Put Into Practice Post #1 - "To Thine Own Self Be True"

     I have been a lover of words, and their greater meaning since I began to read and write. I was a lover of literature at a very early age. Words are powerful vehicles to all that we know, how we describe what we know, and how we express our experiences. I am a believer that in this life we each get to experience a series of mini lives, a linking chain creating a whole in its entirety. Words are titles to our mini lives. I love words such as SELF, AUTHENTICITY, CONNECTION, VULNERABILITY, COURAGE, LOVE, COMPASSION.... They all connect, as Brene' Brown's Ted Talk speech so powerfully supported and addressed the topic of breaking down to the deepest layers personal vulnerabilities, in order to excavate our authentic self.

     My dad was a stone/brick mason. I was raised around construction and how things look with their raw materials, the mess attached to the projects, the mortar, tools, design, plans of the desired end result of what was being constructed. It never bored me to view the steps as the "project" he worked on transformed into a home, a fireplace, BBQ, a solid wall, or a building. Each step had a sense of purpose. A creation formed from hard work. A creation to be authentically what it was planned to become.

      I think we came into our lives as authentic and whole people,(all be it, tiny babies), but pure and excited! Anticipating  an amazing journey! As we got older, we had hurtful happenings that caused us to begin to abandon our authentic self and pretend to be someone that we thought others would want us to be to avoid rejection or pain. We wanted to be loved no matter what. We stopped being authentic. This began to make us miserable.

     In Brene Brown's speech, she addressed the natural desire we all have to be loved, to have a sense of belonging, and to believe that we are all worthy of love and connection. Hurt, pain, fear, and shame that builds invisible walls to protect us. Too hide our authenticity. Brown acknowledged that from her studies, she determined that VULNERABILITY was the main critical process we all need to chose to go through in order to begin to break down these barriers that are keeping us from receiving and giving love, feeling joy, peace and love! And not just any kind of love, but love with our WHOLE HEART! I know that this type of love is what our authentic self has always deserved, craved, existed for...and using the courage we can muster we can have the ability to construct again our true selves. To have the ability to achieve our purpose of why we were created. Just as words were created to describe and teach, and bricks and tools were created to help us build and construct....so can vulnerability become the vehicle for us to heal and live our true nature!