One of the toughest things to do is accept who we are; the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Even if we manage to become aware of our biases and observe our judgements of others, we are still hard on ourselves.  The negative self-talk is programmed in our early development; all of the negative comments we have heard over the years by teachers, friends & family combined into one big, loud negative judge.  When we are feeling particularly open and exposed, this judge takes the opportunity to encourage those self doubts.  Challenge the self doubts you have and understand that they are an endless recording loop of past comments and slights.  Push the stop button and turn off the recording.

To be vulnerable means to be open and caring, putting yourself out there – who you are and what you’re made of.  It’s exposure at its deepest level.  It is also being authentic and real, trusting and believing in yourself.  Trust your story and that you are where you are meant to be, living and learning along the way.  Brene Brown explains her pain and passion in the following TED talk:

https://youtu.be/iCvmsMzlF7o?t=6

Being vulnerable means acknowledging, accepting and embracing our own stories.

In summary:

• To live is to learn
• To learn is to be willing to make mistakes
• To make mistakes means to embrace failure
• To fail feels like weakness
• To be weak is to be vulnerable
• To be vulnerable is to live
• To live is to be real

“Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes don’t see as well and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.  But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”  The Velveteen Rabbit.