ENRICHING OUR INNER SELVES: LEADERSHIP OF THE HEART SEMINAR PART I SESSION II: SELF VALUE
On a freshly rained afternoon in Washington, DC, 30 people full-heartedly participated in an experiential educational seminar on the topic of self-value/self-worth, healing our inner child, and transforming ourselves through unconditional love.
The WFWP DC, Maryland, and Virginia chapters co-hosted the Leadership of the Heart Seminar series for the 2nd time this year on Saturday, September 8th at The Washington Times. This time it was Part I Session II on Self-Value/Self-Worth, a follow up to Session I on Spirituality. (Read about the first session here)
What a richly packed afternoon! It started with a beautiful rendition of “You Raise Me Up” sung by Ahna Stewart, creating a high and light atmosphere. This set the stage for Angelika Selle, President of WFWP USA, who gave a brief introduction to WFWP USA and the latest news from the Founder directly from Korea, reminding us of the vision of WFWP and sparking inspiration and hope for the future. President Selle then introduced the Leadership of the Heart seminar series, which is a three-part series with three sessions within each part. She conveyed the essence of what leading with heart means — that it is a femininely and masculinely balanced form of leadership, which is strongly rooted in knowing our Creator’s heart and knowing our God-given gifts and talents. She also emphasized that the feminine style of leadership has been overlooked for the better part of history; we are here now to highlight it and bring forth the unique, powerful leadership style women innately have.
Tanya Selle, Chairwoman of the WFWP MD Chapter, then delved into the heart of the session, exploring the topic of Self-Value/Self-Worth, the tools to continue developing it in our lives, and how to begin healing things that may have caused low self-worth. She emphasized that a real leader of the heart knows their true value and feels their divine worth because it is from that place of security and unconditional self-love and self-care that one can love and serve others most genuinely and to the fullest.
Throughout the talk, she led the group through various journaling exercises, discussions and meditations to get to the core of where our value comes from and how to come to realize our innate divineness, including declaring affirmations and taking power stances to increase immediate confidence! She also handed out a “Cheat Sheet” for building confidence when you need a quick fix to feel your value more.
Ms. Selle asked the participants to look and feel deeply into themselves, to bring back that inner child who knows they are fully loved and valued, as it is from that place of healing and love that we can feel our full worth as a fully valued and loved unique child of God. Several participants shared honest, insightful, and deep experiences from the meditations and discussions. One participant said that during one of the meditations where they envisioned their innocent inner child, she had a visceral skin-touch flashback to when she was a small child learning to write the alphabet and had such a hard time doing it. She was not able to write anything until her teacher embraced her from behind whilst guiding her hand to write each letter. She had felt so accepted, supported and loved, and it was only through that experience that she was able to begin to write. Deep sharings continued, tears were shed, support and love were felt by all.
To drive the points home, expert additional speakers gave illuminating and extremely enriching presentations. The first was Nana Nazeeha Howard, a Music Therapist, who gave an in-depth session on music meditation. With the help of a gong and zither, one-by-one she played these instruments around each participant, clearing their hearts and energies, and guiding them to receive the love that flowed as a result. Many participants felt connected to each other and felt the support of the entire universe — the spirit realm and the earth. It felt as though the beautiful forestry right outside the windows was looking in on everyone, showering them with love and grace.
Another powerful speaker was Sarah Oben, a Life Coach, who spoke about Beauty from the Inside Out. She guided the participants through discussions and asked them to dig deep into what they felt were their inward and outward beauty traits. Ms. Oben emphasized that by truly embracing and highlighting both those inward and outward traits of beauty, they are being generous to the world. Looking good in its own right is sharing with the world their most unique expression and creation that God made. She, therefore, introduced a DIY makeover online program called Dressing Your Truth which anyone can use as a tool to define and dress by their general “energy type” to feel their truest selves being expressed in outward form.
As 50% of the seminar fee was being donated to the Schools of Africa projects, Elizabeth Aihe, Chairwoman of the DC Chapter, gave a brief presentation on the schools in Africa, sharing about how some of the graduates are excelling in the business world there. Minister Chi Mauuso, Co-Chairwoman of the WFWP DC Chapter, also shared about the Day of Service annual service project event which is occurring on Oct. 18th in Washington, DC. Mark it in your calendars if you can make it to support!
To complete the program, we had a Toast to Peace and enjoyed our time afterward with delicious homemade snacks. To complement the seminar and the message of inner and outer beauty, a WFWP MD member, Mary Holden, sold jewelry, where 40% of the profits went to the Schools of Africa projects as well.
