Being Vulnerable

Your vulnerability is a gift to the world. In today's episode, Joanna talks about one of her own experiences in sharing her deepest vulnerability, and how it opened up gateways for others to share. How being in our truth takes courage and that now is the time for us to dig deep, to find that courage within, as we move through these times of great change. It's time to share our voices.

Transcript

Hello,

And welcome to the Wisdom Well.

I am your host,

Joanna,

And I will be sharing and talking about subjects that I feel really passionate about.

I love to talk about how we can take a more holistic approach to our own health and wellbeing.

I love to talk about conscious relating,

Plant medicines,

Travel,

Community,

Shamanism,

Love,

And so much more.

And no doubt more topics will rise as we move through these huge times we're going through.

I really hope you enjoy the show and I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Enjoy.

Hello,

You gorgeous beings,

And welcome to episode two of the Wisdom Well.

Firstly,

I want to say a huge,

Huge thank you,

Thank you,

Thank you for all of those that listened to episode one and that sent their feedback.

Really loved receiving your messages and your love.

So sending you so much love and gratitude back.

Really glad that you enjoyed the show and I hope you enjoy today's.

So as I record this,

I've just been through the 8-8 Lionsgate Portal with all of you.

I hope you all had an amazing weekend and really tuned into the energies that are available during this time.

So much light and so much to receive and really recognizing how our thoughts are creating our reality and how we can really dream our biggest visions and dreams into reality.

I spent the weekend in Glastonbury and Avebury in very sacred sites and spending time with friends and nurturing myself in all ways,

Spiritual and fun.

I feel like sometimes we can get quite caught up in the spiritual world and it all becomes very serious and spirituality wasn't meant to be boring and dark shadow work all the time.

It's also supposed to be us in our essence and in our spirit and really just sharing our true selves and our hearts and our souls and our uniqueness.

And so that kind of ties into today's episode which is all about vulnerability and how your vulnerability is a gift to the world.

I really believe that the more we share our truths and the more that we share what we really feel,

Not only does it encourage others to do the same,

But it really allows us to open up these gateways of opportunity because in sharing our vulnerabilities it's felt,

It's seen,

It's heard and we can receive so much from that space.

If we keep ourselves quiet and don't speak our truth and really honour where we're at,

Then really we're only living half of what we could be.

When we really sit in our pure vulnerability and get raw and voice what's really deep within our hearts,

Then we're not feeling the full spectrum of what it means to be living this human experience,

This human life.

And our vulnerabilities also are so beautiful and sacred and unique and I feel that by sharing our vulnerabilities it just gives us so much more freedom.

We can feel more expansive,

More awake,

More in our truth and let's face it now more than ever we want to be voicing our truth,

Standing in our power,

In our sovereignty and this is not the time to be quiet.

We need as many voices as possible sharing their truths,

Speaking up and sharing exactly how they feel.

And so I'm going to start by sharing a little story about myself on vulnerability because it was a real lesson to me in recognising that the more raw I shared my vulnerability,

The more I received back and not that I was sharing from a place of needing to receive anything back,

It was more as a,

Not just a healing process in itself for me,

But also to support other people so that they know that they're not alone because I think sometimes we can get very caught up in our own stories and our own pain and our own suffering and we forget that all of us are one consciousness and we're all standing side by side experiencing this life together,

Holding each other and so why not share?

And for those that know me well,

I don't really do small talk.

I would much rather go deeper into somebody's essence and how they really feel rather than talking about the weather.

I want to go deep and I want to know more and for me that is what life is all about,

Sharing and connecting and experiencing this vastness of what we have here for us to experience.

And so last year I felt pregnant and I was connecting with my little baby that was growing inside of me.

I even saw it on the screen and saw its heartbeat and anyone that's been pregnant or that has had a baby knows how that feels.

It's not something that I can really put into words.

It's just the most profound connection of unconditional love of seeing this miracle growing inside of you.

Just so amazing.

Unfortunately for me this time around it wasn't meant to be and the soul just wanted to come in for a short period of time to teach me some lessons.

That's how I like to perceive it.

So around seven to eight weeks I had a miscarriage and it really was one of the hardest things I've ever been through.

And the experience itself was like really taking myself into this deep medicine journey where I felt that I was not only clearing this little baby but so much from my life that wanted to be cleared out.

And it was a very uncomfortable process but I did make it as much of a medicine journey as I could.

Those that have done plant medicines will understand what I mean when you just have to connect to your breath and just let everything move through you and just surrender to the process.

So that was what I turned the experience into and for a couple of weeks I had to completely surrender myself to this space of receiving and just being.

And I was very lucky that I had a very supportive partner and a lot of community around me to hold me and to support me.

And it was also a huge lesson to me in receiving their love and their support which was quite an uncomfortable place for me to be in because I've been more of a giver.

But as I've been more and more on this path I'm learning to receive more because we need the balance of the giving and the receiving,

The masculine and the feminine.

And you know what I mean.

I've spent a lot of my time in my masculine energy and I'm learning to soften more into my feminine.

