Someone has to be willing to go first!
We spend most of our teenage and adult lives protecting a very sacred aspect of ourSELF. Our Vulnerability. Which, for some of us, is really the FORCE of our Innocence.
At some point in our lives someone says something, we hear something, or something happens that rocks the foundation of our innocence. And in that moment…whatever age we are, we immediately create a wall, barrier, veil or something else to protect it.
We create and engage brilliant strategies we think will allow us to keep that, so soft and tender aspect of ourSELF safe.
It’s brilliant and highly intelligent. Animals have lots of ways to protect themselves… they use their feathers, shells, skin, noises they make etc… to camouflage themselves and blend in. The only way we can do that as humans is to create masks. We call them aspects, persona’s, characteristics etc… Whatever the term, we create a shield.
Vulnerability has been coming up a lot lately in conversations and what I’ve been hearing are the words, “the strength in vulnerability” WHAT? Strength in revealing the thing that we work so hard to protect? There is no way our intellects want us to go there.
And yet… there are those moments when we allow vulnerability, what I have come to know as, ‘My FORCE of Innocence,’ to peek out and be seen and…wait for it… in those moments something magical happens.
We have good reason to ‘think’ that if we reveal who we really are no one will want to be with us. So much of our childhoods and teenage years are filled with moments where we were rejected, made fun of, laughed at or have been the butt of cruel behaviour, because we chose to show some part of ourSELF that was deemed not acceptable.
“…at some point, our strategies begin to work against us”
I want to mention, there is no good/bad/right or wrong here. Our reactions and strategies we develop are highly intelligent. The thing is, at some point, our strategies begin to work against us. They actually create the situations we are looking to avoid. Thus the creation of the ‘self fulfilling prophecy’. It’s a vicious circle of addictive patterns of thinking and behaviour that we, often, are totally unaware of.
So…where does the strength and power of vulnerability come in? Well, it’s in that FORCE of INNOCENCE I mentioned before. There is nothing more powerful…well ok…maybe love. And, nothing can beat a love that is grounded in the force of innocence.
Each time we choose to allow ourSELF to reveal the force of our innocence, our vulnerability, we create a massive invitation for others to do the same. It can be contagious. Now there, is also practicality. There are some spaces and places where we must be mindful of our surroundings. These are the spaces where there is a group of individuals who’s protective shields are so thick the only strategy they think will protect them is to squash those who are willing to reveal that FORCE.
This is where we must trust our instincts. To listen to that voice from deep within, that speaks clearly and concisely, and in my experience, uses only four words. Sometimes it means walking away from a job, or relationship, family or community to create the space to find the job, relationship, family of choice or community where the true nature of vulnerability has the space to thrive. These choices are not always easy, or fun. The unknown is a scary place to look into and our intellects are experts in keeping us away from choosing something we can predict.
Something magical happens when we choose to show our vulnerability…we become an invitation to others.
If we look at nature and consider a spiders web, it looks fragile, vulnerable, something that can be easily damaged. AND, have you ever walked into one or sweep it away…it holds unless we exert great pressure.
In those moments, when we are willing, and ready, to trust that FORCE of INNOCENCE, to trust in our vulnerability, we discover what it means to bring our WHOLE SELF into each experience. We discover how strong we actually are. With that, the strength in our vulnerability becomes the way of being that enables us to create a very different world.
Until the next time,
Lisa
