Brene Brown authored the book ‘Rising Strong,’ focusing on the physics of vulnerability. Each person experiences failure, disappointment, or heartbreak at some point of their live. In ‘Rising Strong,; you learn how to overcome this struggle and place yourself back on a path of wisdom and hope. Here is a look at some of the best quotes from ‘Rising Strong’ to remember.
“A lot of cheap seats in the arena are filled with people who never venture onto the floor. They just hurl mean-spirited criticisms and put-downs from a safe distance. The problem is, when we stop caring what people think and stop feeling hurt by cruelty, we lose our ability to connect. But when we’re defined by what people think, we lose the courage to be vulnerable. Therefore, we need to be selective about the feedback we let into our lives. For me, if you’re not in the arena getting your ass kicked, I’m not interested in your feedback.”
“Choosing to be curious is choosing to be vulnerable because it requires us to surrender to uncertainty.”
“Compassionate people ask for what they need. They say no when they need to, and when they say yes, they mean it. They’re compassionate because their boundaries keep them out of resentment.”
“Conspiracy thinking is all about fear-based self-protection and our intolerance for uncertainty.”
“Generosity is not a free pass for people to take advantage of us, treat us unfairly, or be purposefully disrespectful and mean.”
“Grief seems to create losses within us that reach beyond our awareness–we feel as if we’re missing something that was invisible and unknown to us while we had it, but now painfully gone.”
“How can we expect people to put value on our work when we don’t value ourselves enough to set and hold uncomfortable boundaries?”
“I assumed that people weren’t doing their best so I judged them and constantly fought being disappointed, which was easier than setting boundaries. Boundaries are hard when you want to be liked and when you are a pleaser hellbent on being easy, fun, and flexible.”
That was fun!!! RT @stjohnflynn: Taping tonite of this week's @manorspeak. pic.twitter.com/hXaXnLGKde #DowntonAbbey
— BreneBrown (@BreneBrown) January 6, 2016
“I believe the most useful knowledge about human behavior is based on people’s lived experiences.”
“I define wholehearted living as engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness. It means cultivating the courage, compassion, and connection to wake up in the morning and think, No matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough. It’s going to bed at night thinking, Yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid, but that doesn’t change the truth that I am brave and worthy of love and belonging.”
“I kept asking myself: What do these people with strong relationships, parents with deep connections to their children, teachers nurturing creativity and learning, clergy walking with people through faith, and trusted leaders have in common? The answer was clear: They recognize the power of emotion and they’re not afraid to lean in to discomfort.”
“I want to be in the arena. I want to be brave with my life. And when we make the choice to dare greatly, we sign up to get our asses kicked. We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time. Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.”
“Integrity is choosing courage over comfort; choosing what is right over what is fun, fast, or easy; and choosing to practice our values rather than simply professing them.”
“It’s always helpful to remember that when perfectionism is driving, shame is riding shotgun.”
“Just because someone isn’t willing or able to love us, it doesn’t mean that we are unlovable.”
“Just because we didn’t measure up to some standard of achievement doesn’t mean that we don’t possess gifts and talents that only we can bring to the world. Just because someone failed to see the value in what we can create or achieve doesn’t change its worth or ours.”
Y’all are so fast on the live-tweet! I’m loving it. #SuperSoulSunday pic.twitter.com/p9gcyIQJQz
— BreneBrown (@BreneBrown) October 4, 2015
“Knowledge is only a rumor until it lives in the muscle.”
“Many of us will spend our entire lives trying to slog through the shame swampland to get to a place where we can give ourselves permission to both be imperfect and to believe we are enough.”
“Of all the things trauma takes away from us, the worst is our willingness, or even our ability, to be vulnerable. There’s a reclaiming that has to happen.”
“Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we’ll ever do.”
“People who wade into discomfort and vulnerability and tell the truth about their stories are the real badasses.”
“Shame is much more likely to be the cause of destructive behavior than the cure. Guilt and empathy are the emotions that lead us to question how our actions affect other people, and both of these are severely diminished by the presence of shame.”
“Sometimes when we are beating ourselves up, we need to stop and say to that harassing voice inside,Man, I’m doing the very best I can right now.”
“Stay in your own lane. Comparison kills creativity and joy.”
“The most transformative and resilient leaders that I’ve worked with over the course of my career have three things in common: First, they recognize the central role that relationships and story play in culture and strategy, and they stay curious about their own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. Second, they understand and stay curious about how emotions, thoughts, and behaviors are connected in the people they lead, and how those factors affect relationships and perception. And, third, they have the ability and willingness to lean in to discomfort and vulnerability.”
Taped a new @SuperSoulSunday on #RisingStrong yesterday. Lots of laughing, crying and high-fiving with @Oprah pic.twitter.com/4pGsGYoIJ7
— BreneBrown (@BreneBrown) August 1, 2015
“The opposite of recognizing that we’re feeling something is denying our emotions. The opposite of being curious is disengaging. When we deny our stories and disengage from tough emotions, they don’t go away; instead, they own us, they define us. Our job is not to deny the story, but to defy the ending—to rise strong, recognize our story, and rumble with the truth until we get to a place where we think, Yes. This is what happened. This is my truth. And I will choose how this story ends.”
“There are too many people today who instead of feeling hurt are acting out their hurt; instead of acknowledging pain, they’re inflicting pain on others. Rather than risking feeling disappointed, they’re choosing to live disappointed. Emotional stoicism is not badassery. Blustery posturing is not badassery. Swagger is not badassery. Perfection is about the furthest thing in the world from badassery.”
“Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.”
“Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.”
“We don’t have to do all of it alone. We were never meant to.”
“We’re all just walking each other home.”
“What do we call a story that’s based on limited real data and imagined data and blended into a coherent, emotionally satisfying version of reality? A conspiracy theory.”
“When we deny our stories and disengage from tough emotions, they don’t go away; instead, they own us, they define us.”
“Yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid, but that doesn’t change the truth that I am brave and worthy of love and belonging.”
In this interview, Brene Brown discusses the four key principles to being brave and overcoming your failure while embracing your vulnerabilities.
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