I have learned many things along my wellness journey.  One of those things is how important vulnerability is.  Brene’ Brown has been a big influence for me on this.  My own experience is that by allowing myself to be vulnerable, the doors have opened. 

Before I move forward, let me define the word vulnerable; from the Cambridge English dictionary “able to be easily physically, emotionally, or mentally hurt, influenced, or attacked”

One of these doors was to my authentic self.  I recognized that even though I am a survivor, resilient, strong and capable, I am also very fragile, sometimes afraid and unsure of myself.  My little self is still healing, so there is hurt there, both real and imagined.  As I have explored my vulnerabilities, those fragile and tender wounded areas, I have learned more and more about myself, and hence moved the healing process forward in leaps and bounds.  What we do not look at we cannot heal. 

Another door, maybe a door beyond a door, was acceptance.  Once I started really looking at my fragile wounded self I was able to start accepting that it is all a part of me.  It has helped me to be the woman that I am today.  Matt Kahn was a big influence for me on that one.  Through listening to some of his videos and podcasts I started to love those wounded areas, those fragile tender parts of myself that I had gotten brave enough to look at and try to understand and embrace.  I had been working on self-love for a while.  Part of what helped me get to the point of unconditional self-love was accepting the vulnerabilities within me.  Recognizing that I am a human being and accepting that I am not perfect.  I will never be perfect, and that is OK.  It is about the journey not the destination.  And what a glorious journey it can be when we are open and real, vulnerable and accepting.

In the definition it talks about being able to be hurt.  As I have practiced unconditioned self-love I have understood more about things not happening TO me as much as THROUGH me or FOR me.  At first that lesson was a bit challenging, I had a victim mentality.  I had been an abused child who felt abandoned.  I was able to learn about the stories we tell, the stories we accept as truth and how to shift them into a place of strength and healing.  I was able to learn about boundaries and that they are not to keep others “out”, but to allow our self, little or otherwise, to feel safe. 

By being vulnerable I have been brave, I have and continue to face the challenges of daily life.