The Rose – Vulnerability – Do you have frequent nightmares? Do you feel helpless in your dreams? Do you dream of children, of your own childhood? In DreamTherapy, the rose represents the soft evanescence of youth when the merest thumbprint of emphasis leaves an eternal impression. As the emblem of beauty, the Rose warns us that this quivering, temporary vulnerability may be the very definition of value as of loveliness.

We Remember – You well recollect how you were molded. Is it a pleasant nostalgic vision or a horror story? Do you resent all the other actors in this drama? Remember, resentment is a poison we consume – we are the only ones it harms.

Challenge – Can you turn the building blocks of your own past into a constructive, hopeful framework for the future? Can you mentally accept and explore the beauty of maturity? Let’s open Dream Journal and sketch out the ways.

Danger – The philosophy that we are “ruinable” is a psychic snare. Terrible things do happen to ordinary people and we can be changed forever; but that is growth. You don’t want to return to a previous incarnation. We may wish specific things hadn’t happened but must keep in mind that regret prevents us from focusing on future reality. We need to understand the world we’re in NOW and map it for those who follow after. Often we can offer our pattern to help others avoid the traps we fell into. In the meantime, we can access history and literature to explore coping mechanisms around disaster and the strong people it produces.

Opportunity – Resilience is the art we cultivate. We soon realize resilience has its own beauty; one rose may be cut down but the plant is hardly dead, in fact it offers an outpouring of constant roses. That is true beauty.

Models & Mentors – “Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity”

• Brene Brown

“Being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure”
– Bob Marley

“Sometimes you have to drop your guard so your heart can breathe”

– Emma Xu

“The strongest love is the love that can demonstrate its fragility” – Paulo Coelho

Mantra – “I transplant”

Meditation –

#Haiku: Vulnerability

Hardening’s spontaneous
& painful;
Softening’s practiced;
& free.