Anyway I digress.

The point is in the couple of weeks I was going through this clearing,

Let's call it clearing,

And I shared my experience through writing and for me it was a very healing and cathartic process.

And I released it out into the ethers,

Out onto the platforms where people could read my experience.

And I was so in awe and also quite shocked at the response that I got back because not only were two of my dear sisters going through a similar process at the same time which allowed them to share their stories,

I had a lot of women and a lot of sisters that I know and don't know reaching out saying that they'd been through the same experience themselves but never had the courage to speak about it or to share.

And they told me that they'd found it a very lonely journey and that it had been very painful and that they held a lot of shame around the experience which I could completely resonate with.

Because for me,

Yeah,

I had so many things come up for me going through this time.

I had the shame,

You know,

My body is not healthy enough,

I'm not spiritual enough and I was comparing myself to other women that were carrying babies at the time and creating so much suffering for myself which was completely unnecessary but it was,

That's my vulnerability I'm sharing that that was my experience at the time.

And I realized that so many women go through this in silence and hold on to the shame and this comparison and this guilt and sadness and these are all emotions that we do not want to be holding on to.

We want to clear through these heavy energies and we want to release ourselves and free ourselves from these energies,

From these emotions and clear the way for more freedom,

For more light,

For more love and compassion and understanding.

So yeah,

Sharing my story and all my rawness and my pure vulnerability for people to read,

For people to really feel was such an incredible experience and just another lesson recognizing how amazing it is to share.

And I had women saying,

You know,

How did you even find the courage to share like it's so brave of you?

And for me,

It was like,

How can I not share?

Surely this is something we should be speaking about and almost celebrating because we celebrate birth,

We celebrate marriage,

We celebrate all these different moments in our lives but this one has to be hidden away.

And I'm not saying that it has to be celebrated in a way of joy but it's just an experience and there's always something to be found in all the things that we experience in life,

Whether it is deemed or labeled as negative or positive,

Good or bad,

It just is.

And I believe that no matter what happens to us in our lives,

We can shift the perspective and make it whatever we want it to be.

And I'm not saying that it was easy,

It definitely wasn't.

I went through quite a process post miscarriage and actually the grief that I felt in the months following was so much deeper than I expected it to be.

I thought after a couple of months,

I was totally fine.

I was busy with work.

I was flying.

All the good things were happening.

I moved house and I was good.

But then the new year hit and it all kind of came tumbling in and I started to feel the depths of the sadness and the grief of the loss.

And that hit me more than it had at the beginning.

And this probably isn't the same for everyone but I certainly felt that I was moving through grief and sadness that was coming through from years and years worth of stuff.

It was just like this ripple effect that kind of rolled out and I was like,

Oh,

This is really big.

And I mean,

I'm sure a lot of you can resonate that 2021 has been pretty big when it comes to healing and moving through shadows and big,

Big change and our lives being turned upside down and inside out and losing people and losing relationships and things shifting and changing.

And there's been a lot,

A lot,

A lot,

A lot.

I certainly felt that for the first six months of the year,

It was deep healing that was happening on many layers of my being physically,

Emotionally,

Mentally,

Spiritually.

Yeah,

It's been a lot of deep work and the more I've shared my vulnerabilities again,

The more the gateways have opened for others to also share their vulnerabilities and open up their hearts.

This whole process kind of made me realize how so many of us are scared to share our vulnerabilities and to share our truth.

And I think it's because we are scared of rejection.

We're scared of being abandoned.

We're scared of somebody not really seeing or hearing us.

And this is old,

Old stuff that we are just reprogramming from childhood,

From lifetimes ago,

Not just on an individual level,

But as a humanity as well.

And now it really is the time for us to be vulnerable,

To share our truth,

To open up because that is the space in which we can expand and move through and transcend and traverse through.

So if there is something that you have been waiting to share or put out there and you've just been in a bit of fear or you've been hesitating or self-doubting or any of that stuff,

Well,

I am giving you full permission and creating that space for you to get it out there and have courage in your hearts.

I really celebrate those that have courage in their hearts because I just feel I really respect that.

I respect someone coming and just saying,

This is my truth.

This is how I feel.

Because when someone does that,

I can meet them and we can only be met by how we are in our internal worlds.

So if you want to be met at a certain level,

You have to be in that level and share and expand and voice.

So if you were waiting for a sign,

Then this is it.

Now is the time to voice your truth,

Share your vulnerability in whatever aspect of your life that is with your spouse,

With your friends,

With your family,

With the world.

Get it out there.

So this isn't a cry to go and share everything with everybody.

Obviously,

Be discerning and be mindful.

And also,

I believe that we can voice exactly how we feel from a place of love.

And it's not my responsibility how someone else receives the information or receives what I'm saying.

It's their responsibility.

And I can't take it personally.

All I can do is share what I really feel and have no attachment to how that person receives what I'm sharing.

All we can do is be true to ourselves.

Those who are ready and willing to hear you,

They will.

And those that aren't or can't,

Then they won't.

