Meggan Watterson

Joanna Interviews Meggan Watterson, Author of REVEAL: A Sacred Manual for Getting Spiritually Naked

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I’m thrilled to share this interview with my good friend and soul-sister Meggan Watterson with you. She gives us a sneak peak into her fantastic new book!

Joanna Lindenbaum: Your book is called REVEAL. What is the significance of the title? 

Meggan Watterson: In my experience, the closer I am to simply revealing the truth of who I am, the closer I am to the Divine. Rather than an idea of the Divine as something outside me or beyond me that I have to reach up out of myself to attain, for me my spiritual path has been all about going within and finding that voice of audacious truth inside me.

That quiet unassuming voice of love inside me, my soul-voice, is my direct connection to the Divine. Each time I have the pluck to align my every word and action to the voice of my soul, that, to me, is what it means to be spiritual. That’s revealing the soul.

JL: In REVEAL, you discuss seven veils, which refer to the stages of the spiritual process you went through. Tell us what the 7 veils are.  

MW: Each veil is a shift in belief that allowed me to get closer to the truth of who I really am. My soul-voice felt buried behind layers, or veils, of fear and self-doubt. And these seven shifts helped these veils to lift, or for me to shift, from one form of thinking to another that was far more liberating. These are the veils:

  1. Empowerment
  2. Embodiment
  3. True love- the kind of limitless love you can only connect to from within.
  4. Revealing your divine worth.
  5. Claiming your inner mystic to never forget just how powerful you are.
  6. Your soul-work in the world: how it gives you this chance to reveal the love you are at your core- to put your love into action.
  7. Spiritual community: how (at least for me) I can never really forget who I am or what I have come here to do if I have a bevy of women who believe in me. 

JL: We all have a wise, knowing voice inside. I call it woman wisdom, and you call it soul-voice. Sometimes we forget it’s there. Other times it tells us things we don’t want to hear. How can we better align ourselves with that inner voice and listen to its wisdom?

MW: It takes the dreaded word: discipline. It takes devotion and practice. I initially only went within to connect to my soul-voice during meditation, which would sometimes happen at some point of my day.

When my son was born and I felt an intense pressure to write REVEAL, I needed the support, love, and encouragement my soul-voice could give me so desperately that I began to go within whenever I could. While changing my son’s diaper, while taking a shower, while waiting in line at the grocery store, it didn’t matter where I was; all that mattered was how I chose to focus my attention.

I went in again and again even if only for a quick fist-pump with my soul. I perpetually aligned myself in this way all throughout the day with the voice I know is leading me to my highest potential.

JL: In your opinion, how does spirituality relate to a person’s soul-centered project or business? How can we use spirituality to help us in our professional lives?

MW: As a single mom, or indie mom, as I prefer, there have been moments when I was filled with so much stress I literally thought I would combust. Or just pass out flat. These are the moments when I can’t imagine my spiritual life separate from my professional life. For me they are inextricably linked. My spiritual practice is to remain fully embodied, no matter what the stress or fear- my vow is to come back home to my body again and again. And the moment I do, the answers to what’s next are right there.

The moment I can have the courage to just be present is the same moment I become conscious of precisely what I need to do. It sounds simple because it is. What’s difficult is daring to be present to just how much we know, and then trusting ourselves, our soul-voice, enough to take action on its directives.

About Meggan Watterson:

Meggan Watterson is an author, speaker, and spiritual firebrand who inspires women to live from the audacity and authenticity of the voice of their soul. Her best-selling book, REVEAL: A Sacred Manual For Getting Spiritually Naked, was published this month by Hay House. And her signature event, REVEAL, is next month on May 18th here in NYC and is a day-long form of lady-church that’s one part ritual, one part fiery soul-voices, and one part dance party.

www.megganwaterson(dot)com

Blog Summit – Day 4 – Being Grateful with an Open Heart

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Wow! Can you believe it, we’re already on Day 4 of the Gratitude Project Blog Summit! I’m grateful for each and every moment of this day as it brings us a little closer to the main event of the Gratitude Project (11/18)! For more information about what to expect and to register, sign up here!

meggan_picThere is so much to be learned from our first writer today – she’s truly one-of-a-kind! Allow me to introduce Meggan Watterson! She is the founder of REVEAL, a women’s spirituality organization that empowers women to connect to the love within them, reclaim their bodies as sacred, and become soul-led agents of change in the world. Meggan leads the REDLADIES, a REVEAL initiative, which provides REVEALers with a spiritual community. (Some break bread together, REDLADIES break dark chocolate. Smile.) She has her Maters of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a Masters of Divinity from Columbia University. Her work has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times, Women’s Radio, Feminist.com, Feministing.com and StyleSubstanceSoul.com. She is currently writing her first book, REVEALYour Soul. (Hay House, 2013.) You can learn more about REVEAL by visiting www.revealconference.org. To connect with Meggan, visit her website at www.megganwatterson.com.

Being Grateful with an Open Heart
By Meggan Watterson
At first, there’s a colossal effort. Imagine. Someone has hurt you or betrayed you. Maybe even someone very close to you, the closest you’ve ever let someone in. The action is most often, a reaction. A classic- put-up your dukes, a closing down of the heart, a massive constriction. A whole lot of “Oh yeahs” and pointing fingers goes on for a while. The blame game happens. And then you arrive at the place where the reaction ends, and all that’s left is your shut-down heart, your hurt, your love for that person blocked. Derailed. You wait there wounded in an emotional train station called validation. You wait and wait wanting more than anything to be averred, to receive the absolution you are convicted your innocence deserves.

Sometimes you wait there for years. A whole lifetime. Convinced that some wrongs scale the fence of ever being forgiven. But that’s when you remember that you’ve forgotten what being ungrateful does to your own heart. You remember that no matter what anyone has done to you- no matter the depth of the wrong- it’s up to you to free up your loving. It’s up to you to open back up the magical values of your heart.

You remember that the greatest offense is having no defense. You unfold the truth inside you like a Chinese fortune written in red that states: She Who Resists Nothing Has The Power To Overcome Anything. The inner- chant starts up again, “Transformation comes from within.” You hear it resound within you, until you remember again, that nothing outside of us can keep us from living our truth, from revealing our soul. The deepest fee-u escapes you, then. You can exhale, breathe again. The blood congealed, coagulated around your heart thins with the new oxygen, starts to flow again, pump strong. Maybe even stronger than it ever has before.

Fighting heart disease has a lot less to do with bacon that most might assume. The heart is a physical organ, yes, but it’s also a state a being. Living in and from the heart is a spiritual practice. It’s an arduous effort of embodiment. Gratitude is always the key.

When you find yourself locked out of your own heart’s door. Remember. You can always be grateful. No matter what has come your way- you can thank that challenge for making you stronger. You can thank that heartbreak for allowing your love to reach where it had never been asked to go before. And yes, you miss out then on the blame game, and you skip the purgatory of awaiting redemption, awaiting external validation. You go straight to the pith of it all- the quality and capacity of your own heart to give and receive love.

But don’t ever be fooled that we’re here to do anything more or anything less. Love is all there is. So try it, if you dare. Give up dodging a slap to the soul. Give up the fear of something or someone who can break you. Be grateful. With a wide open heart. Be grateful for everything that comes your way. And watch your life transform. From the inside out. Watch how much power you have when you choose love at all costs.