When I took this great class in 2011, I was introduced to the work of Dr. Brene Brown; a research professor at the University of Houston who has spent the past decade studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness and shame.
The depth of insight from her year’s of research is really awesome and very thought-provoking. I’ve been traveling the spiritual road for a while now and when you really start looking within, it’s amazing how often the themes of vulnerability, courage, worthiness and shame come up. She was recently interviewed by Oprah on her Super Soul Sunday series; definitely an episode worth watching! You can watch it here.
prints available here
The past 2-3 years have been HUGE life lesson years for me…more than usual. Lessons on stepping out of my comfort zone, following my heart, learning that it’s not selfish to make myself a priority and taking leaps of courage by putting myself out there with my blog, artwork and cooking. And boy is it amazing how my inner gremlins have come out…inner gremlins that make you second guess yourself, that question your worthiness, that fill you up with shame and that can easily rain on a perfectly sunny parade.
It’s easy to succumb to those fear-based feelings, but I’m slowly trying to love these gremlins instead of get angry at them; some days are easier than other days.
In the interview with Oprah, Dr. Brown pointed out that being open and vulnerable, and living authentically and wholeheartedly is not something you just reach one day, it’s something you consciously have to choose every day, every interaction you have and every conversation you have with yourself.
One of my favorite highlights from the show was when Dr. Brown talked about how she came up with the title of her new book, Daring Greatly. It came from a quote from Theodore Roosevelt that she happen to stumble upon during a really low self-esteem day… It was just what she needed, on a day when she really needed to hear it.
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly…”
In the end it’s not about winning or losing, being perfect or imperfect….it’s just about “showing up” and putting yourself out there and knowing that good or bad, rain or shine—you’re WORTHY and LOVED—no matter what. It’s just about growing…from the inside.
