Vulnerability

By freddielaraThoughts

Vulnerability

What do u think of when you hear the word vulnerable? For many people (and even
for me for a very long time) the thing they think of is weakness. But this idea
of weakness is based on a perception of lack..”I’m not good enough, I’m
insufficient, I’m not capable”.

Vulnerability is that place where creativity, innovation and change are born.
We have to be willing to put ourselves in a position where we may just fail , a
vulnerable place, before we can take a chance to create something beautiful.

But if we believe that we are weak or lacking somehow the only thing we create
is a mask to defend ourselves from a perceived attack on who we are. Only when
we believe we can be hurt do we take a stance of being closed off or defensive.

But how to put our guard down? The first thing I have to do is begin to release
myself from judgement. If I can judge others then I can be judged by others, but
if I work at letting that go (easier said than done I know) then the idea that I
can also be judged begins to fall away as well.

The second and very helpful thing to do is to remember that you are not what
you’ve done. Shame is that thing that tells me that I am somehow less than or
“bad” in some way. The huge different between guilt and shame is that guilt
tells me that I have done something less than who I am, but shame tells me that
I am less than who I am. Getting rid of shame, especially for those of us who
have gone through addiction or physical or sexual abuse, can be a challenging
thing to get rid of and we may need outside help to do this.

And finally, we must replace all those faulty belief systems with a deep
understanding of who we are, namely perfect, whole and complete. From this
knowing we can begin to show up to share and be of service through our craft by
illuminating humanity instead of just showing up to “get” that job or that
applause or even that paycheck. We show up in a new way knowing that we are not
lacking anything and therefore have nothing to “get”.

Once we release this thinking then we can have the courage to know that we will
be safe when we open ourselves up to be vulnerable and available emotionally.
Those things that we’ve been running from actually become the very life
experiences we use to create our characters and cathartically move through our
imagined circumstances. We don’t regret the past nor wish to shut the door on
it. Instead we utilize it to illuminate humanity in all it’s different colors
and situations and the past becomes the very tool we use to bring to life our
scripts and screenplays.

And in the strength of our vulnerability we give others permission to do the
very same thing. Perhaps to let them also let down their guard and be a little
vulnerable, perhaps to give them the strength to also be more open and
available, perhaps to remind them of who they truly are. And if the ripple
effect continues who knows? Maybe we can all put away our judgement and shame
and begin to courageously start showing up for each other in this new and
expanded way.. Who knows? This is the place where creativity, innovation and
change are born so who knows? Perhaps.

I think so.