Table of Contents
🌸 A Soft Start
You’ve been praised for being strong.
For holding it all together. For getting through.
And maybe… for not needing too much.
But tenderness isn’t the opposite of strength.
It’s the kind of strength that stays open.
Open to beauty.
Open to pain.
Open to connection.
And staying open in a world that wants you to harden?
That’s power.
🌀 A Gentle Truth
Hardness is often a shield.
A shell we wear when we don’t feel safe.
But tenderness isn’t a lack of protection—
It’s a presence of trust.
It says: “I don’t have to close off to survive. I can feel, and still hold my shape.”
And in systems, tenderness is the missing piece.
It brings awareness, nuance, attunement.
It lets your system be human—not just efficient.
💡 Try This
Sometime today, let yourself be tender without rushing to explain or fix it.
- Cry without apologizing.
- Pause without guilt.
- Feel something deeply… and stay with it, just for a breath longer than usual.
Notice how quickly the world tries to move you past that tenderness.
Then notice how powerful it feels to stay soft anyway.
That’s the new strength.
💭 Parting Thought
Tenderness isn’t weakness.
It’s capacity.
It’s care with roots.
It’s the signal that your system is still alive and listening.
➡️ Next: Lesson 7: Play Day – Do Nothing Beautifully
🏡 Back to Course Home: Course Directory
⬅️ Previous: Lesson 5: A System Isn’t a Schedule
The Systems Cowboy Guide to Living Softly in a Hard World
