Vulnerability Will Help Us Rise

“Vulnerability is not weakness. It is our greatest measure of courage.”

Brené Brown

I tried to light a candle just now. Wick is gone. I tried a used tea light. Dead wick. I tried a third, and the flame lasted all of 10 seconds. This is vulnerability: lighting a flame even when we know there’s not much wick to burn. It’s showing up with low energy and knowing that a spark will find its way into the light. Vulnerability is not an act of darkness but a bringing of light. We carry ourselves day in and day out, no matter if or when the sun rises, and vulnerability is our way of rising. Not in spite of gravity but with her support. Gravity doesn’t bring us down. She enables us to rise. Vulnerability doesn’t bring me down. It lifts me up.

“Grasping amplifies the sense of separation from the object.”

Stephen Cope

We sense gravity’s force only because we have the opposing force of being. In our search for connection (clinging) we make ourselves – through perception – more separate. Let go of the outcome, Cope writes. Let go of believing we need to achieve attachment, belonging, and connection? In these beliefs, we distance ourselves from connection.

I lift others by creating space for them to rise. I create space by expressing vulnerability. I am my own champion, and I am the champion of others when I am me. I am me when I am vulnerable, open, honest.

I don’t subscribe to “fake it til you make it”. Yes, dream, but know where you’re lying/laying when you’re dreaming. Clouds only look like shapes from far away. What does it mean to dream and know we’re dreaming? Water vapor needs dust to condense. What does it mean to watch our dreams condense and transpire?

We need to show the world when we’re faking it, dreaming, setting ambitious hopes — because this visionary, visualization tells the ones watching us that they can do it, too. If we only see the outside, we miss recognizing how much potency is in our potential. Grasping amplifies the sense of separation from the object.

Whereas we see kinetic energy when we look at the stars, our dreams, the performative nature of being human, the potential energy – the energy at rest – is what can propel us forward. So, rest, my love. Let your flame burn, light the feelings on fire, fill up your tank, condense your potential, fuel your heart, and know that you’re allowed to dream.

Gravity will help you rise, and vulnerability will carry your dreams into reality.