Welcome to episode two of the For Flourishing\u2019s Sake podcast!\u00a0 I hope you\u2019ve had a great week full of opportunities for you and your students to explore, to connect and to flourish.<\/p>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p>Today I\u2019m going to focus on vulnerability and in keeping with the theme – I\u2019m warning you – this is going to be quite an intimate episode!<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes things happen that make us more aware of our vulnerabilities. \u00a0A few weeks ago, at the start of my holiday, I slipped on some rocks by the sea and broke my forearm in two places just above the wrist.\u00a0 I was immensely lucky that this happened now I\u2019ve lost a vast amount of weight since last summer, as the breaks could have been much worse. I\u2019m also very lucky that I broke my arm rather than my back or skull and that I was fitted with a fully waterproof cast so the break didn\u2019t spoil my holiday \u2013 I still enjoyed swimming and sightseeing almost unimpeded.\u00a0 I am immensely grateful!<\/p>\n<p>But being grateful doesn\u2019t render me immune to vulnerability.\u00a0 The first week or so was the hardest; for the first couple of days, before the cast was fitted, I was in intense pain and needed a lot of help with everything, including going to the toilet as I couldn\u2019t manage the taking off and putting on of underwear.<\/p>\n<p>Things got easier every day, but last week I suffered a full-on panic attack as my husband started to leave the house to go to work one morning and I realised we\u2019d both forgotten about my bra situation – you see, I couldn\u2019t do up my own bra at that point!\u00a0 I called him at the top of my voice but he had already stepped outside.\u00a0 I ran downstairs and was about to open the front door when I realised I wasn\u2019t wearing anything \u2013 and my neighbours really don\u2019t need that kind of shock in the morning! In a blind panic, crying, I began banging on the front door, hoping he would see me through the partially opaque glass panel in the door, or hear me over the radio in his car.\u00a0 Luckily, he spotted me and came back in.\u00a0 He had to hold me for a few minutes as I was shaking and hyperventilating and couldn\u2019t stop crying. \u00a0With his love and understanding, as he held me without judgement, and by exercising self-kindness rather than berating myself for my irrationality, with some calming meditative breathing, I came out of my panic attack pretty quickly and was able to respond more rationally to reality.<\/p>\n<p>Because here\u2019s the thing: The reality was that, on that particular morning, my youngest daughter was at home so she could have helped me when she got up, but in my mind, if I couldn\u2019t get my husband\u2019s attention and help on this occasion, this could happen again after my daughter had gone back to University and I\u2019d be stuck, bra-less, all day! I catastrophised the situation and got myself in a complete tizzy.\u00a0 I was dealing with a vulnerability I wasn\u2019t used to and it completely threw me off-kilter. I now have a new cast that has given me more mobility, so I can finally fully dress myself.<\/p>\n<p>This incident made me think, though.\u00a0 It brought to mind\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/brene_brown_on_vulnerability\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bren\u00e9 Brown and her TEDx talk<\/a>\u00a0on the power of vulnerability. In it, she says that whilst \u201cvulnerability is the core of shame and fear\u00a0and our struggle for worthiness\u201d, it is also \u201cthe birthplace of joy, of creativity,\u00a0of belonging, of love\u201d. I\u2019ve certainly had to be more creative than usual over the past few weeks, and love has played a huge part in getting me through the challenges, but as I just mentioned, fear has played a huge part, too. \u00a0Bren\u00e9 talks about how often we numb emotions we don\u2019t like, but that we can\u2019t selectively numb emotions.\u00a0 She has a point and this ties in with what I touched on in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/forflourishingssake.com\/episode-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">last week\u2019s episode<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Today I want to leave you with this: Reflect on your own vulnerabilities and how leaning into them rather than trying to ignore them might help you experience life to the full.\u00a0 I also invite you to spend 20 minutes watching Brene Brown\u2019s TEDx talk (even if you have already seen it) to remind yourself of the importance of being kind to yourself (as I had to be with myself after my panic attack) and to others who may be struggling with their own vulnerabilities, which you may not even be aware of.\u00a0 Your colleagues, and the children you work with, bring with them a whole range of emotions and vulnerabilities that they may be struggling with and attempting to suppress.\u00a0 They may, at times, behave or react in ways that seem irrational because of this.\u00a0 By showing them that you understand, that you can listen without judgement and that you are vulnerable, too, you can help them accept and deal with their full range of emotions so that they can experience life in the best possible way and flourish.<\/p>\n<p>I look forward to our next appointment in a week\u2019s time.\u00a0 Until then\u2026.For Flourishing\u2019s Sake, have a great week!<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/pond5.com\/royalty-free-music\/item\/105269169-everyday-hero-60-second-version-corporate-motivational-you-t\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Everyday Hero – 60 second version (Corporate, motivational, you tube, podcast)<\/a>\u00a0Music by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pond5.com\/\">Pond5<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to episode two of the For Flourishing\u2019s Sake podcast!\u00a0 I hope you\u2019ve had a great week full of opportunities for you and your students to explore, to connect and to flourish. Today I\u2019m going to focus on vulnerability and in keeping with the theme – I\u2019m warning you – this is going to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,526],"tags":[529,387,535,525,60,527,536,537],"class_list":["post-2242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-for-flourishings-sake-podcast","tag-character","tag-education","tag-episode-2","tag-for-flourishings-sake","tag-podcast","tag-podcast-episode","tag-psychology","tag-vulnerability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}