Quotes About Vulnerability

When we spend our lives waiting until we are perfect or bulletproof before we walk into the arena, we ultimately sacrifice relationships and opportunities that may not be recoverable. We squander our precious time and we turn our backs on our gifts- those unique contributions that only we can make. Perfect and bulletproof are seductive but they don't exist in the human experience.

we know and understand ourselves is critically important, but there is something that is even more essential to living a Wholehearted life: loving ourselves.

Disappointments may be like paper cuts, but if those cuts are deep enough or if there are enough of them, they can leave us seriously wounded.

Because we are human and so beautifully imperfect

I also see courage in myself when I'm willing to risk being vulnerable and disappointed

We also have to invest time attending to our own fears, feelings, and history or we'll find ourselves managing our own unproductive behaviors. As daring leaders, we have to stay curious about our own blind spots and how to pull those issues into view, and we need to commit to helping the people we serve find their blind spots in a way that's safe and supportive.

Joseph Campbell's wisdom: "The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek." Own the fear, find the cave, and write a new ending for yourself, for the people you're meant to serve and support, and for your culture. Choose courage over comfort. Choose whole hearts over armor. And choose the great adventure of being brave and afraid. At the exact same time.

if you want to see the ego go to DEFCON 1, get anywhere close to shame. What makes embracing vulnerability feel the most terrifying is how taking off the armor and exposing our hearts can open us up to experiencing shame. Our egos are willing to keep our hearts encased in armor, no matter the cost, if we can avoid feeling "less than" or unworthy of love and belonging.

How do I know if I can trust someone enough to be vulnerable? Can I build trust without ever risking vulnerability?

The wholehearted identify vulnerability as the catalyst for courage, engagement, and a clear sense of purpose. In fact, the willingness to be vulnerable emerged as the single clearest value shared by all of the women and men whom I would describe as wholehearted. They attribute everything—from their professional success to their marriages to their proudest parenting moments—to their ability to be vulnerable.

worthiness is an absolute act of resistance. Choosing to live and love with our whole hearts is an act of defiance.

We're called to "dare greatly" every time we make choices that challenge the social climate of scarcity.

The combination of fear of disappointment, entitlement, and performance pressure is a recipe for hopelessness and self-doubt.

It also takes discipline and self-awareness to understand what to share and with whom.

They recognize the power of emotion and they're not afraid to lean in to discomfort.

We avoid tough conversations, including giving honest, productive feedback. Some leaders attributed this to a lack of courage, others to a lack of skills, and, shockingly, more than half talked about a cultural norm of "nice and polite" that's leveraged as an excuse to avoid tough conversations.

Choosing our own comfort over hard conversations is the epitome of privilege, and it corrodes trust and moves us away from meaningful and lasting change.

Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it.

Honestly, as someone who rarely risked vulnerability and always steered clear of silly or goofy, it never dawned on me that adults could love each other like that; that I could be loved for my vulnerabilities, not despite them.

When we don't practice love with the people we claim to love, it takes a lot out of us. Incongruent living is exhausting.

think of it as the audacity of authenticity. Most of us have shame triggers around being perceived as self-indulgent or self-focused.

It is in the process of embracing our imperfections that we find our truest gifts: courage, compassion, and connection.

Vulnerability paradox: Vulnerability is the the first thing I look for in you and the last thing I want you to see in me.

Vulnerability is about sharing our feelings and our experiences with people who have earned the right to hear them.