A book that redefines words you hear a lot.

Courage. Compassion. Love.  Vulnerability.

I\’m sure you thought of a real-life example of these words before you thought of their dictionary definition. That\’s a good thing.  You aren\’t Siri.But your personal definition of these words does matter—to you and the people you care about. We form these personal definitions of love and everything else over time and they are greatly impacted by our positive and negative experiences.  This book is a great way t0 refresh those personal definitions in order to heal, connect and thrive in new ways.

If you are familiar with Brené Brown\’s TED Talk, \”The Power of Vulnerability\”, she writes as clearly as she speaks. It\’s a short and powerful book and I can\’t recommend it enough. I should come back to these notes and the book more often!

Wholehearted living-engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness, cultivating the courage, compassion and connection to wake up in the morning and think, no matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough

Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light

Don’t trade authenticity for approval

Courage-originally meant to speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart, just being vulnerable

Compassion- at the heart of it is acceptance, must set boundaries and hold ourselves accountable for behavior

Connection- the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard and valued, giving and receiving without judgment, derive sustenance and strength from the relationship

Until you can receive with an open heart you can’t give with an open heart

We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust respect kindness and affection

Love is not something we give or get, its something we nurture and grow, cultivated between people when it exists within each one of them, we can only love others as much as we love ourselves

Belonging- innate human desire to be part of something larger than us. Because this yearning is so primal we often try to acquire it the easy way, by fitting and seeking approval, which are hollow substitutes for belonging and barriers to it. True belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world

Our sense of belonging is equal to our level of self-acceptance

professing love ≠ to practicing love

We have more access to information than ever before, books, good science, yet we are the most obese, medicated, addicted and in-debt Americans ever.

possible because of…

shame-beliving that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love or belonging

shame is about who we are, guilt is about our behaviors

Authenticity- the daily practice of letting go of who we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are

There are authenticity growing pains for the people around us, being true to ourselves is the best gift we can give to the people we love