Day 27: See Vulnerability as a Superpower
Updated: May 1, 2020
Tip #27:
To come out of the myriad of challenges ahead of us, we must own all of the feelings attached to them, not just the comfortable ones.
Brené Brown, according to many, myself included, is the queen of vulnerability. Her 2010 TED Talk on the subject is one of YouTube's 5 most viewed ever. If you've not seen it, take 20 minutes and listen.
Brown has created an empire based on her own research that when we embrace our vulnerability, we grow as parents, as professionals, as partners, and as humans. I can hardly imagine a time of more, what she calls, "collective vulnerability," then right now. To come out of the myriad of challenges ahead of us, we must own all of the feelings attached to them, not just the comfortable ones. Thank goodness, she has some wisdom to share about how we can survive the journey and how we can teach our kids to do the same.
An introduction to these concepts and their application to parenthood comes in the form of The Wholehearted Parenting Manifesto. These excerpts of that document (found on her website) offer a taste of how Brown balances loving oneself with showing and teaching what love is to our kids.
I want you to engage with the world from a place of worthiness. You will learn that you are worthy of love, belonging, and joy every time you see me practice self-compassion and embrace my own imperfections.
We will teach you compassion by practicing compassion with ourselves first; then with each other.
When uncertainty and scarcity visit, you will be able to draw from the spirit that is a part of our everyday life. Together we will cry and face fear and grief. I will want to take away your pain, but instead I will sit with you and teach you how to feel it.
The following blogs (see full library at her website) also give us guidelines on how to be a better parent not just in these challenging times but at any time by remembering what's important and by asking the right questions of ourselves and of those we seek to know better: our loved ones.