Vulnerability is often associated with dark emotions like fear, shame, and sadness. We avoid feelings that we associate with vulnerability because these “dark emotions” are precisely the ones that we don’t want to express, even when they profoundly impact the way we parent, love, and lead. Vulnerability is not the composite of dark emotions; it is the core of all feeling. To feel anything at all is to be vulnerable. If we choose to disengage from any emotion, whether it be dark or light, we exile our emotional lives and risk numbing the center of all feeling—including those feelings we all want, such as joy, love, and empathy.