The Power of Vulnerability

Just over two years ago, Brene Brown gave a TED talk in Houston. Since then it's been viewed 5.6 million times.

I had to watch it again today. With my Kickstarter campaign about to finish, I needed the reminder that vulnerability is courage in action, that openness to failure is the pursuit of success, that hope, joy and triumph are most poignantly felt when we're vulnerable to fear, pain and loss.

My focus on failure isn't, in any way, a desire for failure, but a challenge to failure. I won't be cowed into submission by the threat of losing. I won't be stymied by the possibility of pain. I won't be held back by the phantoms of failure.

I name the cost, laugh at it and begin.

Don't mistake me. I fully intend to succeed. I won't give up. I won't stop. I won't quit. But I will never bow in the face of potential failure. No matter the odds.

Nor will I stop when the actuality of failure happens. I've failed many times in my life. I've looked like a fool. I've stumbled and fallen. But I will always get up.

Thank you for walking with me. When one of us stumbles, the others can offer support. Together we defy failure through our courageous vulnerability.

“The two most powerful words when we're in struggle: me too.” — Brené Brown

Struggle with me. Click here. Pledge your support. When it's your turn, let me know. I'll be there for you. 

Being Vulnerable

It's not easy to share deep emotions. Our Western world seems designed to hide feelings and numb pain. But numbing pain also leads to numbing joy, love and hope. You can't numb only one emotion.

We desperately need to know how to be vulnerable with each other. But no one will figure it out if someone isn't willing to take the first step. In your next sermon, be vulnerable. Show how it's done and let people see that it's ok. Sure it hurts, but the pain is only a part of the whole.

We don't have it all figured out. We aren't all perfect. We haven't arrived. If we can admit that and share it with each other in open ways, then maybe deep pain can open the way for great joy.

How can you be vulnerable?

Give Up, Surrender, Die

by Ambrozjo

Surrender is a bad word to Americans. We who were raised up with stories of the American Revolution and the Alamo consider fighting at any odds to be a noble calling. This ethic is instilled in children throughout school and sports. "Quitters never win and winners never quit."

But what if giving up is the best choice? What if we give up our security and we become vulnerable to each other? What if we surrender our desires for the good of other people? What if we take the message of Jesus seriously and we die to ourselves?

It's not the American way. But is it a better way?

Be Vulnerable

A friend recommended this amazing TED talk by Brene Brown. She shares her journey of learning the importance of vulnerability. The point is that we all crave connection but fear shame. Vulnerability is the path to both. We can't have the beauty of connection, joy, hope and community without the risk and experience of rejection, sorrow, loss and loneliness.

Brene describes this process from the perspective of where we need to be for personal happiness. We need to learn to embrace vulnerability, with the risk of pain, so that we can fully experience joy. I'll take it further: we need to learn to model vulnerability so that we can invite others to share the experience. And we need to create space that encourages vulnerability so that people can feel safe enough to take the risk.

How does your church prevent vulnerability? How could you encourage it? Model it?