A huge thanks goes out to, Angelika Selle, Elizabeth Aihe, Zena Ruf, Tanya Selle, Emaculate Mungye, Vicki Phelps, Minister Chi Mauuso, Dottie Chiquelo, Emiko Butler, Li Ping Gardiner, Jane Karimi, Wasana Catalan, Judie LeJeune, Ahna Stewart, Otmar Weinmann, Rev. Randy Francis, and other volunteers. They were a united and harmonious team, which created a warm, inviting, festive, safe, rejuvenating, empowering, inspiring environment for all to take home with them in their hearts.
We are delighted to announce that the next seminar will be held on Saturday, October 20th. It will feature the Leadership of the Heart Seminar Part I Session III: Emotional Maturity.
Reflections:
Elizabeth Aihe, Chairwoman, WFWP DC
“The seminar had a different flavor, we had 4 speakers each give a moving presentation. 1. Angelika Selle, our President gave a heartfelt intro to WFWP and LOH which clarified the purpose and vision. We felt the Founder’s Heart. 2. Tanya Selle spoke on "Self Value", she gave us some tools we can use whenever we feel not worthy or in doubt of our self-value. Also, we were able to feel calm through the meditation she guided us through. 3. Sarah Oben reminded us how beauty inwardly and outwardly can affect how we feel about ourselves. 4. Nana Nazeeha Howard, the music therapist played the zither harp and used a singing bowl/gong; through sound and vibrations, participants were able to feel a sense of peace and some healing. Overall we were all inspired, uplifted, empowered and transformed inside.”
Zena Ruf, Chairwoman, WFWP VA
“I felt like everyone who attended the Leadership of the Heart Event on Saturday afternoon had an enjoyable and meaningful experience. We had plenty of food, snacks, coffee, and tea. One sister was fascinated by the jewelry being sold to support WFWP’s Schools of Africa project; others, even those who had been with WFWP since its beginning, were able to gain new insights and information into its development and outreach. One person shared with me how inspired she was that WFWP had developed and grown so much since its beginning in 1992 after she heard the introduction to WFWP presented by WFWP President Angelika Selle.
I was moved by the unique experience in the music healing session given by Nana Nazeeha Howard, Music Therapist. She used vibrations of both a harp and a gong to help us experience love and peace. I had a beautiful and peaceful vision in my meditation during one of the musical vibrational sessions. I think we were all intrigued and mesmerized by the experience. The time went by very quickly as we sat in a semi-circle experiencing the vibrations of the different instruments and the special scent that she sprayed near each one of us. We were each able to experience how our Creator loves each one of us.
There was also an excellent presentation by Sarah Oben who explained that there are four energy levels and that we can take an online survey to find out which energy level we are, and then based on that we can find out what kind of clothes – colors and textures - will suit our personality the best. She explained how this program had really helped her and one of the best things about it is it is free.
Finally, the Understanding our Self Value presentation was given by Tanya Selle, MD Chapter Chairwoman. She guided us through understanding how we have limited ourselves in understanding our true value by asking us different questions that we answered in our sharing with our pair partner. For example, we shared the way we limited our own selves in how we understood our value and then discussed how we could counteract that negative thinking. In my case, I realized I needed to change my self-criticism into thinking about things that I feel I have done right or that I have done well rather than dwelling on my inadequacies. I felt a very warm embracing and accepting atmosphere in the room as we all strived to realize our value and to free ourselves from judging both ourselves and judging others and from comparing our situation to another’s situation. We all have a lot to work on, but I am looking forward to the next session on emotional maturity where we can go deeper into discovering our true and original selves and how we can work to establish an emotional maturity that will help us to become true leaders of the heart.”
Matthew Goldberg, Member, WFWP MD
“My guest and I enjoyed the warm hospitality of the Women's Federation staff in Washington, DC where we attended your seminar on Self Esteem. From the moment we arrived, we could feel it would be special. Our hostess and MC, Emaculate, was warm and embracing, always smiling and encouraging us to share. The variety of topics and the skills of the women who presented was marvelous to behold. Intergenerational sharing was especially uplifting to me. The music therapy session went far beyond expectations, cleansing our hearts and our spirits. We departed the program with our spirits (and our tummies) full and joyful. Thank you so much to the Maryland, Virginia and DC Women's Federation Chapters for a great program. I will look forward to future events.”
