Connect to Your Soul's Beauty {Mini-Pilgrimage Day 3}
Hello Sexy Pilgrims!
Welcome to Day 3 of the Romance & Adventure Mini-Pilgrimage! Wasn't it awesome delighting in all of our senses yesterday!? (Get caught up here on all the days). Did anyone kiss their cheeks with a piece of citrus fruit, by chance? ;) I love seeing your pics on Instagram! Keep them coming! Tag them @morgandaycecil #RAchallenge so I see them.
Finding our soul’s beauty does that--it gives us a tremendous freedom from worry.
- St John of the Cross
One of hardest things for me to do after I found out I was pregnant was to look at myself in the mirror and trust the woman I saw. I wasn't married and I wasn't planning on becoming a mom anytime soon, but sometimes these things happen.
To say I was unprepared is an understatement. Even though I was 26, I felt like I was 15. I was terrified.
All I could see in the mirror were the numerous mistakes I had made and the wrong turns I had taken. I felt very ill-fit to be a mom, to say the least. I wasn't convinced my own heart was good, so how could I be trusted to care for child?
As my belly grew, and my body and my emotions became more and more unfamiliar, I felt painfully disconnected from life as a whole.
Then...a small, but miraculous healing took place.
I picked up my camera and began to take a few self portraits documenting this life inside of me (now 7 months along).
There I was, in a still, objective frame. It was hard to recognize the woman I saw, but I knew she wasn't bad.
She was someone who I didn't know anymore, but I wanted to know her.
Studying the photos, I saw a human being who wasn’t evil or untrustworthy or unfit for motherhood. She was a woman who was doing the best she could. She was someone who needed love, just like everybody else. She was someone I wanted to befriend.
In those photos I connected to my soul’s beauty in a way I never had before. And connecting to her in this way freed me momentarily from all the worries I felt as a soon-to-be-single mom.
The circumstances of my life had not shifted one degree for the better that afternoon, but the experience of my circumstances changed tremendously.
Connecting to my body, by way of honoring the female form, allowed me to get present and check-in with the deepest part of me.
For months I had been stuck in my brain where worrying about the future had me going in circles of anxiety and fear. Photographing my belly and my womanly body helped me to drop down into my womb where I was surprised to feel both grounded and confident.
This was a place free of judgement and self-criticism.
This was a place of compassion and love.
From this place I knew that my son and I would have a good life together.
Life doesn't have to be perfect in order to be wonderful.
Your appearance doesn't have to be perfect in order to be wonderful.
Your marriage doesn't have to be perfect in order to be wonderful.
Your sex-life doesn't have to be perfect in order to be wonderful.
Your house doesn't have to be perfect in order to be wonderful.
Your children don't have do be perfect in order to be wonderful.
You don't have to be perfect in order to be wonderful.
Find your soul's beauty in the skin that you are in and give yourself the gift of acceptance and unconditional love. In the words of St. John of the cross, this is a "tremendous freedom from worry."
You don't have to wait any longer for the connection you desire. You are worthy of connection and self-love, now.
Today's Practice
Take a selfie. Breathe.
Now look at your photo.
Breathe again. With love.
Smile gently as a gesture of self-acceptance.
Ask your heart to tell you about what she sees.
Who is this body? Who is the is face? What is it that lights this woman up in love?
There is something magical that happens when we engage these question from a place of self-compassion instead of critique and comparison.
(I know how hard it is and that is why I am reminding you to breathe.)
Being a woman, I know how strong the desire is to connect and to feel connected to body, heart, mind and soul.
Here is how we can:
Approach yourself with tender self-accetance. Get good at loving the parts of who you are (thighs? ambition? breasts? clumsiness?) that you have deemed unlovable.
I've taught my Sophias this secret to feminine wholeness and I'll teach it to you, too, because it's key to feeling the connection with life we desire:
We love ourselves into wholeness.
Love makes us whole. Not dieting, or detoxing, or getting married or getting divorced, or buying a bigger house, or having kids or not having kids and traveling the world.
Only love.
This means no more inner war. No more waiting. No more separating off pieces of you and hiding those pieces from the light of Love. All parts of you deserve Love, and need your love.
Your heart is good (and so is your body). That is a core truth. Your past can't change that. May you believe that.
Grace & Peace,
Morgan
p.s. I can't wait to see our selfies on Instagram! Tag @morgandaycecil @romanceandadventure #RApilgrimage so I can cheer you on.
CORE TRUTH: Your heart is good (and so is your body).
Meet Your Guide
Hi! I'm Morgan. I wanted to share a little about me for those who are new here! (Welcome!)
I come from a personal and family history of anxiety and depression. That dark world almost swallowed me whole, but it didn't; I found the path of romance, adventure and feminine wholeness instead.
By way of yoga and meditation and overcoming my own struggles with womanhood- from sex and food, relationships and to self-worth, motherhood and career-- I found my way into my current work as an Integrated Feminine Wholeness Coach specializing in Sex, Love & Relationships.
I am so in love with this job where I get to partner with incredible woman (like you!) to help them FEEL in their bodies and soul what they are made to feel. I hope this Mini-Pilgrimage gives you a taste of what's possible when you come home to yourself.
My all time favorite quote is "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." That sums up the message of Jesus to me, perfectly. It's always and forever about Love.
Fun facts: My husband and I sometimes do a podcast called Sexy Tuxedo Jesus. I've held many fun jobs including flight attendant and pole-dancing instructor. I'm a mom of two. We live in Portland, Or. But I escape to warm places as often as possible. My favorite place is Italy and I'll be there with 9 of you in July for the Sophia Embodied Retreat! That one is sold out but I'll be opening up a September Sophia Retreat in Palm Springs soon.
I'm so happy you are here. And I'm always just on the other side of these emails, so don't hesitate to hit "reply" and say hello! I look forward to it!