Allowing Ourselves to Be Seen

I will start by saying that while I am not a secretive person, I have never opened myself up to such a broad audience as I am about to do right now.  I have never joined Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, so the story of my life is not floating around in cyberspace.  You might say to yourself, "but Mrs. Gardner is always giving little anecdotes about her life.  Heck, she even started the quarter, by giving a full presentation about herself for all of the class to see."  True, but only because I trust you, my students.  I feel connected to you and I feel a sense of belonging with you; however, the same cannot be said for all the potential people who could choose to read this blog.  I think this is part of the value of doing this project - we will be putting ourselves "out there", an act which fits perfectly with our course topic "the significance of courage and hope".

In school, both high school and through most of university, I never tried to be seen.  In fact, sometimes it was the opposite - being invisible is a little safer.  With my friends and later with my husband (then boyfriend) I could be myself.  I could open up because with them I believed I was "enough".  However, it took years for me to realize that it isn't as important for other people to believe that I am enough and that I am worthy, it is most important to believe it MYSELF.  I was a middle aged woman by the time I realized, what I hope you will all learn sooner, that we have to believe in ourselves - that is where the real courage lies.

Later in the course we will be watching the TEDTalk entitled "The Power of Vulnerability" by Brene Brown.  This video suggests that putting ourselves "out there" (vulnerability) is a good thing, perhaps the best of things.  Brown suggests that we "have to allow ourselves to be seen"because this is what gives us courage.  She defines courage as: "telling the story of who you are with your whole heart."  I hope to see some of that in your blogs.  I want you to all feel the "worthiness" that she speaks of in her talk.  She suggests that when we feel as though we are worthy, and we have a strong sense of love and belonging, or a connectedness with others, we will be able to have the courage to embrace our own vulnerability, as it is only then that we can see and experience all of the joy, beauty and happiness in the world.  This makes a little bit of sense because we really can't fully connect with people, and love with our whole hearts without being a little vulnerable - after all we could get hurt.

So, this quarter as you look more closely at courage and hope and try to figure out why they are important in life, I want you to consider these ideas.  I also challenge you to dig deep within yourselves and find the courage to allow yourself to "be seen", to write from your lives and your hearts, so that not only will you examine courage, you will be acting with courage.

-Mrs. Gardner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o