Are you alive?

When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability... To be alive is to be vulnerable.
Madeleine L'Engle (1918 - ), "Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art", 1980

Who do you allow yourself to be vulnerable with?

What are you missing out on by keeping yourself closed?

Who do you feel drawn to open yourself up to?

Each and every day we have choices to open ourselves to possibilities, to others, and most importantly to love. Taking chances with our minds, requires one sort of risk, while chances of the heart are unquantifiable. I know each and every time I choose to open my heart and mind, I choose to be open to God's love that flows through others.

I know as I open my heart, the wounds that have happened in the past are exposed. I also know that by opening, they are healed too.

When I open my mind, new ideas and energy flows from places that often surprise me and very often astound me.

This notion of vulnerability has me thinking about truly being seen. Allowing myself to seen by those around me and trusting that I will be loved and accepted is a leap of faith. I know that it is the trust I have in myself and my intuition empowers me to open myself to the people who are worthy of my trust.

As I open my self, I see others around me open up. It is a rare thing to be able to be in that space of trust and faith with another person. Be it a friend, a colleague, or a lover, each requires a willingness to be vulnerable to achieve the highest levels of intimacy. Intimacy on all levels, be it Intellectual, emotional, physical or spiritual demands faith in oneself and the other.

My experience has shown me the depths of intimacy takes time to develop. There are relationships that evolve quickly and others slowly. The pace of true intimacy developing is directly proportional to the amount of vulnerability each person is willing to expose.

In my life, I feel as if I develop deep relationships with people pretty quickly because of my willingness to be vulnerable. I have decided for myself that I desire deep relationships and that I have enough faith in myself and God to open myself. I trust that I am opening myself to the right people and I will learn and grow from every relationship I have.

Intimacy scares many people. I thrive in it. I love the space of it and open myself to all that it has to offer. I know that the risks I take and the hurts I experience are far out weighed by the gifts and blessings I receive. I have deep faith in bliss. I believe in a world that creates relationships and experiences that are full of love. Yes there are relationships that are hurtful and impure. I just refuse to believe that if I keep myself shut down, I will find the right relationships.

Yes, I have opened myself up and been hurt. I have also learned and grown immensely from them. I look back on each relationship and take the lessons and put them into play as I create the next ones. I am fascinated by the correlations between personal and business relationships and how they potentially can inform and inspire each other.

I am currently developing several business alliances, that I believe have great potential. As we work to solidify the agreements, we have been required to expose ourselves. I believe we have been able to do that because we each desire to be in alliance with people who share values and dreams. With out the willingness to open up, it would be impossible to create together.

We have been sharing elements of ourselves professionally and personally that have allowed us to see each other fully and hence make decisions to develop alliance or not. I believe my willingness to open, has allowed them to open. A colleague, shared that he had never so easily come to consensus on goals as easily as we did.

As we expose ourselves, be it intellectually, emotionally or spiritually we take chances that we will be hurt, judged, and maybe even be asked to do something that we do not want to do. Fear of these potential risks often close us to down to seeing the possibilities.

We know, we are all looking to be loved and accepted as we are. We desire relationships that respect our hopes and dreams. We seek support of them in every way. As we expose those dreams, we take the risk that the other person will not support it or worse disrespect them.

With each step in faith, I know I am able to create meaningful and impact full relationships. I believe in the power of love, non-judgement and faith. If I have faith, all things are possible...

Do you trust yourself to open up to the right people?

Are you willing to step in faith?

GO FOR IT!!!

What needs questioning?

Big question!

Where are you afraid of being questioned?

What part of your life cannot be questioned?

Questioning...always hard, most often fruitful. Recently I was questioned on an approach I was taking. I responded with defensiveness, fear, and anger. My response really surprised me, made me ashamed and filled me with a sense of self-doubt. In this moment, it is not so much the exact issue I was question on it is more the sense of needing to defend, who I am and what I believe. It is the response to being questioned that needs looking at.

I had become emotional and slightly aggressive. I placed myself in the victim role and found myself in a place I had not been in a long time. It was everything I had worked so hard to step away from.

Being questioned was uncomfortable and even painful, yet I know the result of that for me has allowed e to dive deeper into my emotions and sense of self-love and acceptance.

It has allowed me to look at a part of myself I though had healed, moved on, and grown. As I look at it, I know there is more to heal, more to explore, and more to accept.

For most of my life, when I expressed my views it come from a defensiveness, from a place of self-loathing, and a place of fear. I was obese, full of shame and working to prove I was worth something. It was a scary place to be.

When I responded the other day in that same way of defensiveness, it brought up so many issues for me to look at. What a blessing, someone questioning me. Such a simple catalyst, for what in this moment feels defining.

I know my willingness to face this right now feels brave, feels right, feels blessed. My willingness to share the lessons and the journey, I know, is what I am called to do.

In this place of self-examination I am forced to face my humanness, my frailty, my deep desire to make myself a better person, all combined with my desire to love myself more deeply exactly where I am. Strange dichotomy of thought. A desire to improve, yet love myself exactly as I am. How do those two thought live together? How do I come to terms with that?

Loving and accepting self is what we are all looking to do. Yet what I have come to learn is that I need to be able to love all of myself, the good, the bad, and the ugly. As a result of the love, I am able to look at what needs to change through the eyes of compassion and acceptance.
So as I continue to ponder and reflect on this huge topic, I leave you with the idea of self-love.

I leave you with a few questions.

What can your love help you question?

What loving questions need to be asked?