Quotes About Vulnerability

I'd slink back to my room and curl up on the bed like a fish-hook and cry until I was rusty.

Thus the fetus remains vulnerable to the virus. This scenario has been linked to the development of autism-like symptoms in mice

Imagine if suffering were real. Imagine if those old people were afraid of death. What if the midget or the girl with one arm really felt pain? Imagine how impossible it would be to live if some people were alone and afraid all their lives.

What is it about a beautiful sunny afternoon, with the birds singing and the wind rustling through the leaves, that makes you want to get drunk?

The life he'd known now seemed capable of multiple, even infinite shatterings.

And for a moment she was the heroine again. Battling the odds. But just for a moment. Because suddenly it was clear to me again that all she could do was take it, powerless. And lose. And I remember thinking at least it's not me. If I wanted to I could even join them. For that moment, thinking that, I had power.

Up here, if they found them, they were helpless. People don't look up, she thought. Melissa was sleeping now, but what if she woke and cried?

To open deeply, as genuine spiritual life requires, we need tremendous courage and strength, a kind of warrior spirit.

the world is full of pain, uncertainty, and injustice. But in this vulnerable human life, every loss is an opportunity either to shut out the world or to stand up with dignity and let the heart respond.

True love is not for the faint-hearted.

many people who come to spiritual practice are frightened by their feelings. They hope meditation will help them to transcend the messiness of the world and leave them invulnerable to difficult feelings. But this is a false transcendence, a denial of life. It is fear masquerading as wisdom.

The place where we can most directly open to the mystery of life is in what we don't do well, in the places of our struggles and vulnerability. These places always require surrender and letting go: When we let ourselves become vulnerable, new things can be born in us. In risking the unknown we gain a sense of life itself. And most remarkably, that which we have sought is often just here, buried under the problem and the weakness itself.

Notice when you are open, how others relax their own defensiveness. Let yourself be curious, loving, and concerned. Learn to see in new ways. It's never too late to open your heart and mind.

True maturation on the spiritual path requires that we discover the depth of our wounds. As Achaan Chah put it, "If you haven't cried a number of times, your meditation hasn't really begun." A

As one grows weaker one is less susceptible to suffering. There is less hurt because there is less to hurt.

Fear the assassin who waits in the lonely passages of the heart. —Teri Kilborn, Broken Fences           She

who have shielded themselves from its risks—at the cost of limiting their pleasures.

The only people who can honestly claim to be completely free agents in matters of eros are those who have shielded themselves from its risks—at the cost of limiting their pleasures.

I don't have any fear of intimacy, but rather thrive on it, which is rare in a public person.

He thought that just because he couldn't conceive of a threat to his ship it was safe.

Wanting Kate was one thing. Sex was simple. Or it could be. But liking her? Enjoying spending time with her? Allowing her into his private life, as Brody had tonight, albeit at his sisters' invitation? It would lead to nothing but trouble.

Why is it that you can bear pain, but someone's kindness makes you cry?

I know I am capable of loving to the full capacity, of not being frightened of loving too much, of giving myself up and over

And don't look for guarantees. There are none, not in any human relationship. We all have so many flaws that it's a wonder men and women ever get together. Or stay together. But they do, Tuck, they do.