Celebrating is a big part of our culture at Wings. We celebrate big things, little things, and everything in between. Many of the women who come to Wings have never been truly celebrated for who they are or the things they have accomplished. What an honor it is to get to celebrate the wonderful people God created them to be. Learning to celebrate the person that they are involves learning more about themselves. One of my favorite groups is called personal discovery. Personal discovery is a curriculum where the women have the opportunity to learn more about their personality, strengths, gifts and values in order to heighten self-awareness. To begin learning more about their personality we learn about the enneagram. The enneagram describes nine personality types and utilizes a diagram that maps out how each type relates to one another. What I appreciate about the enneagram is that it doesn’t just look at the behaviors a person is exhibiting. Each personality type has a core belief that drives them. Those core beliefs impact the way a person perceives and interacts with the world around them. As we begin to understand our core beliefs, we begin to understand the motivation for why we do what we do. We spend time learning about each of the different personalities and invite the women to pay attention to which core belief they resonate with the most. They begin to answer the question, “why do I do what I do?” Although there are just nine core personalities, each person is still very much unique in how they experience the world. We celebrate the uniqueness of each woman that walks through our doors and as they gain more awareness of themselves they can also begin to celebrate the person that they are. As we come to the end of another round of learning about the enneagram, we have seen so much curiosity and growth. The more self-aware they become, the more understanding and grace they begin to have with themselves. All of this leads to growth and healing. What a joy it is to get to celebrate them.
By: Education Director, Wings of Refuge
