Fearlessly Feral Living!
Fearlessly Feral Living!
Spiritual Vulnerability
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This episode is about spiritual vulnerability and how it allows us to feel connected, both with spirit and with other people. Feeling connected allows us to feel at peace, serene and powerful.
Well, hello, hello, hello, everyone. This is Reverend Karen coming at you. It feels like it's been a really long time since I've recorded an episode, and it might very well have been a long time. And I apologize for that. I will try and do better. Before I get started today with our podcast, well, first I'm going to do the introduction, but I have some news for you. So here's the introduction, which if you listened to the podcast before, you probably know this thing by heart. But this is Reverend Karen broadcasting to you from the Woogie Ranch out here in rural northern Nevada, where I'm a half an hour away from the nearest gas station and the nearest grocery store. And our mission here at Fearlessly Feral Living is to provide a strong and unshakable foundation that works for successful long-term living. Our purpose is to activate inner self-awareness, and our vision is a world in which everyone lives wild and free, in other words, fearlessly feral. So before I get started with our topic today, which is the awesome, incredible power of vulnerability. And yes, vulnerability is indeed awesome. First of all, you might notice there's a different background behind me. I have completely rearranged my office. I got a new computer, I lightened the load a bit, I got rid of some things, moved some things around, and now I sit here facing my windows. There's a corner here with windows on each side. So I get to look out my windows as I'm working, and it's a lovely view. I have my property here, which has got trees and well some weeds. And then the farther out view is of a mountain range called the Sweetwater Mountains. And periodically a bunny will hop by, or at this time of year, I get a family of quail that walks by. So it's pretty pleasant, and I'm really enjoying being able to look out the windows rather than uh at a wall when I'm doing my Zoom work and my other work. And I'm also really enjoying the difference in the lighting. I had to use artificial lighting before, which I was never really happy with. And now we've got this beautiful available light streaming through these windows. So the other news that I have is that one of the reasons why I have not been podcasting as regularly as I used to is because I am almost finished with my third book. So it's going to be called How to Live Fearlessly Feral. I'm pretty excited about it. It is going to take a list of spiritual practices and a list of spiritual principles. And the third section is a month-by-month guide to deepen into a principle and a practice each month. So by the end of the end of the year, you will have taken a deep dive. If you follow the the guide guidelines in the book, you will have taken a deep dive into principles and practices that I guarantee you will allow you to allow to live your life fearlessly. Feral, stand by for opportunities to pre-order, stand by for podcast episodes featuring different aspects of the book, all kinds of goodies coming up for that. So I'm very excited about that. So let's talk about vulnerability now, shall we? So I have a little story for you. Once upon a time, there was a woman who wanted a deeper connection with God. She didn't just want this connection, she needed it, and it wasn't happening. She didn't feel the connection. She talked with folks about their understanding of God. She read books, she searched, and she still felt like she was missing out on what she knew was an essential connection. She knew that if she had that connection, it would make everything right in her world. Well, she persevered in her search, and one day she had a light bulb moment, one of those aha moments. She realized that she had the connection all along. She was just blocking it because in her fear she was refusing to be vulnerable to the connection. So she set an attention for full-on vulnerability in her life. And she researched vulnerability and she meditated about vulnerability and she played the what-if game with vulnerability. These are all practices that are in my book, by the way. And today, vulnerability is a key part of who and what she is because she knows that in that vulnerability, she is connected with the sunlight of the spirit, and in that vulnerability, she is also connected with power and peace and joy and everything else that is God. That woman is me, and I had that awakening and that and experienced that connection about 33 years ago for the first time. I had that aha moment where I realized that vulnerability was a way to be in my life, and I've been practicing it since then. Are there times in life where my walls go up? You betcha. And I work to bring them back down again. Are there times in life when fear crops up and the vulnerability goes away? Yeah. Yeah. And I work to bring them back down again. And when I