Vulnerability.
The arch nemesis of the Enneagram 8!!!
Or is it?
The fear that vulnerability will hurt me beyond repair has been a driving force in my life. So it's actually exactly the thing I need to face. It's exactly the thing that will bring me more into my wholeness.
There are a lot of tactics and strategies I use as an Enneagram 8 to protect and avoid my own vulnerability. But that's not the totality of who I am.
If I didn't intentionally pursue vulnerability, I wouldn't be who I am.
If I didn't choose vulnerability, I wouldn't be able to call anyone else into the beautiful vulnerability it takes to do Enneagram or antiracism work.
I’m an Enneagram 8, and for most of my life, would have said that I’m a very vulnerable person. That I’m an open book. That I share freely.
I was offered a few reflections over the years where people suggested that maybe I was disingenuous or incongruent. I didn’t agree.
One time, as I was telling a story, the person I was speaking to interrupted me and asked, “Why aren’t you more upset about that? Just listening, I want to weep. That’s so sad and you’re telling it with no emotion at all.”
That was the first time I experienced the distinction between transparency and vulnerability.
The memory is seared into my memory.
In my mind, I was telling it like that because it was in the past.
In truth, I was laying down the facts (being transparent) because it was easier than touching into the emotion of it and how it impacted me (vulnerability).
Sure, you can know what happened, but you don’t get to know the impact of it on me. And neither do I. I’d rather hide that from both of us.
For so much of my life, I didn’t have a distinction between transparency and vulnerability.
Discovering the Enneagram helped me understand the ways that I withheld my heart to make sure I avoided getting it broken.
More often than not, people I knew told me they experienced me as whole-hearted and vulnerable. AND there was a lot more underneath that I didn’t let anybody at all see.
I started to choose vulnerability and it opened up my world and my heart in a whole new way.
The world is more vibrant. I am more compassionate. I am less reactive.
Why is Life On Vulnerability important?
I DO NOT WANT TO BE DEFENDED.
I am exhausted by the ways I’ve had to defend myself. Because of my type. Because of racism and misogynoir.
The defenses come in swiftly to protect me. Often without my conscious protection. I’m simultaneously grateful that my body works so automatically to make sure I’m alright, and mad that I need it.
And that’s why I’m inviting you into a life on vulnerability.
Because the only way to truly create safety in the world is by everyone being responsible for their own journey to health and healing.
Sure, I can choose to try out vulnerability, but if others in society don't choose to create space for my vulnerability by dismantling their own bias, through antiracist practice, and doing their own healing work . . . I'm going to need my defenses.
And we are choosing to be responsible for one another and our impact by being responsible for our own healing.
That creates a world where I don’t have to be defended. Because there is mutual trust.
When communities of people are committed to this, the world shifts in ways that matter.
This is a world I want to be a part of.
The Life on Vulnerability (LOV) Community was created as a place for people to come and fully be seen and known. It’s a place for you to let your hair down, keep your bonnet on, and fling your bra across the room like it’s a rubber band. For you to keep it 💯. To express yourself even when you feel messy. It’s a place to explore freedom for yourself as an individual and collective freedom through the support of community.
In this community, we intentionally explore how white supremacy has colored the world we’ve inherited and shaped the lens through which we view the world. We do this so we can intentionally dismantle the anti-Blackness, privilege & superiority, and marginalization we’ve each internalized that has created the world we see now.
In this community, we de-center whiteness.
In this community, we utilize the Enneagram to celebrate our strengths in the world while also examining the ways it keeps us living small. We utilize this as a tool to see ourselves and the world with more clarity. And to transform ourselves and our worlds through the way we show up.
In this community, we value being fully human. We open ourselves to curiosity about those things that dip us into shame. We allow ourselves to experience the full range of emotions.
We redeem our relationships with our body and nurture that relationship. We intentionally connect to our bodies and examine the ways our nervous systems have been curated not just by our experiences, but by ancestral, cultural, and familial concerns. And we deconstruct the ways it’s been shaped by white supremacy.
In this community, we’re not just committed to ourselves. We’re committed to one another. We show up for one another. We hold space for one another’s challenges and victories. We go through life together. We get curious about our judgments, recognizing that our judgments point back to the beliefs that we carry and aren’t inherently a reflection on anyone else.
We allow perfectionism to stay at the door when we enter this community. Perfectionism is often sought but never truly found. Instead of perfection, we value authenticity, vulnerability, connection, and repairing harm. We may have to have hard conversations, but we don’t fear them. We allow them to expand who we know ourselves to be.
In this community, we allow love to arise as we learn and grow, and we celebrate one another! As life comes up, we support one another and we rise together.
We gather, all at different points in our development, on a journey together.
Through this community, we pursue self-trust, self-safety, and fully embodied freedom, and we change our worlds.
The community will be housed online (you’ll get more details during your onboarding process), and there will be three live group coaching calls each month.
There will also be three lessons each month: one on the Enneagram, one on a liberation topic, and one on embodiment.
You'll move through Fundamental Modules that help you ask important questions . . . Who are you? What is your Enneagram type? What has shaped you and the way you understand the world?
