Dr. Brené Brown's Podcast Interview with Dr. Amy Cuddy & Dr. Amy Cuddy's TED Talk

Last Thursday evening while work was quiet, I was preparing for a Zoom discussion regarding one of Dr. Brené  Brown's latest "Dare to Lead" podcast episodes, "A Conversation with Dr. Amy Cuddy about Pandemic Flux Syndrome" (September 13, 2021).  While interviewing Dr. Cuddy, Dr. Brown references Dr. Cuddy's TED Talk, which she presented in Summer 2012.  I found Dr. Cuddy's eye-opening TED Talk extremely engaging and so thought-provoking, that it must be shared with others who can relate and/or find inspiration from Dr. Cuddy.  I loved her TED Talk so much, that I also just ordered her book titled Presence: Bringing your boldest self to your biggest challenges (copyright 2015), which I am very much looking forward to reading in conjunction with Dr. Brown's incredible works.   

Dr. Brené Brown's Meaning of Authenticity

 I have continuously loved Dr. Brené Brown's extensive work throughout the last few years.  However, very recently, I have become obsessed with listening to her podcasts, working to understand her various ideologies regarding leadership and vulnerability, understanding her research and self-analyzing myself in how her research and ideas may be applicable to my own life, through making my way through her powerful literature.  

I am currently reading The gifts of imperfection, which if you study Dr. Brown's website, she recommends starting with this particular book, as the first of a progression in which she writes her books, intending for one lesson to be learned, leading into learning the next lesson gained from the following book and so on.  

I am about to start "Guidepost #1:  Cultivating authenticity:  Letting go of what people think".  I have come across what I believe to be a very profound passage (on page fifty of the 2010 edition), which I think is worthy of sharing.  This passage resonates so deeply with me, as I ponder just how exactly this passage is applicable to me, and what I can determine about myself, and what I want in my life, from what this passage means to me.  

The passage reads as follows:  

"Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we're supposed to be and embracing who we are.  

Choosing authenticity means: 

~ cultivating the courage to be imperfect, to set boundaries, and to allow ourselves to be vulnerable; 

~ exercising the compassion that comes from knowing that we are all made of strength and struggle; and 

~ nurturing the connection and sense of belonging that can only happen when we believe that we are enough.  

Authenticity demands Wholehearted living and loving--even when it's hard, even when we're wrestling with the shame and fear of not being enough, and especially when the joy is so intense that we're afraid to let ourselves feel it.  

Mindfully practicing authenticity during our most soul-searching struggles is how we invite grace, joy, and gratitude into our lives".  

                                                                ~ Dr. Brené Brown 

Sometimes, I find myself getting inside my head about what others might think, and I get anxious about the outcome of something if it doesn't go the way I think it should, or the way I want it to.  Sometimes, I find myself worrying about the what-ifs, and how my life could be like if I wasn't living the life I am currently living, or if I would have stuck with my initial plan and made different choices.  I occasionally still think I should be choosing that life I had intended to live.  

All of that said, no matter what happens in my life, this particular passage needs to become my daily mantra.  I need to type it up into a Word document and put it somewhere, where I look at it everyday, and remind myself of what this passage really means to me--once I discover what that meaning actually is!  I am enough, and I need to always remember that--inside and out!