The Power of Vulnerability

I can’t begin to make a list of all the people, podcasts and shows I’ve heard mention or reference this Ted Talk on ‘The Power of Vulnerability’. The speaker, Brene Brown, is an American researcher, who spent six years listening to thousands of people’s stories and conducting hundreds of interviews and focus groups to learn more about the topic of connection. I thought I would check it out myself, and needless to say, it was well worth my time. Here are some of the main keys and takeaways from this mind-blowing Ted Talk.

“Connection is why we’re here. It’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives.”

“Shame is really easily understood as the fear of disconnection.”

“In order for connection to happen, we have to allow ourselves to be really seen.”

“I found that there was one variable between the people who have a strong sense of love and belonging and those who struggle to have it, and it was that [the former group] believe they are worthy of love and belonging. That’s it.”

“The one thing that keeps us out of connection is our fear that we’re not worthy of connection.”

“The original definition of courage is to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.”

“[The former group] simply had the courage to be imperfect, and the compassion to be kind to themselves first and then to others, because as it turns out, we can’t practice compassion with other people if we can’t treat ourselves kindly.”

“They had connection – and this was the hard part – as a result of authenticity. They were willing to let go of who they thought they should be, in order to be who they were… which you have to absolutely do that for connection.”

“The other thing they had in common was this – they fully embraced vulnerability. They believed that what made them vulnerable made them beautiful. They didn’t tlak about vulnerability being comfortable nor did they really talk about it being excruciating, as I I heard it earlier [being talked about by the latter group]. They just talked about it being necessary. They talked about the wilingness to say ‘I love you’ first and to do something when there are no guarantees.”

“You are imperfect. You are wired for struggle but you are worthy of love and belonging.”

To watch the whole 20-minute Ted Talk, visit this link: youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o

If you’re willing to dive deeper into Brown’s research on this topic, you can read her impactful book, ‘Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead’.