Day 6 - 150 -- Vulnerable

Today I was chatting with someone about emotions, which led to an exploration of vulnerability. Heavy topic, but very enlightening. Something we'd read noted that without vulnerability a person can't hold all the threads of the tensions we encounter in life -- the opposites and paradoxes. Also, being vulnerable allows others to see the passion we have for various aspects of life -- personal and at work. Yet it seems that most adults have learned to fear being vulnerable. How odd. Did we learn that as a child when someone told us that showing fear, excitement or frustration was silly or just not valued? Did we learn it as adults when we showed some emotion and were chided as being weak or worse yet an emotional person -- often this latter is a gendered statement. However we learned it, how do we unlearn it?  Any reading I've done distills this down to being brave or feeling comfortable with the discomfort that vulnerability brings with it.

This made me realize that I've encouraged others to be open with emotions and created spaces for people to be brave and just feel as they speak. That took some effort on my part, to feel OK with someone else's vulnerability. Reflecting showed me that I'd moved into a vulnerable place to express my thoughts or concerns and while most times this worked well, there were times when I was immediately shut down by a listener. That is where the trust comes forward -- without trust, vulnerability won't work well. Hmm -- that went deeper today than I'd expected.

There is a song lyric that somewhat fits the thoughts of the day. I hear aspects of vulnerability, trust and bravery in the lyrics.

All About Soul -- Billy Joel