Ben and I recently watched the Brene Brown talk on Netflix. I have loved her ever since her Power of Vulnerability TED talk in 2011, which quickly rose to the top of the Most Watched Ted Talks list for putting definitions to words that weren't part of our every day nomenclature - vulnerability, shame, resilience, etc. These days, it seems like you can't leave a conversation without some nod to one of these words. They have seeped into our culture, keeping up with social media's trend to normalize certain human tendencies. But at the time of watching this TED talk, I couldn't stop thinking about these terms as they applied to my life journey.
While I cried my way through most of her Netflix debut, one part that particularly struck me was the vulnerability of joy. She posits that joy is perhaps the most vulnerable of all emotions, because when you allow yourself to experience the depths of true joy, there is always the thought of the opposite of joy - the horrible thing coming around the corner if I allow myself to experience this emotion. She talks about moments as a mother, rocking her babies to sleep being overcome by joy and then suddenly feeling paralyzed with fear picturing the most dreaded thing happening to them. (We've all been there, yes?!) We want to fight joy and push it away because the flip side of joy is scary.
Lately I have been trying to be present to joy in the moment. Yes, there are lingering thoughts that bring fear and I have the desire to protect Jack from all of the things that could hurt him. But I also want to be vulnerable and allow myself to experience the richness of joy without the fear of what could happen. This is a discipline I want to work on throughout my days with Jack.
While I cried my way through most of her Netflix debut, one part that particularly struck me was the vulnerability of joy. She posits that joy is perhaps the most vulnerable of all emotions, because when you allow yourself to experience the depths of true joy, there is always the thought of the opposite of joy - the horrible thing coming around the corner if I allow myself to experience this emotion. She talks about moments as a mother, rocking her babies to sleep being overcome by joy and then suddenly feeling paralyzed with fear picturing the most dreaded thing happening to them. (We've all been there, yes?!) We want to fight joy and push it away because the flip side of joy is scary.
Lately I have been trying to be present to joy in the moment. Yes, there are lingering thoughts that bring fear and I have the desire to protect Jack from all of the things that could hurt him. But I also want to be vulnerable and allow myself to experience the richness of joy without the fear of what could happen. This is a discipline I want to work on throughout my days with Jack.
 |
| Just for fun... this little Avocado Face. |
No comments:
Post a Comment