At our core is our tender heart, tinged with a touch of sadness • it is sweet and vulnerable • this soft spot may be deeply buried, but it is always there • even very simple or momentary experiences can connect us with this heart: you might watch a pair of swallows fly back and forth, over and over, bringing food to their hungry chicks, and something melts or softens in you • it is so beautiful to be touched in this way; but this inner core of tenderness can also make us feel threatened and vulnerable • so we learn to armor up, to wrap that tenderness in layers of protection • we begin to buy into the dichotomy between strength on the one hand and vulnerability on the other • little by little, we dull our feelings to hide our vulnerability • but as we hide that openness and vulnerability, we also cut off the tender wellspring of kindness and compassion • the posture of meditation, with its strong back and soft belly, symbolizes the integration of strength and vulnerability • when these two are in harmony, we may discover that our vulnerability is not actually a weakness, but our greatest source of strength • when we bring vulnerability and strength together in harmony, we begin to live in this world in a more confident, fresh, and vivid way.