{"id":3836,"date":"2014-12-15T03:50:15","date_gmt":"2014-12-15T03:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heartsdesireintl.com\/?p=3836"},"modified":"2014-12-15T03:50:15","modified_gmt":"2014-12-15T03:50:15","slug":"vulerability-opens-the-doors-of-your-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/vulerability-opens-the-doors-of-your-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Vulerability Opens the Doors of Your Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #800080;\">by Gladys Diaz<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.heartsdesireintl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/woman-crying_large_large_bing.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3837 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/www.heartsdesireintl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/woman-crying_large_large_bing-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"woman-crying_large_large_bing\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">The other day, I had a meltdown\u2026 and not a little one, either! I had a full-blown meltdown at the bottom of the stairs in my home like I haven\u2019t had in years!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">I\u2019d had a pretty busy day scheduled, and I ended up having to add two additional activities to my list \u2013 including having some materials printed that I\u2019d stayed up all night creating, picking them up, and then braving a 3-hour round trip in rush hour traffic with my two kids to deliver the materials in time for an event.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">As tired as I was, I was also feeling pretty proud of myself for having accomplished even the unexpected events with grace and ease. I proudly showed my husband the materials I\u2019d had printed and, in less than 2 seconds, he noticed that I\u2019d left out a critical piece of information! That was it \u2013 the proverbial last drop in my overflowing bucket! I crumpled into a puddle of tears at the bottom of my staircase, completely frustrated, and just sobbed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">Immediately, my husband rushed over to console me. He held me and, as he often does, began giving me solutions, offering ways in which I could \u201cfix\u201d the problem. Years ago, I would have gotten angry at him for trying to fix things. This time, all I could do was keep crying because none of the ideas he was offering sounded viable at that moment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">A few minutes later, my older son came over and held me in his arms. He reminded me that it wasn\u2019t so bad and that I was a great mother. He said he was sorry I was so sad and that he wished he could fix the problem for me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">Once he went up the stairs, my little one came with tears in his eyes. Bravely, he said, \u201cMama, just think about all of the good things in your life and you\u2019ll feel better.\u201d Then he hugged me tightly and left the room.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">As I sat there, still in tears, a smile made its way across my face.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">See, my three guys aren\u2019t used to seeing me in that state. Usually, I\u2019m pretty positive, find ways to problem-solve, and am the one encouraging them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">On that day, however, they were there for me. Each of them, in his own way, gave me exactly what I needed \u2013 love and the belief that everything would be okay!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">In the midst of my vulnerability, what was sparked in them was the desire to protect me and let me know that they were there for me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">You may believe, as many people do, that vulnerability is a sign weakness. You may see it as something that opens you up to being hurt by another. While that may be true in some instances, what vulnerability does is that it opens the doorway to intimacy. It allows others to connect with you in a way that simply isn\u2019t possible when you\u2019re being guarded and holding people at arms\u2019 length.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">For men, vulnerability ignites in them the desire to protect us. It has them step up and be our heroes. It allows them to connect with us on a real level \u2013 a gut level.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">To be clear, vulnerability doesn\u2019t mean you have to be in tears, like I was. It just means letting your guard down long enough to let someone in and be there for you. It means allowing him to see who you really are so that he can connect with you, because, without vulnerability, there is no room for intimacy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever forget that day \u2013 not because of all of the things that got accomplished or the things that went wrong. I think what I\u2019ll always remember is how incredibly loved and cherished I felt on that day; how safe I felt knowing that my three guys were there for me; and how happy I felt knowing that, not only am I not doing so badly at this wife-and-mom-thing, but that my boys have an amazing example of how to be a loving man in their father.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">And, when I think about all of these good things, as my little one suggested I do, all I feel is blessed!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">Questions? Comments? Let us know below!\u00a0 We love hearing from you!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Gladys Diaz The other day, I had a meltdown\u2026 and not a little one, either! I had a full-blown meltdown at the bottom of the stairs in my home like I haven\u2019t had in years! I\u2019d had a pretty busy day scheduled, and I ended up having to add two additional activities to my [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,10,16,17,19,22],"tags":[42,47,63,68,70,87],"class_list":["post-3836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication-2","category-dating-2","category-hearts-desire-international","category-love-2","category-marriage","category-parenting-2","category-relationship-advice","tag-communication","tag-dating","tag-intimacy","tag-love","tag-marriage-2","tag-relationship-advice-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3836\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heartsdesireintl.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}