Nov 15, 2019 | Your Self

Is it possible to be both right and happy in your relationships? Here’s a better alternative...

How do you feel when someone says you need to be vulnerable?

Do you cringe and bristle just a little bit?

It’s true that “vulnerability” might be an overused word in our world today, but so much of our humanity is connected to our willingness to lay down our guard so that we can experience love.

I love Brene Brown’s definition of vulnerability. (Aside: check out her Netflix special The Call to Courage. It’s definitely worth your time!)

She says, “Vulnerability is the pathway to being seen and to being loved. To love is to be vulnerable. Many of us would rather not be loved than to risk being vulnerable.”

Can you identify? 🙋

For years, I struggled with being vulnerable. I had a lifelong habit of posturing myself as ‘right’ in my relationships, which often became a serious roadblock for growth and intimacy.

I still remember the day my coach told me, “You either get to be right, Catherine, or be happy. You can’t have both.” Woah. He was right.

I still have my moments in this area. But I’ve become more practiced at interrupting the thoughts of being right and choosing personal responsibility instead.

Even when all the signals (read: fear, righteous indignation, stubbornness, hands on my hips, you get the idea..) shout, “run, Catherine, run. Girl, what the hell are you thinking? Get outta here” and I stay anyway, and let myself feel all the discomfort of vulnerability, it is then that I’m closest to the love and acceptance I crave.

I believe that acceptance may be one of our greatest fears as human beings. If we fully accept ourselves, then…

…there’s nothing to strive for;

…nothing to work towards;

…no meter stick to measure ourselves against;

…and no so-called “perfect” to reach.

Who we are is enough.

We can get uncomfortable with learning to get comfortable with who we are. Have compassion with you, and allow yourself to be in-process with where you are in this moment. Lean into your growth edge. After all, that’s where the magic is!

Leaning in with you,

P.S. I’m bubbling over with excitement to release my project management tool that has helped my business reach new levels of potential in the past several years. Release date, November 29! Stay tuned!

P.P.S. Are you a woman entrepreneur looking to reach unbounded success in 2020? Check out my signature program UNBOUNDED in the banner below to discover whether now is the time to get exponentially supported in your life and business.

 


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Reflections, Ahas and Lessons Learned on Hosting the First Unbounded Mastermind Retreat

 

At the time of recording this episode, I am just still landing from hosting our first ever Unbounded Mastermind retreat a couple of weekends ago. I wanted to record this episode to share what I’m still processing from the retreat, how it went, some of the lessons learned, and some of the highlights. In last week’s episode, we had Kerry Dobson on the show, and if you listened to that episode, you’ll remember that I shared with her that I was feeling vulnerable going into hosting this first ever in person retreat for the mastermind. I had a lot of expectations and hopes for how it would go and sometimes my own anticipation and pressure I put on myself can get in my way, so we workshopped my own blocks on our podcast episode together. It was so incredibly helpful, reassuring and affirming that I was on the right track. So I actually wanted to record this episode and give you the download and behind the scenes of how the retreat ended up going as well as some of my own takeaways as facilitator and some of my own personal insights that were reflected back to me. I know many in my community have shared their own dreams of wanting to host a retreat of their own, so I hope you’ll find this conversation helpful as you consider what to include in your own.

Visit this episode’s show notes page here.

The Prosperous Empath® Podcast is produced by Heart Centered Podcasting.

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