Brene Brown Vulnerability Essay

Brene Brown, a researcher in social interactions, takes an unexpected perspective in her ted talk called “The Power of Vulnerability”. She starts out her speech by telling a joke and explaining her education and experience in social work. A quote her professor put on the board led her to research the connection among people. However, this led to many other things such as shame, fear, and the most prominent factor, vulnerability. She realized that for connection to occur we must be seen completely for who we are. This led to 6 years of research, including hundreds of stories and thousands of pieces of data. Brown wrote a book about her findings but she felt that something was still missing. It turned out the missing component was worthiness. To delve deeper into worthiness, she did a study on people who think they are worthy and people who don’t. People who thought they were worthy had these four things in common, courage, compassion, connection, and vulnerability. Brown realized at this point that she needed to understand vulnerability thoroughly by facing it herself. A therapist helped brown face vulnerability head on for a year straight, and in the end, she potentially won her life back. Brown stated “…vulnerability is the core of shame, of fear and of worthiness, but it is also the birthplace of joy, of creativity, of belonging, of love…” After facing her fear, she knew that vulnerability was the core of not only fear, but also happiness. Brown goes on to say that we

Dr. Sandra D. Wilson (2001) asks, “Have you ever felt as if you were the only caterpillar in a butterfly world? Do you often feel as if you have to do twice as much to be half as good as other” (p. 16)? If you answered, yes, then that is what Wilson (2001) calls binding shame. “Shame is the soul-deep belief that something is horribly wrong with me that is not wrong with anyone else in the entire world. If I am bound by shame, I feel hopelessly, distinguishingly different and worthless (p. 16).

Human development is an ongoing process of not just, Hawkins concentric circle known as, the body, but the soul. His Temporal Systems circle that includes family, friends, church, society, government, economy, and education are what help shape and develop these areas of one’s life. During this process of human development painful things happen and if not dealt with can cause damaging results later. The title of Wilson’s book, Hurt People Hurt People, is a perfect description of what can happen. Wilson, knowing change is not easy, said it best when she said, “We must enter the change process with open eyes. When we do, we’ll see that the necessary truth requires tears, time and even some terror” (p. 96).

It's hard to imagine yourself ever being vulnerable, but everyone will face it at some point in their life some sooner than others. Benji Wilson was the number one basketball player in the country around the Michael Jordan era. Everyone in the community knew Benji they looked at him as he was the Messiah, or the ticket out of the hood. Benji faced is vulnerable moment way too young, when he was just 17 his life was cut short after being shot while walking home with his girlfriend one afternoon. After watching Benji his vulnerability and added pressers were exposed after becoming a young father, being labeled the messiah and hearing Billy Moore's side of the story.

During a time of crisis, a person reveals their true colors. The weak are divided

In this week’s reading, Anna Harrington uses a quote from Victor Frankel: “The last of human freedoms… is the ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances. What a great way of restating, “Your response is your responsibility.” (Eggerichs, 2014). She communicates some ideas about resiliency she calls elements: emotional, spiritual, social, family, and physical. (Harrington, 2012).

As a family gathers around a Thanksgiving table to discuss all the usual topics ("money, religion, class and what the kids are doing wrong with their lives"), the many fears humans face on a daily basis are revealed in the five members of the Blake family (Isherwood 1). Overall, this family paints a depressing picture of humanity. How do people move through life at all? In Stephen Karam's "The Humans," the Blake family illustrates both the positive and negative ways people cope with the basic fears they face on a day-to-day basis in the twenty-first century.

It takes the brave one’s to rise because we risk falling again. We risk vulnerability which is something I am not comfortable with, I usually avoid vulnerability but it seems almost impossible as a teenager. I was a little confused of what vulnerability was but, Brene Brown writes, “vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome” (Brown 4). When I read this I was shocked, as I reflected I noticed how many times I risked being hurt. Attending this college class at fourteen risked me getting judged, failing, and overloading on stress but I decided to risk it because I never know how amazing my outcome will be.

As I read Rising Strong by Brene Brown it really hit home with me. In her book she talks about something most people do not like to deal with, which is shame and being vulnerable. We all feel shame no matter who we are. Some people take it better than others do. Some people take their shame and burry it deep down inside them and others takes their shame and makes great success stories out of it. Brene Brown talks about how much she struggled with being vulnerable and how she dealt with it. She starts off her book with a long presentation of her book and how we can approach shame. She enlightens us that Rising Strong is regarding getting to the heart of the most excruciating and uncomfortable minutes we 've ever experienced, getting genuine about the path in which those moments have made us feel and being sufficiently striking to consider ourselves responsible to get up and develop from the past as we move into what more there is to come. She likewise focuses on that yes, most definitely, disappointment is excruciating, exceptionally difficult. Tragically be that as it may, the stories of battle to achievement that we 're so regularly told do more than see their way through the pain and make their way to be success stories. Brown states that all we need are, “a critical mass of bad asses who are willing to dare, fall, feel their way through tough emotion, and rise again” (Brown, 2015, p. 30.)

Fearless, what does it mean? Fearless can be used in many different scenarios. With Adam Brown, he was fearless in many different ways. He was fearless in his faith with God, in his overcoming of drug addiction, with his family and friends, and even on the battlefield. He went through many situations in his life that people would normally find crazy or terrifying, but he had dealt with without fear. Adam was the perfect example of the definition of fearless.

Fear and vulnerability are not always the problem in our lives. It brings ups and downs, for example in the article “The Real Secret To Intimacy”, it talks about how people are scared to be in a relationship because they think they are going to get rejected. A quote from the text is,” Vacillating between I am here and I love you…and I’m going to reveal my innermost to you...and I am scared to death that you’ll reject me.” Sometimes it is good

I think that everyone is vulnerable. Always there is something that can hurt our feelings or it makes you feel weak. Since I came to Unites States I spent some situations where I felt vulnerable because my life changed completely. It was not easy to adapt to a new life, new family and new culture. However, the reason that I’m here is because I would like to make my dreams come true. I know it’s difficult for me because I’m learning English and that’s why sometimes I feel vulnerable. For example, I remember when I took a class in Hartnell. Everyone in class speak English fluently. When the class started the teacher said that we are going to introduce ourselves in class. I got really nervous that moment. Students started introduce themselves.

Andanda, Pamela; ‘‘Vulnerability: Sex Workers in Nairobi’s Mangengo Slum Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 04/2009, Volume 18

Brené Brown described excruciating vulnerability as the only way people can be really seen. She believes that “what makes you vulnerable is what makes you beautiful”. Basically this is the origin of joy, creativity, belonging, and love. People need this touch of emotion because it will help them move on in life. If they accept the problem, they can fix it and be able to lift their heads up and walk away confidently. People who think they are worthy are usually the ones that “have a strong sense of love and belonging”. Brené describes vulnerability as “risk, exposure, and uncertainty”. She doesn’t see it as a weakness but something that will let people be viewed honestly.

During my typical teenage years up until only just a few years ago, I engaged in the usual defense mechanisms of artificial confidence, hiding my insecurities and holding in my emotions both to protect my self-image and eliminate judgments from others. I wasn’t ready to reveal my true self on the basis that people might use that information to hurt or better yet, to destroy me.