speak about vulnerability, I'm not talking about the kind of vulnerability that says, oh, I can leave my doors unlocked and God will take care of me. No, no, no. That's that's not vulnerability, that's foolishness. I when I speak to you about vulnerability, I want to speak about how vulnerability and unconditional love and acceptance and seeing God in everyone allows us to still be together in relationship. And I want to speak to you about how vulnerability allows us to feel that connection 24-7, because through feeling that connection, we can be in successful relationship, both with ourselves and with other people. So this isn't a topic that I just researched this week. By the way, I got this topic from the Global Vision themes of Centers for Spiritual Living this month. This isn't just a topic that I saw, oh, that's a good topic. Let's talk about that on the podcast and then research it. No, I have lived this topic for over 30 years. And being vulnerable is a spiritual attribute, and I believe it is the key to feeling okay in the world. Because being vulnerable is what allows us to feel that oneness that we speak of all the time in these circles. And oneness is a spiritual principle that takes up quite a bit of space in my new book. Oneness is key, it's a foundational spiritual principle as well as a practice that allows us to, you know, everything else that we do and be in life builds on oneness. So oneness is a pretty good deal. And we get that oneness from that connection. And oneness allows us to celebrate all the beautiful things that make life worth living. You know, oneness, when when we are one, we we feel this connection with other human beings as well. And I don't know about you, but when I'm one with people, you know, I appreciate the diversity, I appreciate the differences, I appreciate um all the, you know, all the different beautiful things that happen with human beings. So that's what vulnerability can get us. And again, vulnerability is not about leaving your doors unlocked because God will protect you. It's not about allowing people to take advantage of us, especially in this day and age. That kind of vulnerability, no, we need to set boundaries. And ironically, setting boundaries comes from being spiritually vulnerable. It's being spiritually vulnerable that I'm talking about today. It's an inner kind of vulnerability that is that allows us to feel safe walking in the world. We still have boundaries. You know, there's a saying that says, trust God, but tie up your camel. It's that. It's that vulnerability allows us to trust. We still tie up the camel, but we trust. So vulnerability is all wrapped up in principles such as the law of attraction and oneness. And like everything else, vulnerability again begins within. What I want to suggest today is that being vulnerable is basically an inner state of being that allows us to completely embody oneness, feeling the God within us and feeling it strongly, knowing it and embodying it and acknowledging our divine selves without hesitation or limit or doubt, without the childhood conditioning that says God is only something outside of us, and that it's sacrilegious and downright unsafe to think that we are one with God or that God is one with us. I want to invite you to consider that in the last analysis, it is only deep within each and every one of us that we can connect with that thing called God. And in the sense of oneness, we get to know our true selves. And again, you know, there's a saying that goes around to thine own self be true. We get to know our true selves when we are connected. Because who are we? We are absolutely beautiful, glorious, individualized manifestations of spirit. Notice this is going way beyond children of God, guys. We are individualized manifestations of spirit when we know that, when we feel that, we feel that connection, and when we feel that connection, we can be vulnerable in beautiful ways that open us up. So we're, you know, vulnerability depends on the connection, and the connection depends upon vulnerability. So it's kind of a cycle here, like a twofer kind of thing, where where everything's connected. This is the beauty of vulnerability. It is the vulnerability that allows us to feel that connection, and then the connection allows us to be more vulnerable. And when we can do that and we feel safe in the world and our walls aren't up, then yeah, we have better relationships with people. This is the kind of vulnerability I'm speaking to that we begin and end with that we live. And again, it's not a kind of vulnerability that makes us prey to those who would cause us harm. It's not a vulnerability that makes us victims. It's a vulnerability that makes us strong and powerful. With this kind of vulnerability, we can set good healthy boundaries with the people we're in relationship with. We can set good, healthy boundaries with how we deal with what's happening in the outside world today. It's an essential part of good self-care, this vulnerability and boundary stuff. Self-care isn't about massages and manicures. It's about knowing