Let’s face it, most people hate feeling vulnerable. It leaves us feeling exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed. The experience can feel like riding an emotional roller coaster and can be so strong that you experience it as a physical reaction in your body.
The key to overcoming feeling vulnerable is to intuitively know what is going on inside of you. Tune into your inner technology so you can learn to shift out of these emotions and take control.
The most effective way to learn to tap into your intuition is to be always be truthful with yourself. If you are feeling vulnerable because you seriously screwed up an account or a relationship … own up to whatever has occurred. If it’s something else, get in touch with what it is and what triggered the emotional wave that hit you.
Vulnerability can be defined as feeling diminished, less then as an individual. It happens often due to feeling discomfort with being criticized, ridiculed, and verbal or physical attack. Feeling vulnerable is relative and dynamic. Vulnerability can also arise when people feel isolated, insecure and defenseless in the face of risk, social interactions and other stressful situations.
Think about what situations make you feel vulnerable. Write down your thoughts. For me, I tend to get signs of feeling vulnerable whenever I’m in the midst one of the following:
- Making a mistake
- Listening to old internal critical messages going on inside of my mind
- Spending time with people who I feel inferior to
- Knowing that there is something that I need to take care of but for, whatever reason, have not done it yet
- Feeling less then comfortable with my body
- Struggling with a decision
Once you explore and become aware of the situations that can bring up feelings of vulnerability for you, it’s time to come up with a game plan to help you regain your power. These tactics have worked well for my clients (and for myself) over the years:
- Put together a small team of no more than 2 or 3 people who are committed to always being honest with each other. Trusting people is not easy, but having a team means you will survive better than if you are going it alone. Ask your team to give you their honest feedback on identifying your weaknesses as well as your strengths. Listen carefully. Everyone has things that they are not proud of about themselves, but the sooner you get comfortable with knowing who you are, the easier it will be to know what you want to change inside.
- Be careful in revealing vulnerabilities in a work environment and with others who are not on your team. Many corporate environments can slam those who admit weakness. If you find yourself in an emotional free fall at your job, talk with your team as soon as you can and develop a strategy for the problem you are facing. Keep in mind that being a highly effective team member requires that you give as good as you get! This means that when your team member has a challenge, you step up to assist them without having to be chased down (as they do for you). Surround yourself with people who have a different skill set than you and who are not afraid to admit when they have made a mistake.
- Play detective and discover what causes your doubts, fears and insecurities to rise to the surface. For me, it happens whenever I start to focus on feeling that others are superior to me. For a long time, I was afraid to write my first book because I did not have a PhD or Master’s degrees. It was my team who kept encouraging and inspiring me to get my book done and to not worry about having the “right” degree. Without these 2 people pushing me, Intuition: The Hidden Asset Everyone Should Learn to Use, would never have been written. http://amzn.to/1UxlWLG
- Shift into a feeling of love. Love is the most powerful emotion there is, and consciously choosing to love yourself despite your imperfections will help prevent you from going into a free fall when you start to feel vulnerable.
Intuitive Life Strategist Sheree Franklin helps people to find the courage to release their life challenges in order to live in alignment with their true self. She is the author of Intuition: The Hidden Asset Everyone Should Learn to Use. To learn more about Franklin’s book go to www.amzn.to/1UxlWLG.
Sheree is a practitioner at Holistic Health Practice at One East Superior, in Chicago. You can email your questions at [email protected]. Her practice includes one-to-one coaching as well as speaking to organizations, consulting, facilitating and leading workshops. For more information go to www.shereefranklin.com or call 312-664-8376.