The Power in Vulnerability
Last month, SyFy aired a two-part miniseries called Neverland. In one scene the Indians and pirates are fighting. Many Indians are dying for they only have spears and arrows, while the pirates have guns. Then, the tribe’s holy man, played by Raoul Trujillo, opens his arms and stands in front of his people. In that moment, he was superbly vulnerable — an easy target for Rhys Ifans’ James Hook — and yet he was also at his most powerful. Hook stood down and the pirates got away.
This year, I’m conducting an experiment in gratitude and working through a book I recently read called Living in Gratitude. In one of the exercises for this month, I’m exploring my lessons from the four themes of soulmaking … one of them being “power.”
On New Year’s Day I made a discovery about my relationship to power. I discovered that surrendering to vulnerability can lead to an amazing rush of personal power. And, as the week has progressed I’m learning that being vulnerable is like being in a forging fire or running a gauntlet of flame. It can be painful … which is why so many of us avoid it like the dentist … but it is necessary for all the good things we want out of life.
Being vulnerable means opening ourselves to the possibility of pain. It requires courage both in bravery and in its original meaning of telling the story of who you are with your whole heart. Being vulnerable requires that you believe in your own worthiness and that you accept that not everyone is going to agree with you on that matter.
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