Core Desire #1: Find Your Purpose
Welcome to the DESIRE IS LIFE//LIFE IS DESIRE Mini-Series.
The intention of this mini-series is to spark your curiosity, give you a taste of the ancient tantric path to wholeness, prepare you for deeper work with me…
And of course…inspire you to honor your relationship with with DESIRE.
The Feminine Path of Desire Cliff Notes
A woman cannot be truly happy or fulfilled unless she is aligned with her desires.
A woman cannot fulfill her desires until she awakens and build her shakti. (Email #1)
“Find out who you are and do it on purpose."
-Dolly Parton
WHAT IS DHARMA?
In tantric philosophy, Dharma is the #1 key to happiness and fulfillment and the first of your four core desires. Why? Because your dharma determines the details and scope of your other three desires.
So dharma is the most important of your 4-core desires, but it's also the most misunderstood.
Finding your purpose is often thought to be related to your work in the world or a role you play. As in, “my purpose is to be a writer/doctor/mother."
But dharma isn't about a specific job, spouse, role, duty or recognition.
Dharma is about fulfilling your potential, recognizing in yourself everything that you are capable of and made for.
Dharma operates on two levels, the universal and the individual.
On the cosmic scale, dharma is the intelligence that knows how to knit a child in a mother's womb. It is the inherent intelligence in nature that informs all life processes from the acorn seed to the honey bee.
On the individual scale, dharma is you fulfilling your unique life purpose.
Both levels of dharma are operating in you.
“As above, so below” is a key tantric principle. This means the macro (the universe) is a mirror of the micro (the individual) and vice-versa.
In Tantric philosophy, the sum is always hidden in the parts, i.e. we are living in a holographic universe.
From the Gospel of Mary Magdalene,
“When you are transformed the world will be transformed, for you are the world and the world is in you.”
We hear this echoed in the Theologian Howard Thurman,
"Don't ask what the world needs, ask what makes you come alive and go do that. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive."
Most women who come to me for 1:1 coaching and mentorship were not raised to ask the question of what makes them come alive, let alone trust the answer.
The longing to know and fulfill her unique purpose is a desire I hear at the heart of most of my clients stories, whether they come to me to gain confidence in their sexuality and sensuality or accelerate their business.
If you have spent the majority of your life feeling fear, guilt or shame around pursuing what lights you up, know that this is your conditioning NOT your nature.
“The inherent drive or desire for dharma is to fully realize everything that we are capable of. There is nothing in Nature that is not compelled by the same desire.”
- Rod Stryker, The Four Desires.
The most natural thing in the world is to honor the drive to grow, become, and fulfill your creative potential; The caterpillar cannot refuse becoming the butterfly, however a woman can refuse her own liberation.
Do we see the caterpillar's chrysalis as selfish? No, of course not. But many of us raised female fear our natural needs for growth and metamorphosis make us selfish.
We all know women who have lost themselves in the martyr archetype…
Good girl conditioning sets a woman up to refuse her dharma and her liberation, even while calling it love or duty to others. Never mind the fact that she doesn't feel loved, cherished, valued or appreciated herself.
She may not be able to end her day without a glass of wine, or sleep soundly through the night, but she wears the mantle of Good Mom or Good Wife like her life depended on it.
In stillness and sobriety, she is haunted by a sense that her life of service to others is in deep betrayal to herself.
Yet, every intuitive hit she gets that could change the course of her destiny, she writes off as silly, selfish, impulsive, or “not the right time.”
If this is you, your first dharmic task is to free yourself from the prison of your conditioning.
Stop worrying about your career path, your relationship status or vocation in life. No matter what job or partner you are committed to right now or would like (not?) to be one day, finding freedom to be yourself is your primary purpose.
Dharma is about being and thriving as the woman you were created to be, not merely surviving as whoever you were conditioned to be for the convenience and comfort of others.
For better and for worse, every woman gets to choose her path.
The path of least resistance, the safe path of our collective conditioning; The path laid out for every good girl, good mother, good wife; The path that has lead to many to grow smaller, age faster and ask for less with every passing year.
Or
The unmarked path of our wild feminine soul; the path no one in our family line has ever had the chance to go; the path of our gravely under-appreciated potential and creativity; The path of our terrifying aliveness; The path of our untamed and sacred sexuality; The path that demands we continue to grow larger, ask for and believe for more.
In the words of the poet, Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Fulfilling your dharma is about daring to let your soul lead you at every fork in the road.
This is the active life of feminine wholeness. There is no end. But the beginning is here: The courage to be your longing and belong to yourself.
In coming home to yourself, you also finally find your place in the cosmos. As above, so below. As within, so without.
For your continued liberation, borrow my personal rallying cry:
IT'S SAFE TO TRUST WHAT LIGHTS YOU UP
This self-trust and boldness is part of our collective dharma as women. As we each risk our comfort zones to pursue a greater life's purpose, we contribute to a new kind of womanhood and humanity for all.
This is no small thing, and why the tantrics see Dharma as the most important of the 4-core desires.
The fulfillment of your individual dharma contributes to the fulfillment of universal dharma.
Next week I'll be back with Email #3 in our series, on core Desire #2, Artha. We might call this one show me the money, honey!
Right now I invite you do one small thing to honor your dharmic journey. Hit replay and name one thing that lights you up. By naming you are claiming and by claiming you are affirming the journey of knowing your purpose.
What if the tantrics were on to something incredibly liberating for you and your inner journey?
What if it was true that your deepest purpose was not found in any role, career, vocation or profession, but rather in trusting what lights you up and giving your soul the gift to become everything she is capable of becoming.
The first of the 4-Core Desires, Dharma, is unlocked in learning to trust what lights you up.
Rooting for you,
p.s. May Dolly be with you this week as you lean into finding out who you are-- and being that woman on purpose. This workshop may be the best $27 you've ever spent on yourself.
About Morgan Day Cecil
Hello! I'm Morgan. I'm a master embodiment coach, retreat leader and creator of the Feminine Wholeness® Method. I'm also a mother of two teens and I've been married for 14-years. I know the complexities and gifts that come with motherhood, marriage and a new kind of womanhood.
For the past seven years I've owned a private practice where I support women in the healing work of releasing shame and “Good Girl” conditioning to reclaim sexual and spiritual sovereignty. I do this through an innovative and integrative approach that weaves in ancient tantric wisdom with modern neuroscience, trauma healing, and what I call Sophia's "Technology of Delight."
The work I get to do reconnects women to the bliss of their body, the desires of their heart, and the power of their soul. (And when I'm mentoring new and aspiring coaches… this work also reconnects women to the value of their gifts and the joy in their business! Seeing my clients gain the confidence to show up and shine in their fullest expression is something I am incredibly proud of. You can learn more about my work in the world here. So glad you are here!