Braving the Wilderness
The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone
by Brené Brown
Summary
Living bravely requires us to embrace the loneliness and vulnerability of the wilderness. Because there we can learn strong back, soft front, wild heart living. With a strong back, we are secure in our beliefs so that we can risk exposing an open and hospitable soft front to other people. And we live with the adventure of a wild heart.
Author’s Website:
Braving the Wilderness - Brené Brown
Favorite Quotes
“True Belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.”
Our families and culture believed that the vulnerability that it takes to acknowledge pain was weakness, so we were taught anger, rage, and denial instead. But what we know now is that when we deny our emotion, it owns us. When we own our emotion, we can rebuild and find our way through the pain.”
“All too often our so-called strength comes from fear, not love; instead of having a strong back, many of us have a defended front shielding a weak spine. In other words, we walk around brittle and defensive, trying to conceal our lack of confidence. If we strengthen our backs, metaphorically speaking, and develop a spine that’s flexible but sturdy, then we can risk having a front that’s soft and open…How can we give and accept care with strong-back, soft-front compassion, moving past fear into a place of genuine tenderness? I believe it comes about when we can be truly transparent, seeing the world clearly—and letting the world see into us.”
