Being SOFT In A HARD World!

Being SOFT In A HARD World!

Not so long ago, we were born SOFT.  YESSSS, we were then squishy and very vulnerable [just like everyone else].  And YES, we are all deeply feeling beings.  And YES, many of us [and I was one of those in the past] just choose NOT to show it.  And admittedly, for a big chunk of my life in the past, I was a shade of that kind of person, afraid to be open afraid to be perceived as weak, much afraid to be the real me.  NOT to redirect our fingers to anyone else, the harsh truth is that from our very raw growing up years, [almost] all of us were taught to believe that SOFTNESS was a weakness, that your sensitivity will make you small.  Alas, over time, we end up hardened.  And as I self reflect, I thought the shell I formed around my heart would protect me from this messy world BUT all it really provided   me was a FALSE sense of safety and comfort that painfully prevented my growth.  Being SOFT In A HARD World!!!

YES, can we agree that it is an illusion to believe that hardening our hearts and hiding our softness from this messy world is productive enough?  WHEN we fear being vulnerable and we hide WHO we are, we only create more division.  Because deep down, let's admit, we are all SOFT.  We're all squishy.  We're all vulnerable.  And YET, we all desire to be seen.  BUT here's the mother of all ironies.  HOW can we be seen IF we aren't allowing ourselves to be seen?  NOW, to complicate the murky waters we're now threading, another hard truth is that it's already hard to be soft WHEN life itself is hard, right?  BUT our ability to stay soft in the hardness is WHAT makes us strong📘📙📗

Ironically, it is indeed scary to allow the pain to wash through us because WHEN we allow the pain to be felt, that's WHEN we break, that's WHEN the shell that's wrapped around us begin to thin until it gradually cracks out in the open.  So fine.  Someone will tell us, let it crack.  Let is break open and fall onto the ground into a million bits of pieces because WHEN we do, that's WHEN we become soft.  And here's the thing.  WHEN have we ever seen something that is soft so easy to break???

We've seen hundreds and maybe thousands of children WHO are, undoubtedly, soft BUT how often have we seen a majority of them easily breaking?  Now, let's call a spade a spade.  We were all born soft, that's just our natural way of being.  BUT staying soft in a hard world has now become a superpower.  Our softness makes us magnetic.  Our softness makes us human.  Our softness makes us seen.  And ISN'T it that's we all wanted all along, that is, to be seen???

Our takeaway:  This is WHEN I'd like to heed the advice of psychologists WHO declared that WHEN life gets hard and things go wrong, the most counterintuitive and seemingly impossible choice is to relax, to soften, and find ease with WHAT's happening.  HOW can we [and BTW, WHY should we, anyway] relax WHEN life feels seemingly out of control and NOT in a good way at that?  WHEN difficulty spikes, we end up fighting with it, brace against it.  Our resistance is our way of saying that we're NOT okay with reality, and instead, insisting that we can change it.  BUT unfortunately it DOESN'T work and it DOESN'T help.  Think about BEING SOFT IN A HARD WORLD!!!