Sisterhood: A Surprising Secret for Happiness and Success

​Are you longing for a circle of women friends who make you feel at home despite the constant overwhelm of day-to-day life?

Have you lost sight of yourself and the hopes and visions you once had?

You're consumed by pressure to succeed no matter which way you turn. There's a job to maintain, the partner to please or gain, the future to secure, maybe the children to raise into brilliant brains. All of this while you've placed yourself on the back burner of your own life.

Until one fine day, you find yourself in a battle you've mainly fought alone, that has left you now bleeding on the ground. Exhausted with a slew of self-deprecating thoughts.

What if there were a sisterhood, a women's circle, a group of ladies just like you to pick you up and straighten you out? To show you how to ignite your courage and self-esteem and guide you back to passion and purpose?

Luckily, there is.

What the heck is a sisterhood anyway?

"Because there's only one thing stronger than magic: sisterhood" – Maya Angelou

Sisterhood, also known as a women’s circle, is an incredibly powerful network of women. They come together from all walks of life ready to join hands, hearts, and minds for a more significant cause. Think of it as solidarity—that brings and holds us together based on shared values, ethics, or similar interests and aspirations.

It's like an inner group of sisterly friends with whom you encounter and groom love, kindness, appreciation, and much more—emotions many of us have long deprived ourselves of. Or worse, compete with each other for.

 So sisterhood really is—as Tara Isis of Wild Woman Sisterhood says

“an environment where women connect and in respect and quality.”
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As such it holds a sacred space for its members—for their disappointment, slips, and bruises. And a space to unleash the great powers that lie within each one of us. When we finally connect to these forces, there's no holding us back.

Why do we all need sisterhood?

“When we gather there is a collective power to heal, find our voice, rise up and make a difference.” — unknown

Sisterhoods bring the best of qualities in women to the surface, once we learn to accept them as our own and begin to refine and make use of them. The list of benefits is long, so let's just take a brief look at some of them:

• Bonding: As social beings, we need bonding, though we often find ourselves lost in quite the opposite. But when we learn to support and hold each other in sisterhood, we regrow our ability to solidify our identities beyond the limitations they place on us. Strong bonding among women provides the impetus to lift us into our future success.
• Empowering: Feelings of unworthiness, shame, and guilt often paint the sky dark, making it challenging for us to find our precious jewel underneath all of this. Sisterhoods are about freeing ourselves from these wrongly held beliefs and traps and pointing toward the powers of gratitude and creation of empowerment.
• Belonging: Belonging is a sense of feeling at home with one another, where we exchange emotions and thoughts without judgment. Belonging is about supporting the group and standing up for each other.  And it shapes our renewed understanding of our relationships with one another.​

          “We are all looking for a tribe, a place where we feel we belong” – The Expat Woman 
       

• Mentoring: Mentoring plays a vital role in sisterhoods and grooming their members. Reciprocity in sharing and seeking advice is key to overcoming self-sabotaging behaviors by growing confidence and courage to pursue the life we really want. Without mentoring, we'd be back to square one. The benefits that result from experiencing and developing these qualities are phenomenal. You see shy, old, young, insecure, abused or poor women stepping out of their comfort zones, equipped with a new dash of self-confidence. You now brave life with your more authentic self. And as you grow, you share and pull each other up and even further forward.

“Sisterhood is the underlying force behind feminism, and even unites women who don’t know one another. It’s about a nurturing type of love, and an empathy for each person’s life experience" – Norbert Juma, Everyday Power

How a sisterly way forward pays off

Sisterhoods harness the collective power and energy of like-minded women. Pay It Forward is such a sisterhood — a sponsorship based support that is passed on—from one woman to another.

Its founder, Merry Lynch, a survivor of sexual and verbal abuse, today claims

"Without the emotional and financial support of other women, my life most likely would have taken a turn for the worse."

Driven by her longing to reciprocate the help she got when she needed it the most, Merry has created this platform to help women in need to come together and experience what a sisterhood member describes so well:

“Because of you donating I was able to attend without guilt. Being able to just stop and think about what it is that I truly want! And now, I am paying it forward for other survivors of sex trafficking to go through the experience as well! This is the ripple effect of your generosity! — Catherine Wilson

Merry’s sisterhood uses a variety of vision board techniques (check out Rosemary Bointon's post on Your Vision Board: How to Live your Dream Now +Examples) that profoundly help you to discover the unique path you're on along with the ins and outs of human behaviors and emotional intelligence. It brings women together in on-line events, offers mentorship and emotional support. It's a place where you mutually assist each other in your individual quest for growth.

The women bring a ton of experience to the table, which they're often unaware of. Not surprisingly, some shyly express their dreams for the first time in the sacred space the weekly meetings hold. These same women can support another woman through the Pay It Forward Sisterhood. And so the journey continues.

”I have taken Merry Lynch's Vision Board Workshop class six times over the years. It has been such a beneficial tool in helping me visualize my goals whether they be for my business, personal, health or relationship. When she announced the Pay It Forward Sisterhood program and the ability to be able to sponsor another woman, I put my hand up immediately. It is so exciting to be able to nudge another woman to take the time and assess her life – Bridgette Vermette

And by the way...it's no myth.

There's a myriad of possibilities once we strip ourselves of the pain from ignoring our dreams and goals and begin to chase them instead.

"My vision board has helped me to make my goals concrete." - Katarina/Czech Republic

Are you ready to stand up for a future filled with the powers of sisterhood?

You're in a room full of women raising a toast to each other's success. As your proudly walk around you sense a festive feeling of belonging. There's support, friends, sisters and a community you wholeheartedly love. You've teamed up and jointly helped each other on your path.

You’ve allowed yourself to be seen while demonstrating bravery and courage. You’ve experienced the powers you and others have and what can happen if both unite.

You’ve understood what sisterhood is all about—that it’s more than just a bunch of women. That it’s a path to sisterly freedom that leads to travel, to love, passion and purpose, to a new job or simply to the abundance life has to offer.
This could be you. All you have to do is reach out to us.

Have a look at what the Pay It Forward Sisterhood can do for you! Click the image below....

 
Guest Blogger: Kerstin Krause
Kerstin Krause is a certified content writer, a seasoned traveler who's walked her talk, a passionate writer on the stuff life teaches us, an aspiring motorbike rider and so much more. She currently publishes on medium.com where you can find more of her work.
https://medium.com/@kerstin.i.krause

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