The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

by Brené Brown

Wholeheartedness is as much about embracing our tenderness and vulnerability as it is about developing knowledge and claiming power.

Where we are on our journey of living and loving with our whole hearts is a much stronger indicator of parenting success than anything we can learn from how-to books.

I had to dig very deep and make the conscious choice to believe… to believe in myself and the possibility of living a different life.

change begins when you cant bear to be a certain way anymore, its a leap of faith

We just have to find the courage to live and love with our whole hearts.

how do we find he balance of self vs others· what is the best way to look at this dilemma

It’s like you learn to swim by swimming. You learn courage by couraging.”

The root of the word courage is cor—the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage had a very different definition than it does today. Courage originally meant “To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.”

one of my primary definitions of courage

Practicing self-love means learning how to trust ourselves, to treat ourselves with respect, and to be kind and affectionate toward ourselves.

but what does this mean? what does it feel like in prctice? how can i tell when im actually doing these things vs just telling mysef i am?

It’s so much easier to say, “I’ll be whoever or whatever you need me to be, as long as I feel like I’m part of this.”

i've always struggled with this in 1:1 personal relationships. im myself until i learn that i really want to "belong" with someone and because, in my heart of hearts, i dont feel like i have innate vaue, i become deperate and have such trouble staying true to myself and end up loosing myself. does staying true to myself require deep selfove and complete acceptace? how can i ever truly give that to myself? why does the prospect feel so self absorbed and like id be inviting the disapproval of others? Have i always been surrunded by people who demand power over me and who instilled this latter idea in me? Sigh. Theres no sense in denying the answer to this last question. Yes, and when im not, i seek them out because thats what i know - and ultimately - what i am comfortable with…”the enemy you know is better than the enemy you don’t know”. I need to let go of that