We invite women around the world to join in a week of daily activities for the purpose of preparing ourselves internally and energetically for the Gather the Women event on March 8, 2003. Proposed daily activities are outlined below. We ask that you devote about an hour each day, if possible, to participate in these or similar activities with a circle of at least two other women.

March 3: A Day of Prayer and Meditation

On this first day we invite women to form a resonant field of energy by joining in prayer with millions of women throughout the world as we prepare ourselves to gather on March 8.

Bless the time you have set aside, whether hours, days or the entire week.
Engage in sacred retreat with the billions of women all over the world,
joined in a circle of love for ourselves and our Earth.
Connect with Spirit—in whatever form you envision the divine—
in an energetic field of meditation and prayer
invoking global peace and renewal.

RETREAT
—to the fullest extent you are able—
from the worldly activities of shopping, driving and working.

March 4: A Day of Introspection, Reflection and Contemplation

On this second day we invite women to take an inward journey, examining how you've arrived at this place in your journey, reflecting on your contributions and the contributions of untold millions of women who have helped pave the way to the creation of this moment in time, and contemplating the power of billions of women joining their spirits and their energies to create together a world where all life is appreciated and held sacred.

Take walks in, or envision, nature.
Contemplate until you feel the real
and wondrous connection
between you and every living thing.
Sense in the soil, in the trees, in the murmur of air
the presence of our ancestors.
Reflect on the women of your own family,
stretching back into antiquity
and forward culminating in you.
Hold in your mind's eye the eons of women,
their strength and vulnerability, all they held dear
and all that they mourned.
Honor their pain with your attentiveness.
Feel their legacy as a seed that you carry.
Let the tears come.
Pledge with all your heart to end
the suffering of our sisters.

March 5: A Day of Healing and Forgiveness

On this third day we encourage women to take all the pain from their inward journey— all the pain that women and children and all humanity has endured throughout the ages—and bring it into a healing circle of love and forgiveness. Without forgiveness for what is past, we cannot move forward in the spirit and energy of creating positive change in our future. Let us acknowledge our grief, mourn for what has been, release the past and move powerfully forward from a place of love for our planet and all humanity.

Release any energy you still hold in past hurts,
either done to you or of your doing.
Let go of concerns about forgetting them or not,
about their merit or circumstance.
Recognize resentment as energy trapped in your cells.
Deal gently with your feelings
in ways you feel appropriate—
write them and consign them to the fire,
transform them into poetry,
speak them to whomever you must.
Reclaim your vitality.
Pledge to expand your caring beyond your own home
to our global home, in the service of peace.

March 6: A Day of Connecting and Visioning

On this fourth day we invite women to set aside time for sharing from the heart, storytelling, listening to one another and being heard. Let this be a day when we open our hearts and feel our oneness with all women around the world, and from that place of oneness, envision a world in which all life is held sacred—a balanced world of harmony and peace.

Share your stories.
Listen with care,
attending even to the spaces between words.
Take in deeply how unique life journeys bring each of us
to distinct ways of being in the world.
Imagine our dissimilarities as cells in a body,
each with specific and vital tasks.
Feel how we all together
—including animals, rivers, the teeming of space—
make up the whole.
Recognize prejudice and cruelty in any form
as errors in thinking.
Dream together what a good economy would look like.
Vow to work for the well-being of all.

March 7: A Day of Purposeful Action

On this fifth day we invite women to take some action that will plant the positive seeds of change we wish to see in the world.

Speak up!
Discover the power of your words
and actions to create positive change.
Make requests for products and solutions
that nurture the environment
and reduce dependence on oil.
Increase your consumption
of healthy non-modified foods
and cut the use of animal products.
Support businesses with ethics.
Insist on the same from your local, state
and national governments.
Call, write and meet with your
congressional representatives.
Vote as if your life depends on it.

Whatever issues touch your heart,
educate yourself and brainstorm solutions.
Start petitions or letter-writing campaigns.
Write press releases.
Urge media to inform you accurately.
Inadequate response?
Make a list of products they advertise,
and tell the media source AND their sponsors
you will not buy their products until they comply—
THEN DO IT!
Frequent websites with conscientious information
and action resources.
Participate in vigils and peace marches.
Organize or join boycotts.

Walk, bike, take the bus, and leave your car at home.
Invest in a water filter, and fill your water bottles from home.
Form or join a group that supports peace and justice —
and contribute your time, talent and treasure.

March 8: A Day of Gathering, Inspiration and Celebration

Gather for celebration and inspiration.
Invite every woman you can think of —
family and friends, neighbors and acquaintances,
co-workers and community members.
Find and connect with women
who are passionate about the same causes.
Make plans to continue and deepen your call
to working and visioning together.
Plan to celebrate every success, no matter how small.

March 9: A Day of Gratitude and New Beginnings

On this seventh day may all humanity bask in the energy of gratitude for the healing that has begun during this historic week and to move forward together from a new place of being—a place of empowerment, commitment to positive action, partnership, love, compassion and joy. This is the first day we begin living Harmony's Way.

Give thanks for the connections made, for the movement begun,
and for the steps we've taken forward into a future
of peace and prosperity for all beings.

See the days of your lives stretch out before you,
each an opportunity to make daily changes.
Beginning today, consider the consequences of every act.
Still using Premarin?
Switch to a natural hormone replacement and
save the lives of innocent horses.
Not sure about the company that makes your favorite product?
Research it through the internet or library.
Buy only from companies that respect
workers, animals and the environment.
Pause before making any purchase and truly consider it.
Do you really need it?
What is its impact on the environment and
on the workers who produced it?

The future is in our hands.