On Vulnerability

[V]ulnerability is not just about hurting. It is about openness. Not only to pain, adversity, loss, and death, but also to the things we most desire and cherish: to love, intimacy, creativity, sex, birth, wonder; to being truly touched by another human being, being truly seen for who we are; to the sheer adventure of being alive; to the sacred spirit that imbues the world. Vulnerability is what we share as human beings: our openness to being affected by one another, for better and for worse, is at the core of our interconnectedness. Because we are vulnerable, we feel pain—not only our own pain, but the pain of others. What we do to others we also do to ourselves. Vulnerability is at the heart of our human capacity for empathy; for suffering but also for joy; for hurt but also for compassion; for loneliness but also for connection. It is the open heart, fragile but strong, easily wounded but capable of great mercy and love. When we are most vulnerable, we are most alive, most open to all the dimensions of existence. In our vulnerability is our power. ~ Miriam Greenspan, Healing Through the Dark Emotions