Jan 19, 2021
The Alchemy of Sisterhood
Women united in spiritual circles will awaken the wisdom in each other’s spirit — Shikoba
This week, I enjoyed chatting with my lovely friend and colleague, Andrea Vallely, on my Insightful Conversations show. Andrea and I talked about many things, including the 8-Week Women’s Wellbeing Mastermind we co-facilitate. When Andrea first asked me if I would be interested in working together, I immediately said yes. I didn’t know Andrea very well, but I knew enough to know there was something very special about her. Andrea exudes pure love and joy. Both her smile and laugh are infectious, as is her optimism and zest for life. Who wouldn’t want to spend time with her!
Andrea and I come from entirely different backgrounds. Andrea’s was the quintessential all-American apple pie and ice cream upbringing, and her story is the epitome of some young girl’s dream. She finished high school, graduated college, had a successful career, got married, and had a beautiful, healthy child. Then one day, as Andrea sat in her luxurious home, surrounded by all the material things she had believed would bring her happiness, she couldn’t help but feel something was missing. The feeling that there “has to be more to life” was the start of her long and disparate search for happiness and fulfillment.
My upbringing, on the other hand, was unlike Andrea’s. I grew up in the UK, and my childhood could hardly be described as normal by anyone’s standards. I was one of seven children raised by a single mother. To make money, my mother converted our home into a residential aftercare facility for the mentally disabled. I grew up surrounded by chaos and insanity. That experience led to me spending 30 plus years searching for a way to heal and fix myself.
Ironically, even though Andrea and I had completely different experiences growing up, we both found ourselves thinking, “there has to be more to life than this.” This set us on a lifelong search for happiness and contentment. As self-proclaimed, self-help junkies, we laugh at the amount of time and money we’ve spent training in every conceivable self-improvement modality available to man. Everything from The Course in Miracles, to The Enneagram, to Reiki, Kabbalah, Hinduism, and Buddhism, to name but a few. As much as these various healing modalities improved the quality of our lives, we both felt there was something more to see. Thankfully this search brought us to The Principles, and that’s when we both knew our seeking was over.
Feeling blessed to have come across this understanding, Andrea and I love to share it with as many as possible. That’s when we came up with the idea of holding our Women’s Wellbeing Mastermind. What better place to explore our deeper-nature and the meaning of life than with a group of like-minded women? The women we work with come from all walks of life, ranging from their twenties into their seventies. The remarkable thing is when we share from an open heart, all judgments or sense of separation, age, or socioeconomic barriers dissolve. We are women sharing our stories, our lives, and our shared humanity.
By looking in the direction of the Principles, we learn that our experience of life is created from the inside out. When we see the truth of this, we feel less victimized by life’s events. When we know we are created equal to everyone else, we stop comparing ourselves to others. When we know we are perfect just as we are, we stop trying to fix ourselves. When we know wisdom is within us, guiding us every step of the way, we feel more confident and at ease. When we know we have innate resilience, we are less afraid of what life throws our way.
The alchemy of sisterhood. Magic happens when a circle of women gathers together to raise our levels of consciousness. When we see the psychological innocence in one another, we see it in ourselves. When we feel love and compassion for each other, we, in turn, feel love and compassion for ourselves. When we see ourselves in each other, we feel less separate and less alone in the world.
With love and appreciation, Del💕
