When it comes to fulfilling our heartfelt desires, most of us think in terms of working hard and pushing through obstacles.  We associate success with words like commitment, dedication, striving, and sacrifice.  But what role does being vulnerable and open play in helping us to realize our best life?  

In a word, everything!

Vulnerability is key to our ability to receive – and therefore, to attract the experiences we’re seeking with a minimum of effort.    

Here are 3 amazing gifts that unfold when you stop trying so hard to make things happen and allow yourself to be vulnerable enough to receive:

Gift #1:  Vulnerability = Receptivity

Being vulnerable, and lightly – rather than doggedly – contemplating what you want makes you incredibly attractive.   Remember that nature abhors a vacuum.  Even the most elaborate manifestations must begin with a simple, fertile space in which to blossom.  Being vulnerable and open creates this space.  It may seem counterintuitive, but what we want unfolds with greater ease when we stop trying so hard to attain them.   

Planning and goal-setting are useful tools, provided they open us up rather than cause our energy to contract.  Anytime there is constriction, there can be no allowing, which means we unwittingly blocking them from entering our experience.   Creating what we want unfolds effortlessly, even magically, when we contemplate it while in a receptive, vulnerable, relaxed state.  

Think of it this way:  Is it possible to receive something when your hand is clenched tightly into a fist?  No. To receive, our hand has to be open.  And what’s true of our physical body is also true of our energy body.  To allow more prosperity, for example, we need to expand our container so there is space to take more in.  To receive all the worldly manifestations you desire, your internal stance must be soft, open, and vulnerable enough to let them in.   

Gift #2:  Vulnerability activates the Law of Allowing

While it’s true that action is a necessary part of creating success, it represents only one end of the creation equation.  

Think about how all things are created in nature and you’ll see that “goal setting” is a purely manmade concept.  Trees don’t strive to reach a certain height. Air doesn’t work to be drawn to and consumed by fire.  Planet Earth doesn’t clock in each day for another shift of orbiting the sun! 

So how does the universe function, then, if not by hard work and willpower?  It’s orchestrated through the feminine forces of vulnerability and receptivity.  This seemingly passive state is actually incredibly potent.  In our stillness and non-resistance, we activate the powerful Law of Allowing.  

In practical terms, what this means is this:  Anytime you have a desire that’s associated with even the slightest bit of angst, you’re in a state of resistance, not allowing.  Resistance is like a tough outer shell that keeps all that we want at bay.  Being vulnerable softens that shell, allowing space for ideas and impulses to more easily flow.  

The universal Law of Allowing is based on the understanding that creation is just as much a by-product of the inward ebb as it is of the outward flow.  Striving, controlling, and forcing don’t actually have the power to bring us what we really want.  Because anything we achieve through those means costs us intimacy, connection, and balance.   By becoming more allowing, we open ourselves to the replenishing energies of relaxation, surrender, vulnerability, and peace.  

To find out whether the vibration you are sending out is allowing or repelling the outcomes that you desire, you need only pay attention to the way you feel.   Generally speaking, better you feel, the more allowing, receptive, vulnerable and expectant you are of your desires unfolding naturally.  The worse you feel, the more resistance you’re offering and the harder those desires will be to attain.

Gift #3:  There is strength in vulnerability.

All change requires stepping into the unknown, which usually brings with it a certain degree of discomfort.  It’s just not possible to grow into all that you desire to be while remaining perfectly comfortable.  To move forward we have to leave some things behind, and this can feel risky or downright terrifying.   The solution to this is not to push ourselves to take bigger steps than we’re comfortable with.  We can focus instead on releasing the brakes that are holding us back from within.  

Being vulnerable allows us to realize that ultimately we are not the generators of our abundance, but the receivers of it.  We were born into an abundant universe in which wellbeing reigns supreme.  We’re entitled to as much of that wellbeing as we are vulnerable enough to allow ourselves to receive.

Christy Whitman is an energy healer, Master Certified Law of Attraction Coach, and the New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Having It All: A Woman’s Guide to Unlimited Abundance.  Her forthcoming book The Desire Factor: How to Embrace Your Materialistic Nature to Reclaim Your Full Spiritual Power is available for pre-order now at www.thedesirefactor.com. She communicates with, and for, The Quantum Council, a collection of non-physical ascended masters who desire to help humanity understand that we are divinely designed for well-being, abundance, success, and loving relationships. You can take the first step in alignment and creating your desires by a free 30 day program called Watch Your Words by going here: www.watchyourwords.com.