Peace Starts with Me—Leadership of the Heart Seminar (WFWP USA)

WFWP Brooklyn NY Chapter
Written by: Katarina Connery

It was a beautiful spring day in New York City when the WFWP Brooklyn hosted its very first Leadership of the Heart seminar on April 23, 2022. With spirits high and smiling faces, 16 people gathered to be refreshed, reconnect to their inner hearts, and dig into how we can each be a positive catalyst for peace. Mrs. Katarina Connery, WFWP Vice President, gave the presentations which are designed to bring out the powerful leader that is within each person and to offer tools to make peace a reality within each person’s life, family, community, nation and the world.

One of the main highlights for the day included tearful readings of letters to God, as an exercise in tapping into our own unique spirituality as the foundation for peace leadership. Through the session on self-worth, the women shared deeply and openly about some of the challenges of being women in a spiritually toxic environment which can define our value by external things and how to change our inner dialogue based on self-love. In the final session on emotional maturity, each person shared so much wisdom and life experiences about the fears which can hold us back and how to make a conscious shift to trust and faith. Throughout the seminar, a core theme became apparent: the necessity to have a strong connection to God, our Creator, and the divine within us in order to be the change we would like to see in the world.

Overall, it was a refreshing and uplifting way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Joy and laughter were shared amongst the women (and one husband!), many of whom were meeting each other for their first time. And we felt encouraged that there are many other like-minded peace seekers who are taking to heart the philosophy that “peace starts with me.”

If you would like to know more about the Leadership of the Heart seminar click here. Read below for some of the reflections and feedback from participants:

Participants were asked, “What was something that was significant, meaningful, or inspiring?” Here are a few responses.

“Meditations, writing a letter to God. I could organize my mind according to the subject through meditation. Writing something on the paper helped me communicate with myself.”

“Hearing and being able to share experiences and techniques. I want to be able to look back at my journal and experience here to compare my future choices.”

“Spiritual maturity. I love people but I would not hesitate to tell them the truth and sometimes that hurts. I learned today that I can be authentic without offending my friend. Thanks to Katarina, a great teacher.”

“Writing a letter to God. I have not written a letter to God, I am ashamed to say, in years. Telling God how much I love him and being repentful for not loving my brothers and sisters as I should. Program was well coordinated, well done!”

“The kindness in all the people, especially the WFWP members, makes everyone feel welcomed.”

“I learn to be more open and sharing about how I feel. I feel good knowing there are not a lot of people like me. I learned a lot of positive things!!!”

“It was light, inspirational and insightful, good insight.”