As 2016, kicks into full gear, I find myself trying to better understand the barriers that challenge me the most in achieving a wholehearted lifestyle.  So I cycled back to the wisdom of Brene Brown and her virally-sensational TedTalk of 2010.  It resonates as much today as it did then and I hope you'll take a minute to consider my favorite quotes and how they might apply to you (below) or even revisit the video yourself.   http://bit.ly/202oJ4E   (Brené Brown: The power of vulnerability | TED Talk | TED.com)

My favorite Brene Brown quotes:

  1. "You can't selectively numb emotions.  When we numb the bad stuff (fear, grief, vulnerability, shame), we numb joy, gratitude, happiness and all the good stuff."
  2. "The one thing that keeps us out of connection is a fear that we are not worthy."
  3. "You can't practice compassion with others if you can't treat yourself kindly."

As an executive coach, I spend a lot of time helping people evaluate the behavior of colleagues and bosses and these quotes are huge in workplace behavior.  So often, our sense of questionable worthiness causes us to move through our interactions at work with our fingers on the trigger.  If anyone says anything that inadvertently touches our vulnerable places, we pull the trigger and unload on them.  It plays as defensiveness, superiority, meanness, one-upmanship, condescension or at the very least, cool disengagement.  And it crushes the possibilities of what can happen when people put themselves in a vulnerable place in order to collaborate, innovate, and change in a meaningful way. 

And so my own call to action for this new year is to double down on my awareness and go courageously forward trying my best and encouraging others "To let ourselves be seen (deeply seen), to love with our whole hearts (even when there's no guarantee), to practice gratitude, lean into joy and to believe that we're enough."  Brene Brown

Also, check out my first post:  Vulnerability in Management and Leadership