The Power of Vulnerability – A Summary of Brene Brown’s TED Talk

By Respark | May 11, 2020

by Taylor Spaziani – Respark’s Clinical Manager & Intake Specialist

Brene Brown is what she calls a “researcher-storyteller,” and in her Ted Talk “The Power of Vulnerability,” she discusses her 6-year research on vulnerability. As a social worker, Brene was always told to lean into the discomfort of her work, but she wants to be able to make messy topics not seem so messy, she naturally always wants to clean up the discomfort. Part of this is what drove her motivation into researching this subject, as she wanted to know what the power of vulnerability really was, and why we all hide away from it.

She started with connection.

Connection is what gives you purpose and meaning to your life. It is why we are here. From looking into connection within her qualitative study, she found shame & fear, really, the shame & fear of disconnection. When digging deeper, she realized this was really excruciating vulnerability; the idea of in order for connection to happen, we have to allow ourselves to be really seen. Within this research group, she found two major groups of people: those who felt worthy, and those who didn’t. Those who felt worthy had a strong sense of love and belonging, and those who didn’t feel worthy really struggled with this.

So what do these people who feel worthy have in common?

From a 4-day intensive data analysis… Brene Brown found what these people had in common were:

The courage to be imperfect
Compassion, to be kind to themselves first and then to others
Connection, as a result of authenticity
Vulnerability, believed this is what made them beautiful
- Believed that vulnerability is not comfortable, nor excruciating, just simply necessary
The willingness to invest in the unknown, and unforeseen circumstances

So what did Brene Brown learn through all her research?

We numb vulnerability
- We are the most in-debt, the most obsessions, the most addicted and medicated adult cohort in US history
You can’t selectively numb emotion
- When we numb our vulnerable emotions, we numb happiness and joy
We need to think about why and how we numb
We need to stop feeling like we have to make the uncertain certain
We need to try and stop perfecting things and ourselves and our children
We need to stop pretending like what we do doesn’t have an effect on other people

So, with that being said, let ourselves be seen, deeply seen. Love with our whole hearts, even with no guarantee. Practice gratitude and joy in vulnerable moments, and believe that we are simply enough.

Watch Brene Brown’s TED Talk here:

Next Steps & Resources:

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