"The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself."
— Anna Quindlen
Brene Brown is a writer and research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. Two of her areas of major concern are shame and authenticity. Her TED talks have been viewed by millions and her work has been featured on PBS, NPR, CNN, and OWN's "Super Soul Sunday" with Oprah Winfrey.
Brown begins this book about imperfection with the three tools we need for what she calls wholehearted (acting out of a sense of worthiness) living. They are:
1. Courage
2. Compassion
3. Connection
In contrast, there are three blocks to living and loving with all our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls. Brown looks at them and then turns to the 10 guideposts that sustain a wholehearted life. Among these qualities are authenticity; self-compassion, gratitude and joy; intuition and trusting faith; play and rest; and calm and stillness.
Resilience has been defined as the ability to bounce back from hardship and to carry on during troubled times. Brown is surprised to find in her research that resilience is most often forged out of the spirituality of individuals who believe in a power greater than themselves and feel grounded in love and compassion. Hope, not as a pie-in-the-sky virtue but as a way of thinking, also provides a seedbed for coping with setbacks, disappointments, and powerlessness.
