Embracing Women’s Potential was developed by the Director and Founder, Tisiola Lear, out of her search to find the truth of who she was, whilst experiencing depression.

In her own words “Making changes can be very challenging.” She knows how hard it is to step up and launch a new career, or to really break away from the past pains, mistakes, and griefs.  It is not easy because it is different to what you know.  It requires your willingness and your commitment to do whatever it takes, including things that are risky, uncomfortable, new, worrisome or even painful, and because it requires you to go beyond your “comfort zone.”

But she also knows from experience, how worthwhile it is to take these steps. It is not fulfilling to live a life without passion, loving and positive relationships, good health, freedom, shining your unique brilliance, or doing what you love to do. It is not fulfilling for ourselves, or for the highest good of all. How is that living?

We all know that for a very long time, in fact all through history, women have become the heart and the matriarch of our homes.  However, over recent years women have risen to being the centre of workplaces and beyond.  Some women are business owners, CEOs of companies, Heads of Government; some are studying part-time or full-time, some are working from home, and some are retirees.  Many women are going through or have been through relationship breakdowns, some are at crossroads, some are in transition from a working life to retirement, some are just stuck not knowing what their life is all about, some are lonely, some are looking for their soul mate, and some are seeking peace, love, and connection in order to feel they belong.
 
All of these changes and challenges that women are going through affect them from reaching their full potential and living a life of deep meaning.  These challenges may cause negative and unhealthy outcomes in their lives, such as feeling stressed, overwhelmed, emotionally drained, frustrated, unsupported, lost, unloved, confused, depressed, unmotivated, uninspired, disconnected, and feeling alone. Women often feel fearful and identify themselves with weakness and failure so they don’t speak up and ask for help.  However, there are better ways to embrace our shadow sides, our weaknesses, and vulnerabilities as great gifts for developing our human capacities to reach our highest aspirations.
 

How does Tisiola know this? Because she herself has been there. Here is a little story that will help you understand Tisiola’s journey, how EWP came to be developed.

A few years ago Tisiola’s life was not going very well.  She was on the “go” all of the time being a mother to her three children, a wife and caring for her husband who had an illness that involved a lot of her attention, working to earn a living, as well as running home life.  Her life was so full-on yet she felt so empty inside and was slowly losing herself.

She pretended and became quite numb to her own feelings by taking care of other people’s needs above her own. She had buried herself so deeply with everyone else’s problems that she hid her own pain from herself and others. She tipped out of balance and she finally broke down.

It took a death in her family for her to realise she was scraping the bottom of her barrel which was completely empty. She was diagnosed with clinical depression. She was in the dark – the lights of love, freedom, passion and purpose, were nowhere to be found. The shine had gone from her.

She never felt so alone in her whole life.  She felt like nobody could ever understand what she was going through because, for a very long time, she knew how to be a friend, a wife, a mother, a colleague, a daughter, and a sister but during the time she was unwell she didn’t know “who she was” and others didn’t know how to be themselves around her.
 
The illness kept her off work for twelve months. She had to do things that she wasn’t used to, like going to counselling, taking medication, allowing herself to be looked after… she felt that she was almost forced to take a break.  

Blessed be, she wasn’t in that place for as long as the professionals expected. She had an inner knowing that there had to be more to life than what she was experiencing at the time. So she pushed through the darkness and set out to find some answers.  One morning during her lowest of low, she woke up with a crystal clear vision in her mind.  She saw herself walking on the beach where the water was calm and clear, the sand was absolutely clean and untouched.  She saw herself well and feeling at peace with it all.  And right at that moment, she felt totally well and experienced PEACE that was beyond all understanding.  It was almost like she couldn’t even remember that she was unwell.  Suddenly she felt energised and knew at that moment that everything would be fine.  She didn’t know the “How” nor did she know the “Why” she just had this extreme flow of energy running through her whole being and felt ok with everything.

