Daring Greatly

A year ago, I had never heard of a “shame researcher.” Then I was introduced to Brené Brown and her two powerful and popular TED talks (which have had millions of views). I was hooked, and wanted to learn more. Her book, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, didn’t disappoint me. As indicated in the title, Brown focuses on the importance of having the courage to be vulnerable. She defines vulnerability as “uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.” After conducting hundreds of interviews, Brown concluded that vulnerability, while scary and at times painful, is essential for a meaningful and fulfilling life, which she calls “Wholehearted living.” I will readily admit that this is not the kind of stuff that excites me. It’s not my normal kind of reading, and I really don’t like being vulnerable. And yet, I found myself nodding my head in agreement with Brown’s findings. My electronic copy of the book is filled with highlights, which is unusual for me. A few of my favorite quotes are:

• When failure is not an option we can forget about learning, creativity, and innovation.
• What we know matters, but who we are matters more. Being rather than knowing requires showing up and letting ourselves be seen.
• When we stop caring about what people think, we lose our capacity for connection. When we become defined by what people think, we lose our willingness to be vulnerable.
• Faith minus vulnerability equals politics, or worse, extremism. Spiritual connection and engagement is not built on compliance, it’s the produce of love, belonging, and vulnerability.

I’m sure that you have a stack of books to read. I hope that you’ll put Daring Greatly at the top. But more than that, I hope that you’ll discover the courage to be vulnerable and in doing so, to experience Wholehearted living. It’s easy to receive my blogs by email. Just sign-up on Feedburner by clicking here.]]>