Vulnerability.

I just listened to the best TEDtalk from Brene Brown titled The Power of Vulnerability.

(Click on the above photo to be linked to it.)

It got me reflecting on my road trip and on life, and how fast things can change,

how fast we can change if we open up and let ourselves be seen.

Brown talks about "the courage to be imperfect," and that "what makes us

vulnerable, makes us beautiful." So true. As I look around at life,

the folks who seem to be trying to hold it all together just look exhausted.

I don't want to have to try so hard, I want to share with my loved ones 

that I don't have it all together. That of course I'm flailing in life, we all are!

Life is messy, there are so many choices and directions and people we could be.

Brown also says that we must be "willing to let go of what we thought

we should be, to be who we are." That has never resonated so deeply as it does now.

It feels like an amazing gift to be able to take some time "off," 

and make art, make time for new ideas, travel, regroup, reveal, reinvent.

And she also says that "vulnerability is the birth place of joy, creativity,

belonging and love." What luck for us! If we admit to our imperfections,

we get so many wonderful things in return.

The last quote I will leave you with is this:

"Let ourselves be seen."

Let's let it all hang out, the crooked tooth, the bad report card, 

the flip flopping, the false start, the dusty mantle, the unwashed dish, 

the 3am hamster wheel thinking, the really ugly paintings,

the moth holes, the chipped china, the truly illegible handwriting.

This life is not a show, we are not actors, we don't have to "play the part."

We are authentic, messy, and vulnerable folks just making it the best we can.

Imperfection: Leave it or take it? I'll take it, hands down.