Vulnerability

Vulnerability is commonly viewed as something negative. No one wants to be vulnerable! I think that is a shame. In society’s attempt to be completely invulnerable to any hardship or heartache it has separated itself from itself. No one takes chances unless the odds are in their favor. Some don’t take chances at all. This may very well be one of the root problems in our world today.

Being invulnerable creates a barrier - a barrier to new experiences, a barrier to new love, a barrier to new ways of thinking. Stick with the tried and true is the battle cry! Disconnectedness, depression, lack of compassion, intolerance are what results.

Rev. Jack Ford said “You can be comfortable or you can have an adventure.”

You can be comfortable, never allowing yourself to be at risk for hardship, never allowing people into your life that might disappoint you or hurt you, never stepping outside of your comfort level, never allowing yourself to be vulnerable.

Or you can open up your life to the possibility of heartache and in turn, for allowing yourself to become vulnerable, have a grand adventure. An adventure that will take you to places, experiences and people that you never dreamed of while you were behind your wall of invulnerability.

The Universe has so much to offer us. Experience, enlightenment, connectedness, companionship, knowledge, the list could go on and on. But one thing is asked in return…to be open, to be vulnerable in order to experience these things fully and completely. If we always follow the sure thing, the safe path, the socially appropriate action in an effort to avoid negativity we will never know the vastness of the opportunities there are to be experienced. We will never see the full beauty of the Universe.

Without grief, there is no love. Without sadness, there is no joy. Without injustice there is no compassion. Without vulnerability, there is no adventure.