Carlo Cirillo
This is my message. You are worthy. You are loved and you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be right now.
Introducing the one and only Carlo Cirillo!
You may already know him by the incredible work he’s done on The Conscious Podcast as well as mentoring, teaching meditation and mindfulness practices and facilitating Cold + Conscious. Carlo’s journey is one of generous love, gratitude and heartfelt compassion for others.
We take a deep breath and dive in.
‘I want to inspire.’ Carlo says. ‘It flows naturally through me. I've always loved connecting with people, it’s one of my highest values. I genuinely care about people and want them to feel seen. I’ve found a real love for personal growth, development and self discovery. I love being able to unlock certain parts of me, to understand who I really am and why I do what I do. It’s allowed me to discover who I truly am.’
Carlo is a mindful entrepreneur with many indispensable tools.
‘I do meditation, cold therapy, all different mindful practices.’ He explains. ‘One of the most important experiences I had which allowed me to open my heart and mind was a cacao ceremony two years ago.
‘I’ve always been very giving to the world: supporting, encouraging, loving, giving so much of my energy, time and love to people. I knew I'd been neglecting myself. I was hard on myself, putting a lot of pressure and expectation on everything I did. There was a lot of heaviness in my heart. I just couldn't find connection or love within myself. When I went into the ceremony that was my intention. To connect to myself.’
During his first meeting with Mother Cacao, Carlo experienced an extraordinary process of tender heart opening.
‘I imagined everyone in my life, one at a time, accepting them for who they were and the role they’ve played in my life. I was willing to go through the process of forgiveness for anything that had been done to me, to the world, anything I held judgement on. I started letting go of all I was holding on to, because I knew it was all playing a part in the heaviness I felt. The final part of that process was just love. I began expressing my love for them, being grateful for their part in my life.’
The next part of Carlo’s journey was more confronting.
‘I came up to myself in my mind and I couldn’t do it.’ He says honestly. ‘I couldn’t accept, I couldn’t forgive, I couldn't love. There was so much resistance. It felt like my heart had closed and I didn’t feel worthy or deserving of love. I didn't know how to accept love or forgiveness for myself because for so long I’d been telling myself ‘you're not good enough’ or ‘look at those people, they're better than you.’ I told myself that no matter what I did, I was always going to fail. As I went through the ceremony, Mother Cacao allowed me to open up. She allowed me to get back into my body and not so much in my head. I started to accept myself. I went through everything, what I had and hadn't done and, most importantly, where I was right now. I accepted it. I allowed myself to believe I was exactly where I was supposed to be.’
Carlo’s experience taught him the transformational power of self-love, which is the foundation of the incredible wisdom he has to share.
‘I help others to connect back into their heart because when I was finally able to do that, that's when my truth came through.’ Carlo explains. ‘That's when I was able to step into my magic and my power. The work is never done. It's always a process of returning and reconnecting to our heart. When we can be in that place, that's where we can create from and live the life that we want to live. Every cacao journey is a very powerful lesson to open the heart and go another layer deeper. Each layer I met with during that first ceremony came with resistance, a lesson I needed to learn and work through to understand and integrate within me.’
During the process of love, forgiveness and acceptance that Mother Cacao showed Carlo, he met resistance when he was asked to show himself the same compassion he showed effortlessly to others.
‘There was so much I held on to. Guilt, shame and regret. It had created a really big heaviness within me. But during that ceremony I got to a point where I could finally say, ‘I know it's a lot, but I forgive you.’ The next process of loving myself and fully affirming that love was also really hard. I'd never spend time with myself to actually say ‘I love you.’ After that ceremony and process, I began the journey of opening my heart. Cacao is such a beautiful gateway to this wisdom. It’s a ritual of gratitude, where the heart does open, the brain relaxes and the body feels grounded to the earth.’
After sharing his incredible experience journeying deep with the medicine of cacao, what does it FEEL like for Carlo, to embody these qualities of love, forgiveness and acceptance?
‘It feels peaceful.’ He answers. ‘It feels abundant. Nothing is judged in this space. When we can be in the energy of love, we feel alive which is what I think a lot of us are missing right now and why we feel so heavy and restricted. If we can bring acceptance to that, we give it space, and love ourselves in the process. There are times when we feel really free, happy and fun, but there’s going to be difficult situations as well. If we can accept, love and forgive ourselves in any moment, we can ride these fluctuations and not feel like we’ve done anything wrong. This is my message.
‘You are worthy. You are loved and you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be right now.’
The next topic is truth. What is it to live our truth?
‘We are all searching for our true nature. If we compare ourselves to others, trying to fit someone else's mold, their values, their vision for success, we feel like we're in a box. We feel restricted. When we step into our truth, it's unknown and there may not be a clear path. But if we hold on to that little bit of hope, trusting that everything will work out, it will unfold. I've got it on my whiteboard:
‘Everything is always working out for me.’
‘Hold your vision, then trust the process of reconnecting. It doesn't just happen once and we stay in it, it’s ongoing. It's reconnecting back to our centre, again and again. Our truth is the journey.’
‘All the things we want to feel,’ Carlo continues in our exploration of authentic living. ‘All that comes naturally when we’re in our truth. But it starts with being it. That’s what we have to reconnect to. I feel that when we step into our truth it elevates our vibration. We’re not restricting our quality of life or the possibilities that can come up. The more we step into that, the more confident we get. At the start it's going to be uncomfortable, but if we can see that by moving through it we’re stepping into truth, connecting with our hearts, then that in itself is going to be a whole new experience of life.’
The heart of Carlo’s work is radical self-acceptance, which can be HARD! The thing is about Carlo, he brings the lightness by surrendering to a state of play.
‘When we're playing we're in a flow state.’ Carlo explains. ‘We're in joy, happiness and curiosity. Growing up I just wanted to play. I played every sport and through that I found camaraderie and community. We're not in our head when we're playing. We're in our heart, we're in our truth, just letting it be and enjoying the process. I learnt so much as a soccer player. Whenever I was in my head, I'd make mistakes. So I surrendered to the intuition of play, which is fun and exciting.
‘You get to give and recieve as the time comes. In some ways you've got to predict and have an outcome in mind, but it’s a finite game. In soccer there’s a win, loss or draw. The lesson there is that life isn't a finite game. We don't know how much time we have. So how can we still be in that playful nature?
‘I believe human purpose is to have fun, to learn, grow, enjoy these moments because if we're not having fun, even through whatever we're going through, we're missing the essence of life.’
‘Everything I do is a deep process of gratitude. I’m realising how amazing it is just to be alive. Whether my impact is big or small, I'm just grateful to be here right now. I'm grateful to connect with all the people I have connected with and will connect with, and grateful to have the choice to live the life I live.
‘The more I consistently have cacao, the more I can drop into that space of gratitude. Life is too short not to enjoy who we are and love the life that we live. You are worthy. You are loved and you're exactly where you're supposed to be.’
Connect with Carlo
Instagram | www.instagram.com/carlo_cirillo
Website | www.liinks.co/carlo_cirillo
Written by our Sacred Scribe
Instagram | www.instagram.com/artful_listening
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