Quotes About Vulnerability

Oh, the audacity of authenticity. You're going to confuse, piss-off and terrify lots of people – including yourself.

Sometimes our first and greatest dare is asking for support.

However, no matter how much the lists vary, one item is on every list I've seen: the fear of social rejection. We can never forget that we experience social pain and physical pain in the same part of our brains, and the potential exposure to either type of pain drives fear.

a surefooted and confident mapmaker does not a swift traveler make. I stumble and fall, and I constantly find myself needing to change course. And even though I'm trying to follow a map that I've drawn, there are many times when frustration and self-doubt take over, and I wad up that map and shove it into the junk drawer in my kitchen.

Sometimes the most uncomfortable learning is the most powerful.

We hustle for our worthiness by slipping on the emotional and behavioral straitjacket of cool and posturing as the tragically hip and the terminally "better than." Being "in control" isn't always about the desire to manipulate situations, but often it's about the need to manage perception. We want to be able to control what other people think about us so that we can feel good enough.

We know that vulnerability is the cornerstone of courage-building, but we often fail to realize that without vulnerability there is no creativity or innovation. Why? Because there is nothing more uncertain than the creative process, and there is absolutely no innovation without failure. Show me a culture in which vulnerability is framed as weakness and I'll show you a culture struggling to come up with fresh ideas and new perspectives.

Self-righteousness starts with the belief that I'm better than other people and it always ends with me being my very worst self and thinking, I'm not good enough.

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.

In another very unexpected discovery, my research also taught me that there's no such thing as selective emotional numbing. There is a full spectrum of human emotions and when we numb the dark, we numb the light.

when we don't care at all what people think and we're immune to hurt, we're also ineffective at connecting. Courage is telling our story, not being immune to criticism. Staying vulnerable is a risk we have to take if we want to experience connection.

I've never met a brave person who hasn't known disappointment, failure and even heartbreak.

Perfect and bulletproof are seductive, but they don't exist in the human experience.

When we've self-examined and shared expectations with someone and we feel they've let us down, it's important to keep the lines of communication open, circle back, and talk about our feelings and move to accountability. "I let you know how important this was to me…

If we're going to put ourselves out there and love with our whole hearts, we're going to experience heartbreak.

Who has earned the right to hear my story?" If we have one or two people in our lives who can sit with us and hold space for our shame stories, and love us for our strengths and struggles, we are incredibly lucky. If we have a friend, or a small group of friends, or family who embraces our imperfections, vulnerabilities, and power, and fills us with a sense of belonging, we are incredible lucky.

We avoid tough conversations, including giving honest, productive feedback

The main concern of wholehearted men and women is living a life defined by courage, engagement, and a clear sense of purpose.

Shame breeds fear. It crushes our tolerance for vulnerability, thereby killing engagement, innovation, creativity, productivity, and trust.

Cuando nos pasamos la vida esperando ser perfectos o inmunes antes de salir al ruedo, sacrificamos relaciones y oportunidades que quizá sean irrecuperables, derrochamos nuestro valioso tiempo y tal vez le damos la espalda a nuestras aptitudes, a esas contribuciones únicas que sólo nosotros podemos hacer.

I think the most important line is "When a person adapts to a loss grief is not over." It doesn't mean that we're sad the rest of our lives, it means that "grief finds a place" in our lives. Imagine a world in which we honor that place in ourselves and others rather than hiding it, ignoring it, or pretending it doesn't exist because of fear or shame.

If you're not in the arena with the rest of us, fighting and getting your ass kicked on occasion, I'm not interested in your feedback.

Choose courage over comfort.

hurt feelings are most often caused by people with whom we have close relationships when we feel devalued or rejected by the other person. Most behaviors that result in hurt feelings are not intended to be hurtful; they typically involve actions that are thoughtless, careless, or insensitive. However, "the more intentional an action is perceived [as], the more hurtful it feels.