The power of vulnerability

I felt to re-post a blog post I wrote a couple of years ago this week, it being Valentine's Day on Sunday (hope you don't mind!) I think it still has a poignant message:

One morning a couple of weeks ago I asked Source (you can substitute this word for God, Life, your 'inner voice' or whatever suits you), 'What would You have me do?' 'Allow yourself to crumble,' came the reply. I got a sense to put this out on Twitter - even though it made me feel more than a little 'raw', exposing my inner workings so openly. Within a second this came back: 'Be crumbled. So wild flowers may grow where you are!'The exchange melted my heart - and set up a connection with one of my 'followers' that I wouldn't have had if I had not 'let myself be seen'. And in choosing to 'crumble', which I continued to do for the rest of that month (if your mind is boggling, I'd be happy to explain in greater detail if you drop me a line), what has come out of it has been not just wild flowers, but a whole range of other gifts.

And what I've learnt over and over again is that we don't need Valentines Day to reveal who we are in our hearts: when we allow ourselves to be seen each and every day, magic and miracles tend to happen all around us. This rather beautiful quote by self-proclaimed 'revolutionary of the heart' Jeannie Zandi, which rather synchronistically came into my life through a friend on Facebook at about the same time, says it all: 'If we meet this world unprotected, our heart gets broken over and over and over. This is actually a gift. You let the world touch you, it shatters you open, and it shatters you open, and it shatters you open. And here you are, shining. After our heart is broken open a thousand times and all of the contents emptied out, there's just this shining left.

'This video, entitled 'The Power of vulnerability', featuring storyteller/researcher Brene Brown, is more than a little beautiful and touches on quite a few of the same topics. I challenge you to watch it without your heart going just a little wobbly!