Last night I watched a funny, touching, and oh so wise talk on vulnerability and how it contributes to “living wholeheartedly” by social worker, author, and researcher, Brene Brown.
Brene asked, “How do we learn to embrace our vulnerabilities and imperfections so that we can engage in our lives from a place of authenticity and worthiness? How do we cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection that we need to recognize that we are enough – that we are worthy of love, belonging, and joy?” She also observed, “Our lives are a collection of stories – truths about who we are, what we believe, what we come from, how we struggle, and how we are strong. When we can let go of what people think, and own our story, we gain access to our worthiness – the feeling that we are enough just as we are, and that we are worthy of love and belonging.
If we spend a lifetime trying to distance ourselves from the parts of our lives that don’t fit with who we think we’re supposed to be, we stand outside of our story and have to hustle for our worthiness by constantly performing, perfecting, pleasing, and proving. Our sense of worthiness lives inside of our story. It’s time to walk into our experiences and to start living and loving with our whole hearts.”
As I listened to her, I was reminded that each of our stories is brimming with beauty, strength, and wisdom and all too often right along side of pain, loss, and vulnerability. The challenge, I think, (one that I suspect I’ll be working on for a lifetime) becomes (at least in part) learning how to honor every bit of it, even the hard stuff, maybe even, especially the hard stuff. That no matter how difficult or unwelcome the chapter we find ourselves entering into is, that we muster up the wisdom, strength, and grace to love our stories always; that even when they hurt – we will love our stories still…
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