Select Page

How My Friends Help Me Preserve and Practice Vulnerability

As a Friend, NaBloPoMo

My friends know that I’m quite cerebral…always good for a unique perspective or a question no one’s thought to ask quite that way. I can entertain myself for hours with ideas. So it would come as no surprise to them that I like TED talks…introduced to me in 2010 by a kindred cerebral friend.

On this first Sunday of the new year, I ask you to take 16 minutes of your day to watch this TED talk by Dr. Brené Brown on The Price of Invulnerability:

I know, from personal experience, that we really can’t numb out just the bad stuff without also numbing the good stuff we want.

My friends help me preserve my ability to be vulnerable by reassuring me that I am safe with them. I am able to practice vulnerability with them, and each time I do, I get stronger and am more willing to risk vulnerability outside of the safety net they provide.

Priceless.

6 Comments

  1. Nancy
    Nancy on January 2, 2011 at 7:53 pm

    I love this video! I forget where I first saw it, but the message really hits home. The word that keeps coming up for me is "genuine." When I am really in my heart center, my world expands — and so do my connections. If I attempt to restrict or protect my heart, that's when things go all wonky around me.

    Being vulnerable doesn't mean to become a doormat! Rather it's simply a way to live with one's own truth without having to defend it to anyone else. When I can be less judgmental of me, I am more open to see goodness in others too; funny how that one works!

    One of my big lessons in 2010 was that it's never OK to get too far from what my heart tells me 🙂

    • SuzanneSays
      SuzanneSays on January 3, 2011 at 4:41 pm

      Nancy – I think of vulnerability as being open to what is, rather than being closed off. SOOOO many people today are scared to death of vulnerability, because like she states in the video, we associate 'vulnerable' with 'weak'. Talk about the meaning of a word getting skewed by culture!

  2. Djuanna
    Djuanna on January 3, 2011 at 3:32 pm

    Thanks for that video Suzanne. It was just what I needed to see today.

  3. SuzanneSays
    SuzanneSays on January 3, 2011 at 4:42 pm

    Diva D, you are most welcome. 🙂 YouTube has LOTS more from her if you're interested. And her blog is great: OrdinaryCourage.com.

  4. delaram
    delaram on January 13, 2011 at 6:06 pm

    Thanks for sharing this Suzanne1 I too enjoy TED talks. Much love, delaram

  5. marcus
    marcus on May 2, 2011 at 9:24 am

    …i agree that this video goes right to the point. Great talk. How high threshold of vulnerability we gave? How high threshold of pain we have? I rhink that we raise with vournability becouse our parents raised us this way. This is big mistake our parents do. And we must cleaned our brains which are filled with fear. Great blog for reading. Thanks
    Marcus