Are You Vulnerable? – What Is Our Risk of Leaving up Walls?

How do you protect your vulnerability?

Has your mind built a complete fort with tall cement walls surrounding you for your “protection”? What barriers have you created that are intended to keep you “safe”? Or I suppose the better question is, why do you have walls in the first place?

Are they there to shield yourself from a negative statement that you have come to believe to be true?

It’s all my fault.

Let’s tap into this sensitive topic a little. My ex-stepfather used to tell me that everything was my fault – specifically their fighting.

As I grew older, I came to believe that particular false fact to be true. And I began apologizing for everything. I even would apologize for ridiculous situations that could never be my fault (such as bad weather or traffic).

Some folks would call me out on it – we’d laugh and forget about the silliness of it all.

It wasn’t until some 15 or 20 years ago that a co-worker helped me work through my stigma. He not only called me out on it, but we’d spend several minutes talking about it. Then, we’d replace that negative thought, blame, or finger-pointing situation with a positive idea and belief.

I still sometimes catch myself apologizing. It’s not nearly as “bad” as it used to be. But that work – that’s inner work – where I chipped away at one of my walls that was “protecting” me. But was it really protecting me?

What is Vulnerability?

Vulnerability is beyond vain consciousness of not being pretty enough, fit enough, or having stylish clothes. Vulnerability is that little child inside of you who sits in the corner of an empty dark room. She isn’t talked to, and worse, she is never hugged.

This child yearns for love – she longs to see the sunlight and to laugh. This child is your “inner you.” And the way to reach her is to knock down the high walls that you thought were protecting her. But, as you can hopefully see, all those walls are doing is keeping her from love and peace.

Knocking down our Walls

When we knock down those walls, we can let her be free. But not out on her own; we must remember that she yearns for love, specifically self-love, through practices such as Positive Affirmation Statements.

Vulnerability is your subconscious mind exposing your scares. Then, readying yourself to heal. It’s also within the exercise of exposing those scares by sharing them so that others can help you heal and find hope. They can also see. They have the ability to envision themselves healed through self-love and find their light.

So, I will ask you again. Do you have a fort? Do you have walls built high, locking you in like a princess in a tall castle, and why?

What inner work can you do to begin chipping away at your fort? What tools can you use? The practice of Affirmations, Visualization, Meditation, Prayer, and Breathwork?

At the risk of not stating the obvious, of course, counseling might be in order, and that is awesome. So please seek it if you want & need it. But what I’m talking about is the bit of work you can do every morning.

How does that sound?

Do you have the courage to begin to expose your vulnerability? To begin to allow yourself to heal? Knowing that at the end of the day, what you fear – what you’re protecting isn’t “real.” Oh yes, your feelings are real – your emotions are real! But not the false truth that someone or something had you come to believe, that isn’t real.

The negative belief that you’ve come to believe isn’t true. And it isn’t your fault – you are not naive, and you are not weak. You are –

Strong.

Graceful.

Full of wisdom.

If you have not started the process yet, it’s time to heal yourself now. We have all lived through a lot. We all have the choice to play the victim or to shine our light. I hope you choose to shine your light.

You are an inspiration! You offer motivation! Now go and share your knowledge with others!

I believe in you. Now it’s your turn.

People who wade into discomfort and vulnerability and tell the truth about their stories are stronger than they realize.

Brené Brown

Until next time, Friends ~ Peace & Blessings …

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