Dare to be weak.

Coast of Oualidia, Morocco, from Gypsy Tales™

"There's one sad truth in life I've found while journeying east and west. The only folks we really wound are those we love the best. We flatter those we scarcely know. We please the fleeting guest. And deal full many a thoughtless blow to those who love us best."

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

1850-1919, Author and Poet

I think this to be very true for most of us, unless we make a conscious attempt to match our behaviors with our thoughts and feelings. Some of us have more baggage than we have room for, and others are just scared to death of ever having baggage to need to move around. Unfortunately, this fear of having baggage creates just that: emotional baggage. Because when you are scared of encountering something, you will draw that very thing into your life unconsciously. 

It's the irony of the fear factor.

Risking vulnerability is always super scary. But not risking it creates pain as well. It is puzzling to realize that humans have a tendency to behave in ways that do not match their feelings when they feel vulnerable. Unless we consciously choose to make an effort to streamline our behaviors and thoughts, then we tend to react similar to animals under threat: we withdraw and become aggressive when our ego is threatened. This paradoxical behavior, however, does not lead to healing. Emotional vulnerability always threatens our ego. And that is why it is so much easier to play with things and human beings whom you emotionally do not connect with. There is no threat to your ego. You know they can't hurt you, even if they try. Because you simply don't care. And that gives you the perception of being in control. Of feeling strong.

But au contraire: it leaves you hollow in your shell.

Daring to be vulnerable, daring to risk your ego leads to freedom.

Ironically, that very fear of losing our freedom is what keeps us trapped.

The key is to lose yourself... to life. 

Freedom follows those who dare.