living a brave life

Aging is for the brave.  Brene Brown is an an American scholar, author, and public speaker, who is currently a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work.  She writes:  "Living a brave life is not a casual undertaking.  When it comes to vulnerability, there are some hard truths we must try to accept to experience connection, joy, love, creativity, and belonging in our lives."

"These are the first words in the introduction of the book Daring Greatly -- words that probably feel really familiar to all of us the first time we open its pages.  Heaven knows that vulnerability rarely feels like fun.  But thanks to Brené's book (and her amazing follow-up, Rising Strong), we know some solid truths about what it means to be vulnerable and live a brave life:
1)  To live a brave life, you must believe you are worthy of love and belonging.  And a strong belief in our worthiness doesn't just happen -- it's cultivated and practiced, with the intent of living a life defined by courage, compassion and connection.
2)  People who live brave lives identify vulnerability as the catalyst for courage, compassionate and connection.
3)  If you want to be brave with your life, you're signing up to get your ass kicked.  We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can't have both.  Not at the same time.
4)  Vulnerability is about having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome.  Vulnerability isn't weakness, it's our greatest measure of courage.
5)  Courage is contagious.  Living a brave life changes not just you, but also the people around you.  To bear witness to the human potential for transformation through vulnerability, courage and tenacity can profoundly affect the people around you, whether you're aware of it or not."