LIFE ON VULNERABILITY COMMUNITY

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 had a few reflections where people suggested that maybe I was disingenuous or incongruent. I didn’t agree.

One time, I was telling a story, and the person I was speaking to 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.

In my mind, I was telling it like that because it was in the past. In truth, I was laying down the facts because it was easier than touching into the emotion of it.

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 know that I conflated transparency with vulnerability.

Discovering the Enneagram helped me understand the ways that I withheld my heart to make sure I avoided getting it broken.

Most people I knew would have 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.

And that’s why I’m inviting you into a life of vulnerability.

Because the only way to create safety in the world is by everyone being responsible for their own journey to health and healing.

Being vulnerable means that you and I allow our hearts to be open. So open that we’re capable of being wounded, even.

Butttt, that works best when others are doing their work.

If you choose vulnerability and I choose vulnerability, we are choosing to be responsible for our own heart expressions, our own tendencies to wound people, to defend ourselves, and the ways we’re shaped to show up inauthentically.

And we are choosing to be responsible for one another and our impact. That’s wholehearted living.

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.

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. ❤️

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.