Running Into Joy

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently spent a long weekend in Salem, Massachusetts. My primary reason for going was to join The Sisters Enchanted in a weekend of self-reflection and exploration of Tarot, astrology, and other "weird stuff," as my boyfriend describes it. The truth is, I've felt something of a lack of community with other women lately. The hard, beautiful truth of making friends in college & grad school is that they become deeply, truly your people and then they go off into the world. Bits and pieces of my heart are scattered all across the country, where I often do a terrible job of checking in with them (hello, you know who you are, I hope you are well). So the idea of spending a long weekend in a house full of women spoke to me on a deep, soul level as a way to experience the connection I craved. Of course, it helped that I'd heard good things about Salem from friends who visited and was craving an adventure, so when I got the chance to ...

Last week, I spent a long weekend in Salem, Massachusetts with a group of witchy women called The Sisters Enchanted. It was one of my many "let's make a leap right now!" moments, where I threw myself wildly out of my comfort zone in hopes of growing and learning something new about myself. I'll probably post more about the trip in the days to come, but the reason I mention it now is this: I spent a lot of time reflecting during the trip.  The drive from Pittsburgh to Salem (and back again) is over 9 hours, and my carpool companion and I spent a decent chunk of it quietly watching the road go by. It's been so long since I've let myself be silent. With podcasts, audiobooks, Facebook, Twitter, the world is so full of input. You can consume something every minute of every day, and I realized that I had been. I'd filled all the quiet spaces with voices, information, music, the works. And while I love this easy accessibility, it can create distance from t...