Vulnerability as Empowerment: Rewriting the Narrative of Weakness

How vulnerability transforms us.

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Today, we're exploring the politics of vulnerability, by not buying into the paradigm of weakness we have been fed. But instead, seeing the innate power that vulnerability gives us and how it can help save our world.

Vulnerability, What it Feels Like

Photo by Tom Frances Palattao

Sometimes, vulnerability feels like I’m barely hanging on by a thread. The rawness palpable, the sensitivity overwhelming. The fragility of life is in my face, fearing this fiber could snap at any moment casting me adrift into the void.

Other times, vulnerability feels like a thick rope. A noose around my neck or I’m bound so tight I can’t move. I want to break free, but I feel trapped in compliance and acquiescence, afraid to authentically be myself.

Yet, when I meet this vulnerability within a space of deep holding, it becomes a gentle strength, a steady courage. An ability to be present with intense, even unpleasant feelings, while building the capacity to respond to life’s challenges. Bringing me into an ever-evolving intimacy with life itself.

Recognizing we are more than just individuals. It opens the door to the relational, for we belong to each other. We’re neurologically wired to relate. Reciprocity then becomes an ever-increasingly shared experience, for we are more together as a community than a sum of our separate parts.

Sensing into this inherent connection, it truly is magnificent. Feeling the land around me as nature itself. Alive with the rhythm of animals, birds, plants, and all the untamed unpredictability that comes with being beautifully wild. A fear that’s exhilarating and a deep belonging that’s real.

Vulnerability, the Meaning

WHAT IT ISN’T

Don’t go looking in the dictionary or thesaurus because unfortunately you’ll find mostly definitions and synonyms like:

• Exposed and susceptible to harm

• Weak, fragile, unstable

• Easily influenced and exploitable

• Substandard

• Powerless, impotent, ineffective

What about a bigger and fuller picture that is more inclusive and balanced. With the rise of CHIP (Capitalistic Hierarchical Imperialistic Patriarchy), everything has been done to avoid vulnerability, to render it useless. It’s as if CHIP has declared zero tolerance and made war against vulnerability, building a system of power as the response. An armoring of control, dominance and traditional gender roles. Where emotions like fear, sadness, and tenderness are minimized or dismissed, creating a culture where expressing these feelings is met with shame or ridicule.

For women, their vulnerability is commodified or manipulated to maintain a subordinate position in relation to men. Women's feelings are often belittled, and are seen as weak, especially if they show any sign of needing help or protection. And why many women are either compliant or become like CHIP men to make it in this world.

In the hardness of our world,
that’s hellbent on pushing and shoving,
lies the wake of havoc and devastation.
A vulnerability that’s stripped of its humanity.

Where bulldozing actions leaves land barren.
While railroading is a molestation of innocence.
And fixated greed precipitates poverty and suffering.

Why is there this need to move through life
with blinders made of rigid creeds.
All to get to the top of the hill,
the last rung on the latter.
To stand as an individual above all others and
plant the flag of, “I’ve made it.”
A declaration of invincibility!

…but, now what?

THE FEARS:

Photo by Marvelous Raphael

When it comes to the issues of our world today, everyone seems to have a diagnosis, an answer, a cure, a fix. It’s become an analysis, paralysis. A confident knowing that is devoid of any vulnerability, “if only everyone would listen to me, then the world would be a better place.” Heaven forbid we should ever be vulnerable. Yet, I’ve found that this is precisely where true resistance to this current dysfunctional paradigm lies. The so-called “answer” isn’t something of the mind.

What if it’s more about being with vulnerability, where clarity can arrive and true courage comes from meeting what we fear. Fears like:

• Uncertainty, letting go of the familiar

• Trying something new by taking a risk

• Making a mistake, even failing

• Loss and grief

• Speaking up in the face of adversity

• Being honest with ourselves

• Speaking our truth to others

• Feeling tender and undefended

• Simply being ourselves…

AN EXAMPLE

Regarding the creative process, when it’s too uncomfortable for me to meet the self-judgements and how I compare myself to others, I retreat into overthinking, endless planning and perfectionism. I’m afraid to embrace this passionate flow. When being present with myself becomes too overwhelming, I fall into mindless doing, plowing through without joy, ignoring the internal nudges to pause. I’m afraid to embrace this passionate flow.

Creativity is a balance of contemplation and action, where vulnerability is key. By embracing all of me, including the uncertainty and the fear of taking risks, I unlock a deeper authenticity. Though it can be painful, this rawness builds resilience and keeps the creative process alive.

WHAT VULNERABILITY REALLY MEANS

Vulnerability is the space between words,
where the weight of truth
no longer needs to hide.
Where the body may hum with fear
and trembling hands may fumble.
Where sweat gathers on the brow
and a churning belly feels like a storm.

Yet it’s in that pause,
in the silence between heartbeats,
at that threshold of an open door,
where courage quietly gathers.
Truth can now flow like a river,
bare skinned into the world.
While the unadorned heart opens to love,
as the soul naturally reveals itself.

Not showing up as a version of ourselves,
nor as we’re expected to be,
or as we wish we could be.
Instead we arrive as we are,
raw, unfiltered,
unpolished,
and whole in our breaking open.

Vulnerability is the courage to breathe,
especially when suffocating beneath
the relentless movements of our world.
And in that breath,
we find connection.
We find presence.
We find our true nature.
We find ourselves.

Vulnerability as Sacred

Vulnerability is a gateway to the sacred, an openness to presence. Far from being a weakness, it takes incredible resolve and conviction to take down the barriers I’ve inherited and that have been reinforced over time. It feels painful to sit with the ways I shame myself, and how I hide from my authentic nature fearing rejection.

This requires humbleness, admitting I don’t have all the answers and never will. It’s a willingness to let go of the arrogance of control and be present with the rawness that comes from facing the wild expanse of life, undefended. To invite it in, embracing the mystery of simply existing.

This is a liminal space, an ongoing dance, where these partners as courage and vulnerability both augment the other. Creating a dynamic balance that is essential for growth and authenticity. Without vulnerability courage becomes pretentious, rigid, forceful and domineering, lacking the softness needed to connect deeply with ourselves and others. On the flip side, without courage, vulnerability becomes a paralyzing void, a hole which feels impossible to escape from, preventing us from taking necessary risks.

Together, courage and vulnerability form a symbiotic relationship that empowers us to face the unknown with grace, strength, and an open heart. To let joy in and allow ourselves to revel in it!

Vulnerability is not a curse but a most exquisite gift,
opening us to the sacred, the sanctity of existence.
Where we experience our deep connection to everything,
including ourselves, for we belong to each other and to life all around us.

I offer both tarot readings and personalized one-on-one sessions. Both designed to support and nurture your inner explorations, helping you gain deeper insight into the movements of your life. If you're interested, feel free to reach out to me via direct message or email. Love and Blessings to you!

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