our worth, it's about knowing our truth, it's about connecting with the God within us and feeling that oneness and feeling that connection and beginning there. Self-care is about allowing ourselves to be vulnerable enough to feel all of that. Self-care is about acknowledging that and then showing up in the world confident and full of power. And because we are that, we can then set good, healthy boundaries. When we are vulnerable, it looks like we have, you know, it doesn't look like we do. We have good communication skills with the people we care about. When we are vulnerable and we're seated in our own power because of that, we can actually let people know what we're thinking and feeling about things. What a concept, right? Oh, I can't say that. I can't tell them what I'm thinking and feeling. I can't tell you how many people tell me that. That's so hard to do for a lot of people. I got news for you. Cultivate vulnerability within yourself, cultivate that connection within yourself, and you will be able to better express what you're thinking and feeling in good, healthy ways. When we're feeling connected and then we're practicing that spiritual vulnerability, we can look at the things that are happening outside of us without fear. It doesn't mean that we aren't concerned, just means we're not afraid of it. And yeah, almost every day I have some fear crop up. I get up in the morning and I do my spiritual practices, and then I plug into the world and I read the emails with the news, and I'm like, oh my God, what next? And the fear crops up. Then I've got to do spiritual practices all over again. I can be concerned, but I don't want to live in a state of fear. Being spiritually vulnerable allows me to do that. Being spiritually vulnerable allows me to know what is mine to do to show up as a good citizen in this country. Being spiritually vulnerable allows me to take responsibility for myself. Being spiritually vulnerable allows me to, for example, fact-check the news I receive before I share it on social media. It allows me to know whether or not it is mine to do to protest or write or call my congresspeople. All of that stuff comes from being spiritually vulnerable. Vulnerability through oneness, expressed in this way, allows us to move through life peacefully and successfully. And there's a side benefit to vulnerability that I love. And this has to do with the law of attraction. So the law of attraction doesn't tell us that we attract what we think about. That's a pretty shallow and superficial interpretation of the law of attraction. The law of attraction tells us we attract what we are. There's a difference there. So if we are powerful and serene and peaceful and filled with the joy of living and connected with the one, guess what? We're going to attract other people who are just like that. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Wouldn't that be wonderful? Being spiritually vulnerable also makes it possible for us to maybe not so much live in harmony, but have love and compassion and no judgment for people who think differently than we do. Because I have news for you we have to have love and compassion for people who think differently than we do. If we don't do that, it's like trying to teach a pig to fly. All it does is piss off the pig, and it never ever works. It shuts off our own vulnerability, and then we get disconnected, and then we're fearful, and we hate again, and we hate everything and everyone, and then we have to start all over again. I'm telling you guys, being spiritually vulnerable is where it's at here. It's a beautiful way to live life. When we're spiritually vulnerable, we can love what is, and we can accept others for who and what they are without trying to change them or fix them or argue with them or debate with them. They just are, and we just are. And here's another way to become and stay in spiritual vulnerability. It's kind of another level besides that law of attraction thing. A while back, I was told by a mentor to love it all. I had called him in sheer desperation because I was not in a place of vulnerability. I had totally shut off my vulnerability. I was angry, I was fearful, I was frightened, I was hating everything and everybody. And I don't like living like that. And I had tried everything and nothing was working. So in desperation, I called a mentor. I picked up the phone. Now, don't be like me, guys. You can call a mentor before you get desperate. But I I waited till I was desperate. I turned to this mentor and I poured it all out. My whole story, this long, drawn-out thing, a tale of woe, and he just listened. And I stopped to breathe. And he was able to get a wording edgewise. And he said, Karen, and I'm listening with bated breath, thinking he's gonna give me this wisdom that's gonna allow me to feel better from this point onward forever and ever and ever. Well, he did give me these words of wisdom, but I didn't like it. He said, Love it all. And I went, What? Wait, what? What do you mean, love it all? And I sputtered and I stammered and I said, Yeah, but and he