This was the turning point for her life as she realised that deep inside of her there was a part of her that is connected to all that is well and this peaceful and well place is always there.  At this turning point, she realised that life is beyond limitations and everything is possible.
 
For the first time in her life she did what she called “the inner work.” She literally went inside herself, and activated the world within searching for the answers. She wanted so much to understand “why” and “how” she became ill. The realisations and the findings were huge.  Firstly, she came to realise how disconnected she was to the source of light and love that has been within her all of the time. Secondly, she came to realise how she had forgotten “who she was” that she is truly a part of something far bigger and richer than the self that she knows.  She realised that although she had been through a lot of stuff, good and bad, they were all part of life and they are the essential ingredients for understanding life as a whole. She came to realise that she didn’t really have unique problems, she had unique gifts and purposes and that she was meant to know them instead of being stuck in the problems.  It was at this place that Compassion and Wisdom gave birth to her deep understanding of life.  These two human qualities became the torch for her moving forward.  No longer did she feel disconnected from life but rather she became grateful that LIFE IS, and she is ONLY a part of it.

She then made a vow with herself that she would do whatever it would take to learn to know the truth of who she is and what she is here on earth to do.  She was prepared to lose everything that she previously considered “valuables” that were no longer working in her life.  It is better to gain wisdom and compassion than to accumulate stuff that really had no meaning in her life or helped her to grow.

It then made sense to her after this realisation that if she had experienced these things in her life then there must be other women in the world who are going through the same experiences.  She was so inspired to investigate more.  She then became very interested in studying the human potential and the human capacity.  She wanted so much to understand how her own thinking works and how her emotions affected her behaviour.

She started reading books, Napoleon Hills, Dr David R. Hawkins, Eckhart Tolle, Richard Bandler, John Grinder, Dr Henry Cloud, Dr John Townsend, Marc Allen, Dr Daniel G. Amen, Joseph O’Çonnor, John Seymour, Louise Hay and many more.  She also completed studies in Personal Development - Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) to understand her own mind, her own emotions, and behaviour.  However, during her NLP studies she had an “A HA” moment of the need to create the right mix of support for women in order to make their positive changes happen.  It was at this point that EWP was born.

However it was only recently Tisiola came to her biggest turning point that caused EWP to be reorganised and redeveloped when she met her super ally Dr Jean Houston and began her journey at Meridian University, California, USA. She came to a deeper understanding of the BIG picture plan of the Divine in her life.  She learned that it was through her deep yearning that she understands that the Divine is yearning for us to be more that we are.  It was through her wounding she experienced the Divine’s Love that is not dependent on our own efforts.  She realised the importance of collaboration and co-creating with the Divine and with others in order for women to reach their full potential.   For we all need each other in order to face the huge challenges of our time in multitasking and performing many roles.  Therefore she realises there is a huge need for creating the right mix of support and the right environment in order for deep sharing, transformative learning, and authentic connection to take place. This was her defining moment in her life’s calling to realise the importance of developing a Teaching and Learning community for women to make their positive changes happen in an environment that supports healthy growth, authentic connection and true belonging.

In reflection Tisiola realised how beneficial it is for women to come together in a safe environment of a Teaching and Learning community to share their stories authentically from their hearts without feeling judged or feeling shame - A place where they can learn profound knowledge and practical skills while being supported to share, grow, and express their authentic selves. So through EWP, Tisiola has created this place for other women for transformative learning.   And the point of difference of redeveloping EWP is to include the collaboration and the co-creation of many women from all over the world.  EWP is no longer just about one person’s dreams; it is now an organisation that seeks to embrace the dreams and the stories of many women.  

Therefore EWP was once a dream for Tisiola when she wanted to make a difference in the world, but she now realised that EWP has been transformed from the idea of “I, Me, and Mine” to We, Ours, and Us” where we find true belonging to each other – dreaming and working together for the remaking of our world.