The power of vulnerability | Brené Brown | TED - YouTube

A few years ago, an event planner struggled with how to describe me on a flyer for a speaking event. She decided to call me a storyteller rather than a researcher, fearing the latter might sound boring. I embraced the term, realizing that my work as a qualitative researcher is about collecting stories, or data with a soul.

My journey into understanding vulnerability began when a research professor told me, "If you cannot measure it, it does not exist." As a social worker, I was trained to embrace life's messiness, but I wanted to organize and understand it. I focused on connection, which is essential to our existence and purpose.

In my research, I found that when you ask people about connection, they tell you about disconnection. This led me to shame and its role in unraveling connection. Shame is the fear of disconnection, and it's universal. The less we talk about it, the more we have it.

After six years of research, I discovered that the only difference between people who have a strong sense of love and belonging and those who don't is the belief that they are worthy of love and belonging. This realization led me to examine the lives of "whole-hearted" individuals who live with a deep sense of worthiness. They shared a common trait: the courage to be imperfect, compassion for themselves and others, and authenticity.

These whole-hearted individuals also embraced vulnerability as necessary. They saw it as the birthplace of joy, creativity, belonging, and love. This was a challenge for me, as I spent my career trying to control and predict. Accepting vulnerability led to a personal breakdown, which I later recognized as a spiritual awakening.

I learned that we cannot selectively numb emotions. When we numb the painful ones, we also numb joy, gratitude, and happiness. We make everything uncertain certain, and we perfect, especially our children. We pretend our actions don't affect others.

In conclusion, we must let ourselves be seen, love wholeheartedly, practice gratitude, and believe that we are enough. When we operate from this place, we are more compassionate to others and ourselves.

The original article: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o&list=PLV7xfBoJKBNQ3yhYgQRqocSWs1MKF7j0n&index=5