Regardless of the situation or relationship you’re encountering, vulnerability is key to connecting and communicating. It is especially important when dealing with children who have come from a hard background; who are emotionally damaged and scarred. In this post, Dr. Kenneth Acha shares a TED Talk video by Brené Brown that really helps us understand the power of vulnerability. The following quote is from her video.
“About six weeks into this [connection] research — I ran into this unnamed thing that absolutely unraveled connection in a way that I didn’t understand or had never seen. And so I pulled back out of the research and thought, I need to figure out what this is. And it turned out to be shame. And shame is really easily understood as the fear of disconnection: Is there something about me that, if other people know it or see it, that I won’t be worthy of connection? The things I can tell you about it: it’s universal; we all have it. The only people who don’t experience shame have no capacity for human empathy or connection. No one wants to talk about it, and the less you talk about it the more you have it. What underpinned this shame, this “I’m not good enough,” — which we all know that feeling: “I’m not blank enough. I’m not thin enough, rich enough, beautiful enough, smart enough, promoted enough.” The thing that underpinned this was excruciating vulnerability, this idea of, in order for connection to happen, we have to allow ourselves to be seen, really seen.” Watch the Video >Â
