DOORWAY TO THE PATH OF HEART

Vulnerability versus the  Outdated Evolutionary Behavior of Our Need for Safety

When I think of power-filled feminine energy, both in women and in men, I believe it must include vulnerability.  Few of us like to be vulnerable as it is almost sure to open us to hurt of some kind yet.....Vulnerability take a kind of courage that is more powerful than becoming hermits or always choosing the Safe Path.   Fear has to be the biggest stumbling block for all of us who pursue living the truth of our lives. 

Yes we need to live a safe life in much of our day to day physical existence but in pursuing our truth, following our path of heart in this life, we need to be willing to take meaningful risk, to think of failure as a teacher and to look for the feeling of fear that comes with the companion of enthusiasm in our professional lives.  Fear with enthusiasm can be a potent pair of allies that help us think beyond our ideas of what is possible.  THAT IS SO IMPORTANT!  It is another way to describe vulnerability.  The concept of fear is strongly tied to our concepts of what is Possible.  I'd like to suggest that we can live beyond what is possible.  It is part of our masculine energy and the pervasive paradigm of our culture to live rational lives and have an informed view about what is or is not possible, yet all of you have heard of people who have done impossible things.  Rather than trying to rationally explain them, we need to hold on to the concept that we, as humans, are not capable of knowing what is "POSSIBLE" in every situation of this existence.  We  know what is most likely to happen in given situations but not what is possible.  There is a difference.  Vulnerability is the willingness to consider a step in our lives that feels very scary, perhaps impossible, but for which we also have  a strong feeling of enthusiasm.  It is the willingness to take that risk, knowing that if we do succeed, we will have made a great accomplishment, and accepting the possibility of failure as something worth the effort.  In our society, we are schooled to look at failure as a terrible thing, as something that lowers our value in the eyes of others...but we need to not judge ourselves by the evaluation of others.  That too is an outdated evolutionary behavior: needing the acceptance of others and one that we must drop on our path of heart.  So the Bravest of Hearts, as taught by Ellie Drake of Brave Heart Women,  are those who open themselves to vulnerability and release their need for constant safety.  May these be your touchstones, your doorways to movement on your Path of Heart:

Letting go of our need for Safety
Vulnerability
Living beyond the possible
Fear that partners with enthusiasm in our professional lives
Meaningful Risk