Meeting change-makers for women’s rights and girls’ education on Women’s Journey to Kenya, living in a straw hut on a pilgrimage to India, studying political history through art in Spain, climbing mountains in Norway—these adventures have enriched my life.
Fulfilling a lifelong dream to visit the Taj Mahal. Then on to the ashram for study, meditation and lessons on how to live with sister pilgrims in a grass hut.
As a single woman traveler each new journey calls me to consider how to prepare. What to pack? How to stay well and energized? Who are the other travelers? Will they like me? Will I like them? What do I hope to get from this trip? What lessons will I learn?
Here are my sister travelers at one of many meals together in Central Kenya. Not only would we meet so many Kenyan women, but we’d learn a lot about each other.
There is another question often unasked: what role will my sister travelers play in my journey? More crucial: how will my attitude towards others affect the experience? Choosing a positive attitude allows us to empower ourselves to bring acceptance and appreciation to individual personalities and group interactions as well as to circumstances beyond our control.
We stepped deeply into the lives of the Kenyan women and learned how sisterhood is the very fabric of their lives. They can’t imagine living without it.
I learned this on an international women’s trip years ago. As women attempted to find their place in the group, there were some awkward and uncomfortable moments. We think we are above petty judgments, but in times of stress old habits of comparing and judging can surface.
In my naivete, planning did not include the question of how to travel with my sister travelers.
For 16 days in a remote region of Kenya, we explored together. While traveling between locations we enjoyed fascinating conversations led by Linda and Paul about the culture, history, politics and economics of Kenya.
The question for me now is: what attitude will I choose that will serve my well-being while respecting the well-being of others? Will I choose to uplift myself and others by being positive or will I become mired in negativity?
I now know it’s okay if a group of women with different life experiences and expectations and different hopes and dreams struggle a bit to find common ground as they share a common journey.
We felt a heartwarming sense of sisterhood among all as we celebrated our time together with the women of Athwana, a rural village near Meru
The lesson: Be prepared to choose what habit of mind you will adopt when you travel with other women. Let go of petty differences and embrace the wonder of the journey.
After all, when we are in that place of wonder together every Global Heart Journey can be filled with joy!
Choosing joy on the journey