And that's okay.

No judgment,

Just acceptance of who we are as individuals.

That's what makes us all so unique and beautiful and creates this wonderful tapestry of this life that we're living.

And so I realize it takes courage to open your heart.

It takes courage to stand strong in the face of adversity.

It takes courage to speak your truth without knowing what the outcome will be.

And so my life and my work is really encouraging others to open up that gateway,

Open up your heart,

Open up your voice,

And really express your truth,

Express who you are.

And this has certainly been a big part of my journey as I've gone on this healing path because I definitely grew up in an environment where feelings weren't allowed to be expressed.

And I came from a time where I'm sure a lot of you can relate,

Where children must be seen but not heard.

And we weren't taught how to really feel and express our emotions.

And this is something that I had to learn as I grew up.

And let me tell you,

It's been quite a journey going through many different modalities and many different types of relationships to really figure myself out and how I express myself in a really vulnerable,

Strong,

Clear,

Grounded way.

And I'm sure I'm still learning.

And for me,

The thing that I feel is the most important is when we share,

We do it with all of our heart.

Share your heart,

Share your vulnerability,

Share your voice.

We all have a unique tone to express and to get out there for others to receive.

And I'm going to share a couple of quotes by Brené Brown on courage and vulnerability because I really resonate with them and I hope they bring you something as well.

Daring greatly means the courage to be vulnerable.

It means to show up and be seen,

To ask for what you need,

To talk about how you're feeling,

To have the hard conversations.

Oh yes,

Just let that land for a minute.

I love that.

I love that quote.

And she also has another one saying,

You can choose courage or you can choose comfort.

You cannot have both.

And I love that.

It's like in order to have courage,

It means stepping out of our comfort zone.

Because when we are stepping into the unknown,

When we don't know what the outcome is going to be,

When we really fully step into that space,

It's definitely not comfortable.

You know exactly what I mean,

Right?

When you have to step into those uncomfortable conversations or perhaps you are needing the courage to leave a job because you know it's not serving you anymore and you have no idea what's on the other side of it,

But you're going to go for it anyway because something is telling you that you have to.

And you can tell I'm getting really passionate about this subject because I believe I have lived my life in what others would perceive as quite a courageous way.

I mean,

In hindsight,

I've probably moved from some fear,

But I have definitely taken very courageous steps and stepped into the unknown again and again and again.

And honestly,

Every time I have done,

The universe has celebrated me and everything has just fallen into alignment.

So I know that when things aren't aligning in my life,

I'm not being courageous enough and I need to again reassess and step into that space of courage and be really vulnerable with myself and with those around me and say,

You know what,

This is what needs to happen now and this is where I'm going next.

Even though I don't really know,

I just,

I do know if that makes sense.

So yeah,

I trust that you resonate with what I've been sharing today and I hope you have found some comfort in it or been able to at least shift some perspective in your own lives because in the end,

It's all about how we live our lives with courage and vulnerability that for me is everything.

So if you have resonated with what I've shared and if I have touched your heart in some way,

I would love to hear from you.

I would love to hear your feedback.

And for those that are in or around London,

Just want to put it out there for those that are listening.

I'm actually doing a shamanic reiki and energy medicine training on the 21st and the 22nd of August in a beautiful space in London.

And there are some spaces remaining.

So if you would like to join the training,

Please sign up.

All the details can be found on my website,

Loveyogi.

Co.

And I also have some spaces opening to work with others one to one.

So I do mentoring,

Spiritual life guidance,

And also a lot to do with shamanic practices and energy medicine.

So please reach out if any of that resonates.

And more than anything,

I am just here to share my voice,

Share my vulnerability,

And I hope that encourages you to do the same.

So go share,

Voice your truth,

Honour your voice,

Honour yourselves.

I love you.

Have an amazing week and I will see you next time.

So my loves,

I hope you found some nuggets of wisdom in today's show.

Thank you for joining me.

If you got this far,

Well done.

I have no idea what the next episode will be on.

I'm just going with what comes through in the moments.

But just to give you an idea,

I've written quite a few topics down and the things that are coming through really strongly for me at the moment are about educating our children,

Choosing love over fear,

How we can be more conscious in our relationships,

How we move through life as a ceremony and have real courage in our hearts to create the lives we envision moving forwards and reclaiming our power and our truth and our essence.

Reclaiming,

Reclaiming,

Reclaiming,

Bring that energy back into you.

Yes,

My friends.

Now is the time.

And that's it for today.

Thank you so much for listening.

We really hope you enjoyed the show.

All the links that you need are in the copy below.

And also a big thank you to my beautiful sister Rachel who creates the music to accompany the show,

Also known as Veda Ray.

You can check her out on SoundCloud.

Listen to her music.

She is amazing.

Thank you so much and see you next time.

Reviews

So calm and soothing. Perfect assessment of vulnerability. Thank you 🙏🏼

Wow, thank you so much for this amazing podcast🥰. I felt your vulnerability shine through and your words were so meaningful and lovely🥰.