Are you brave enough to be vulnerable?
This might sound weird to you, Vulnerability and Courage may seem like two extremes, but in reality, it takes so much courage from a person to show his vulnerability in relationships, to open up his heart and be prepared to get hurt by the other person.
What is Vulnerability?
Vulnerability is being open to be criticised, judged, and even hurt by other individuals, it’s having the courage to take risks despite the uncertainty, is taking a leap of faith even if you do not understand what the outcome will be, it’s showing up no matter what, having integrity and commitment.
Dr. Brené Brown, a researcher who has done lots of research on vulnerability, and is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling book, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, has used a phrase in her 2010 TEDx Houston talk, The Power of Vulnerability, which is one of the top ten most viewed TED talks in the world.
The phrase Daring Greatly was quoted from Theodore Roosevelt’s speech “Citizenship in a Republic.” The speech sometimes referred to as “The Man in the Arena,”:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does not strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat”- Theodore Roosevelt
I love this quote, there is no vulnerability without daring, most of us have developed a fear of the unknown at some stage, a fear of failure, of being criticized, because of social conditioning. Some take risks, they prefer to experience with total faith, surrender, and acceptance of the outcome, others choose not to, thus they prioritize staying in their comfort zone, they cannot let go of control, of the outcome, because it has to be the way they want it to be and since they have no guarantee, they miss the whole experience, the experience of life! The MISS LIVING!
In our modern society, vulnerability is mistaken for weakness. Mostly, people believe that we all should wear armor, that we should protect ourselves from heartbreaks, disappointments, criticism… etc.
we live in a world where people first instinct is to doubt you when they first encounter you, and it becomes your responsibility to prove them wrong to win their trust, so we completely miss the fun part, the authentic human experience, acting and being who we truly are, facing life with wide open arms, choosing to show up, to be seen, to have no masks on, to be fully exposed, and having a deep understanding that with this choice comes a 50/50 probability of either failure or success.
Although I don’t believe that there is any loss here because when we take a chance we grow and we learn about the life, each time we engage in a new relationship, we get to unfold another aspect of ourself and of the other person; we expand our horizons and discover alternative possibilities and ways of living and being; we heal our wounded parts, and throughout this journey, we experience Joy, one of our birthrights, we explore what freedom means, and how it feels to be free and carefree, not having to calculate any of our doings or sayings, we become innovative and creative; we create from a space of freedom and love.
Being heartbroken or fooled, Judged or hurt does not diminish the impact of the experience of being vulnerable, because we already lived it, it is part of us now, it’s true it did not go the way we had wished, but it will shape who we are and through it, we gained so much wisdom, if we get hurt, we learn with time that it’s via a broken heart that we get to develop and awaken to the true meaning of love, that the more shattered our hearts are, the more light goes in, that trough grief and sadness, we cultivate mercy and compassion; we become more sensitive and empathic to our surroundings, so there is only winning.
“Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart so that fresh leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.” — Rumi
Let your soul guide you!
The Soul will always choose love because that is its essence! It is pure Love and Light. The Ego, however, will try to protect you by inducing fear in your thoughts, trying to stop you from being vulnerable,
We should live life from the source of our internal power that comes from the soul, listening to our intuition or the soul’s voice which always whispers wise words coming from a place of love and strength.
When the ego’s voice arises, we should acknowledge it. Thank the ego for looking out for us and release it from its duties. Bow to your broken heart in gratitude, for if it hadn’t shattered, you would have never been initiated on this path to your soul awakening.
Embrace the beauty of your soul. Feel it. Let it guide you. and always TRUST…that you are Divinely guided.
Lots of Love💕