{"id":1277,"date":"2012-06-26T10:14:53","date_gmt":"2012-06-26T15:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/?p=1277"},"modified":"2012-06-26T10:14:53","modified_gmt":"2012-06-26T15:14:53","slug":"seeing-the-vulnerability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/?p=1277","title":{"rendered":"Seeing the Vulnerability"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I recently came across an article on\u00a0Tiny Buddha<\/a>\u00a0that talked about the importance of appreciating those around you now, in the moment, before it is too late. Though the message was moving and important, a line towards the end stood out to me more.<\/p>\n

“Appreciate the people who help you, who are there for you, who see that you are vulnerable and who don’t just look away.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Again, the inherent message is to take the time to express appreciation when others are there for you. However, the main question that came to mind was, “Am I there for other people?”<\/p>\n

What about the moments when I have sensed someone else’s vulnerability…. and looked away?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This can happen for many reasons. Maybe I’m worried that people won’t want to be bothered. Maybe people will think I’m being nosy. Maybe I won’t know what to say when they do share. Maybe what they say will come too close to my own pain, and that would mess up my\u00a0scheme of pretending it’s not there.<\/p>\n

This article helped me realize that my pain has prevented me from being there for others. \u00a0How many exquisite opportunities have I missed to share a real, vulnerable moment with another person?<\/p>\n

I need to realize that my struggles are only one lens through which I see the world. I need to set that lens aside and reach out to those around me.\u00a0I need to be able to say, “I’m here. I see you. And I’m there for you.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes that action is simply a hand on the shoulder, or a soft back scratch, or a comforting hand hold. Something simply to say that their pain is worth my attention.<\/p>\n

And that, when they’re ready and if they choose, I’m here to face it with them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*This article\u00a0originally\u00a0appeared on my personal blog, clauram<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently came across an article on\u00a0Tiny Buddha\u00a0that talked about the importance of appreciating those around you now, in the moment, before it is too late. Though the message was moving and important, a line towards the end stood out to me more. “Appreciate the people who help you, who are there for you, who see that you are vulnerable Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":1278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[65,23,113,68],"coauthors":[17],"class_list":["post-1277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-2","tag-connection","tag-empathy","tag-reaching-out","tag-vulnerability"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/ac0d77d530d58c9e57741303e442f97c_311156_lrg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1277"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1281,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1277\/revisions\/1281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1277"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=1277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}