Quotes About Vulnerability

Finding the courage to go to the places that scare us cannot happen without compassionate inquiry into the workings of ego.

Tonglen practice has to do with cultivating fearlessness. When you do this practice for some time, you experience your heart as more open.

To be fully alive, fully human and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to always be in no-man's-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again.

we think that by protecting ourselves from suffering we are being kind to ourselves. the truth is, we only become more fearful, more hardened, and more alienated.

You're the only one who knows when you're using things to protect yourself and keep your ego together and when you're opening and letting things fall apart, letting the world come as it is - working with it rather than struggling against it. You're the only one who knows.

Let's say that matters hadn't gone quite right with you, I mean personal matters, would you be able to find words to say exactly what was wrong?' 'I'm afraid so, yes, I would.' 'That might be useful, of course.' 'Like manufacturers' instructions. In case of failure, try words.

Ninguna de las dos estaba preparada para reconocer que le gustaría proteger a la otra. Habría sido como permitir que el miedo entrara en la habitación.

La docilidad no es lo mismo que la amabilidad. S personalidad líquida iba tanteando el terreno, y se introducía sigilosamente por los puntos más vulnerables de los demás hasta encontrar un lugar apropiado en el que instalarse y sacar de él el máximo provecho.

Ze wist maar al te goed, terwijl ze daar in het doffe namiddaglicht zat met de potsierlijke verzameling kommen en schalen voor haar uitgestald, dat eenzaamheid tot eenzaamheid sprak en dat hij een rechtstreeks appél op haar gevoelens deed.

Sólo sumida en ese torbellino de emociones, en mis horas, más bajas, descubrí que la gente podía seguir amándome aunque viera mi verdadero yo. Con el lado oscuro incluido.

Mama always used to say that love is never lost, even if it's not returned in the way you hope or expect. "Put it on out there," she said. "Lay your heart on the line, and don't be afraid of getting it broken. Broken hearts heal. Guarded hearts just turn to stone.

Her face, suddenly, contorts. The lips pinch and tighten. A hand crawls across the sheet. Lisa says, 'Are you all right?' 'No, says Claudia. 'But who is?

And we recall in Dickens' fiction how universal it is that a child looks after an adult, and how the adult remains so dependent upon the child that he becomes something worse than child-like.

Suppose you fell over with this fish. Is there anything you could do? Sure. Pray. It'd be like falling out of an airplane without a parachute and hoping you'll land in a haystack. The only thing that'd save you would be God, and since He pushed you overboard in the first place, I wouldn't give a nickel for your chances.

He wished to kneel beside him and pray. It was not shyness prevented him from doing it on Southampton railway station...It was the fear of being overcome with emotion. This was his flaw, the crack in his clay, and the more dreadful for being so unexpected...

Por primera vez sentía placer al mostrarse desnudo, y no a una sola persona, sino a todo un grupo; en vez de pasar simplemente, se plantó delante de todos.

Por contra, me explicaba mi hermano, el tiempo que media entre el despertar y el momento en que el que está acostado es dueño de su razón es un tiempo peligroso, es un mal tiempo, es el tiempo del arrepentimiento que hace encoger de vergüenza, el tiempo del sudor, dijo él, el tiempo de la verdad, el tiempo claro, el tiempo de la era glacial, tiempo de guerra, dijo él, es el destiempo.

I could go at any time now.

Our conversation with God should be utterly free and familiar, because God is the only person who will never, ever misunderstand us and never, ever reject us (hate us, ignore us, or be indifferent to us). These are the tow reasons we hid from other people, even our friends, even our parents, and the tow reasons we should never hide from God.

Mercy is Truth clothed; judgment is Truth naked.

Aly put hers on top of mine. "I feel it." I flinched, yanking my hand back. "What happened?" Aly said. "Nothing," I said. "You startled me." Aly narrowed her eyes at me. "You're turning red." "No, I'm not." I turned away. "You . . . said you felt something. What did you feel?" "Warmth," she said. I swallowed. "Warmth?

If we're going to die either way, there's no difference. At some point you have to trust somebody.

I DO NOT hear them, but I know they are near. The creatures. The men. They hunt me through the rocks and jungle trees. I must move, but I cannot. I fear my ankle is broken. If I stay, they will flush me out of this hiding place. When they are through with Father, they will come for me. I pray they spare him. It is I whom they seek.

To break the chain of mistrust, someone has to go first. I am happy to make the move.