We Are All So Vulnerable

We are all so vulnerable and we spend our lives trying to deny it.

And yet one of the most healing things we can do is to acknowledge our vulnerability:

We all long to be loved and yet have armoring around our hearts.

We have all been hurt and are afraid of being hurt again.

We all secretly wish that we were different than we are – more of this and less of that.

We’ve all had moments and possibly even days and years when life was just too much.

We have all been judged, sometimes unmercifully, and we have all judged others.

We have all felt inadequate for a task and sometimes even for Life.

We have all felt foolish, embarrassed and inept, and wish fervently nobody ever sees us in these states.

We can all be truly unmerciful with ourselves.

We have all been called selfish and yet we were always doing the best we knew how.

We all carry a sense of being unseen, unheard and  not valued.

We all know an undercurrent of unease that we don’t want to acknowledge.  And we have all known the kind of fear that makes it hard to breathe.

We all are deeply afraid that other people will see what is truly going on inside of us and thus sure we will be rejected and alone.

We are also afraid of seeing what is going on inside of us, causing us to keep busy in our lives rather than opening to them and living from our authenticity.

We all spend a lot of time thinking about how life should be rather than opening to it as it is.

We are all struggling.  And we all long to have our hearts open again, present for the astounding beauty and mystery of Life.

Can you let in for a moment the truth that all of us are a beautiful and exquisite mixture of dark and light, absolutely perfect in our imperfections.   And because we don’t see the truth of this, we try to control the ceaseless flow of change that is Life.  This puts a veil between us and what we most deeply long for – a direct experience of Life.

Are you willing today to open your heart to yourself, exactly as you are?

Are you willing to open your heart to the people you encounter as you move throughout your day?

Are you willing to recognize that all of the people around you, whether you are in a store, at a concert, on the freeway or in your home, feel all of the same vulnerabilities you do?

No matter what the color of your skin, your gender, your sexual orientation, your religion, your profession, there is so much more that you have in common with your fellow human beings than not.

I invite you to meet yourself in your own heart so you can meet others with kindness and compassion, even if their views of life are different than yours.  As you do, you will become a part of the healing of our planet.