said, Love it all. Every time I stopped for breath, all he said was love it all. Now notice he didn't say love them all, he said, love it all. He explained then when I stopped my protests, I was full of what if and yabuts and all kinds of stuff, and he kept saying love it all. And I'm like, oh my god, I can't believe he's telling me this. He explained that I do not did not need to work at replacing my walls with vulnerability. I didn't need to work at acceptance, I didn't even need to process my feelings. Go figure. He said the very act of loving it all allows us to simply gently release those feelings. In other words, when we stop resisting, because remember, Ernest Holmes says what we resist persists. When we stop resisting, it stops pushing at us when we stop fighting all of that stuff and start loving it all, all of a sudden it becomes kind of moot. Okay, I feel hurt now. I'm gonna settle down, and they do, they settle down, and that opens up the door to allowing that vulnerability and that oneness and acceptance. Now, I trust this man, I wouldn't have gone to him if I didn't. I study with him, I admire him, I respect him, but I had to prove that what he said about loving it all really worked. So I'll share with you what I did and recommend you do the same. Don't just believe it because I said it. Go out and try it. So I went out and I did some personal research, which consisted of first metaphorically like stomping my foot and saying, I'll show him it's not going to work. I'm going to go out in the world and love it all and then call him back and say it's not working. So the day that we talked, the next day I was scheduled to make my monthly trip to Bakersfield, where I serve as an interim minister right now. And uh I put this little suggestion to work. I get in the car and I love the car. I see the windshield's dirty. I love the dirty windshield, but I stopped at the gas station and cleaned it. I got caught in construction. I loved the construction. I sat there during the construction when they had the traffic stopped and I looked at the views and loved it all. I just loved it all. I loved all of it. And most importantly, all of my thoughts that I was thinking on this trip, I loved them too. I loved it all. I loved the journey. I loved my impatience. I loved my frustration. I loved my fear. I loved my loathing. I loved how I was feeling about what's going on in the world. I just loved it all. By the end of the trip, I was living in vulnerability once again. And I was on a spiritual cloud that was, it still hasn't gone away. It's been wonderful. I've just been in this place. So try loving it all. If you can't feel a connection with God any other way, try this. I guarantee you this works. And one of the ways that you can tell that you're connected with God is you're feeling that peace, you're feeling joy, you're feeling serenity, all that stuff, that's God's stuff, guys. It's not complicated. It's not complicated. So today I still have to consciously go to loving it all sometimes. And I do so freely and willingly because it's a lot better than living in fear and loathing. Vulnerability allows us to be at one with the one and connected and embodying all those yummy qualities of spirit. When I love it all, I can practice unconditional love and acceptance and see God in everything and everyone. And this starts the cycle all over again. And it allows me to have good, healthy communications with people, it allows me to see people with compassion. It allows me to feel empathy for them when they are hurting units and expressing their fear in inappropriate ways. That's a biggie. That's a biggie. So, yeah, for today's message in this podcast, I'm advocating spiritual vulnerability because it's spiritual vulnerability that allows us to be connected with that thing called God. And we are connect when we are connected with that thing called God, we feel all the qualities of God that we like to assign to it peace and power and joy and loving kindness and acceptance and compassion, all that good yummy stuff. So try it. Try loving it all. Try it consciously. Love your thoughts, love the people you encounter on any given day. Love the traffic, love the weather, love it all. Just love it. So that's my take on spiritual vulnerability. I hope you've enjoyed it. And I thank you for listening and for your support. And I am knowing fearlessly fair a living for me and for you. And we are a focused ministry of centers for spiritual living, and your support is much appreciated and fully tax deductible, and you can support us in a number of ways. Buzzsprout.com is who hosts this podcast. And if you listen to our podcast via BuzzSprout Sprout, there's going to be a little button there that you can click and link to support the podcast. We've got a PayPal page, we have Venmo. And you can find all the links and the information for that and more at our website at fearlesslyferal.org. And in the meantime, yes, I am beautifully feeling spiritually vulnerable right now, and I am knowing fearlessly feral living for you and for me. Thank you very much.