As I was talking to William, he said, “I think I’m finally getting what you’re saying.”
“About what?”
“About how I’m finally going to FEEL love, instead of just talking about it.”
The Wall of Vulnerability: Why We Block Love
“And?”
“If I’m ever going to feel loved—really feel it—I’ll have to . . .”
“Go ahead. You can say it. You’ll have to be what?”
After another pause, William said, “Vulnerable.”
“YES!! Until we are vulnerable—completely open, without any defenses—we’ll never feel completely loved.”
“Sounds scary.”
“Yes, it could. It’s as simple as this: until you are vulnerable enough that I can hurt you badly, you’ll never completely feel my love for you.”
Risk & Reward: The Path to Freedom and Joy
Vulnerability is a great risk but utterly required for feeling loved. We have to take risks to reach what we want most.
There are many examples in life of risk and benefit going together.
Descending from my driveway to the lawn and bridge below—at a steep angle in some places—is a path of brushed concrete. Brushed concrete has small, linear grooves in the surface, created by drawing a push broom across the concrete just before it has hardened from its original nearly-liquid state to its final hard and immutable shape and texture.
Brushed concrete is a great deal rougher than concrete finished with a smooth tool. When you fall on smooth concrete, you may bruise, but when you fall on brushed concrete, the skin is painfully abraded, even shredded.
So why would one brush concrete and create this danger? Because in the rain, you would almost certainly slip and fall on smooth concrete if you were walking down a sloped path descending from my driveway.
Brushed concrete, however, is rough and provides a gripping surface for shoes or feet. So, overall, brushed concrete is both safer—on a slope and in the rain—and more dangerous, if you fall down on it.
Conclusion
We all want to move forward or upward in our life journey, but we also want—understandably—that journey to be painless.
Anything worthwhile, however, has risks involved in its acquisition. As we willingly accept the risks of struggle and pain, we greatly increase the likelihood that we will experience the freedom and joy we all want.
Replace your anger & confusion with peace and happiness.
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