This community has a six-month MINIMUM commitment, but there’s NO MAXIMUM! After the six months, you can choose to sign up for another six months or decide month by month. Of course, my hope is that you find your place here doing Life on Vulnerability and stay on with us in community for a long time. ❤️
There are three lessons every month, released on Sundays! The first lesson will be on the Enneagram, the second lesson will be on something liberation-focused - and antiracism. The third lesson will be on embodiment - a teaching or practice.
At the start of every month, you will receive the schedule with when these lessons will be released.
*all in Pacific
July 2023
Friday, July 14, 2023 at 9:30 AM (noon)
Thursday, July 20, 2023 at 12:00 PM
Wednesday, July 26, 2023 at 5:00 PM (community practice)
August 2023
Thursday, August 10, 2023 at 12:00 PM
Friday, August 25, 2023 at 9:30 AM
Wednesday, August 30, 2023 at 5:00 PM (community practice)
September 2023
Friday, September 8, 2023 at 9:30 AM
Thursday, September 21, 2023 at 12:00 PM
Wednesday, September 27, 2023 at 5:00 PM (community practice)
October 2023
Friday, October 6, 2023 at 9:30 AM
Thursday, October 12 at 12:00 PM
Wednesday, October 25, 2023 at 5:00 PM (community practice)
November 2023
Thursday, November 9 at 12:00 PM
Friday, November 17 at 9:30 AM
Wednesday, November 29, 2023 at 5:00 PM (community practice)
December 2023
Friday, December 8, 2023 at 9:30 AM
Thursday, December 14 at 12:00 PM
Wednesday, December 20, 2023 at 5:00 PM (community practice)
Life on Vulnerability is a beautiful community that was created for women and femmes whose identities vary. We live in a world where our identities shape our experiences. Some identities have more historical and current-day power and privilege, and others are less valued. People with those identities lead to their oppression and marginalization by those whose identities carry power and privilege.
Life On Vulnerability is a place where you will be stretched in the ways you see the world. You'll be stretched beyond who you know yourself to be, but never broken. If you come from a marginalized background, and don't have class power and privilege, I don't want you to break here. (I've had plenty of coaches tell me to take out loans and do things that were way outside of what I would consider in line with my integrity. You won't get that from me.)
Life On Vulnerability is a sliding scale payment model that is based on the historical and current-day privilege, or lack of, that one holds, as well as your current assets, and your current income.
I encourage you to look at the guidance in each tier below, as well as clicking here for more considerations: http://www.wortsandcunning.com/s/GreenBottleSlidingScale.png
Life On Vulnerability Full Tier ($600/month)
✯ My identities have historically and/or presently held power (white, upper middle class, able-bodied, generational/inherited wealth, etc.)
✯ I got an undergraduate or graduate degree without having student loans, loans are paid off, or I’m able to put more than the minimum payment toward paying them off
✯ If I want to, I could eat and drink out at least once a week, or more frequently
✯ My income is over $85,000 annually
✯ I can choose whether to work or not and still have all my needs and most of my desires met, or I partly or completely live off unearned income
✯ I have a stable and growing career and/or high (potential or realized) earning power
✯ I have inherited/intergenerational assets and have my own personal assets (inheritance, owning a home, investments, retirement accounts, etc.)
Life On Vulnerability Middle Tier ($440/month)
✮ I can cover basic needs with some extras occasionally
✮ Someone in my family explained how college and careers worked and assisted me
✮ Income between $50,000 and $85,000 annually
✮ I completed a bachelor’s and/or Master’s (or terminal) degree
✮ I’m steadily paying down student loans
✮ My family of origin has/had assets (like a paid off house, retirement accounts, etc.)
✮ If I need financial support, I’m able to look to family, my community or a lender for access to money
Life On Vulnerability Lower Tier ($280/month)
☆ My social identities have historically, mainly been oppressed, or current disability impact my ability to create income, as well as my earning potential
☆ I utilize state or federal assistance for basic needs (like medical care, for example)
☆ I was the first to go to college or the first generation to attend
☆ I make less than $50,000 annually
☆ Make enough income to meet mainly basic needs and have little to no assets
☆ Have survival credit card debt that I’m not accruing, but am paying off, and/or on income-based repayment for student loans (or unable to pay them due to size)
☆ On income-based repayment for student loans or only can pay basic payments
If the low tier is still too much, watch my social media (and email list) for lower-cost investments.
Picking Your Tier
This is a good opportunity to practice vulnerability. Being honest with yourself about your current, as well as your historical context, is an opportunity for presence and growth and honesty. Examine your historical and present-day resources and privilege to determine which tier to invest in. Every single circumstance is not covered and that’s okay. Examine, in general, where you fall in the tier, and choose the one that is most in integrity with your average.
$3,000 (for the six-month investment)
If you want to pay in full instead of monthly, your payment is in between the full and the middle one.
We'd be happy to have you!!!
Your next steps are to register below!
REGISTRATION WILL CLOSE JULY 5, 2023!
I'm ready to live LOV! Sign me up for the Community!
✮ I understand that the commitment is at least six-months, with options to renew if I want to stay in community for longer.
✮ I understand that signing up at the link below is the first step
✮ Near the beginning of the month, I'll receive email reminders about program dates and times.
SIGN ME UP!!!
