Brené Brown Told Oprah These Are The Words Every Family Should Live By
Dr. Brené Brown, best-selling author of inspirational books like Dare to Lead, lent her voice to Oprah's new book, The Path Made Clear. In advance of her upcoming Netflix special, Brené Brown: The Call to Courage, (out on April 19) the research professor and prolific speaker shared the manifesto she wrote for her family as words to live by.
"Above all else, I want you to know that you are loved and lovable. You will learn this from my words and my actions; the lessons on love are in how I treat you and how I treat myself," she shares in The Path Made Clear.
"I want you to engage with the world from a place of worthiness. You will learn that you are worthy of love, belonging, and joy every time you see me practice self-compassion and embrace my own imperfections."
The mother-of-two (well, three if you count her Bichon!) added that the proclamation for her family includes:
"We will practice courage in our family by showing up, letting ourselves be seen, and honoring vulnerability. We'll share our stories of struggle and strength. There will always be room in our home for both. We will teach you compassion by practicing compassion with ourselves first, then with each other."
Brown, who has spent the past two decades studying what it means to be vulnerable, courageous, shameful, and empathetic, continued her manifesto:
"I want you to know joy so together we'll practice gratitude. I want you to feel joy so together we'll learn how to be vulnerable. Together, we'll cry and face fear and grief. I will want to take away your pain, but instead I will sit with you and teach you how to feel it.
We will laugh and sing and dance and create.
We will always have permission to be ourselves with each other, no matter what.
You will always belong here. As you behind your wholehearted journey, the greatest gift that I can give to you is to live and love with my whole heart and to dare greatly.
I will not teach or love or show you anything perfectly, but I will let you see me and I will always hold sacred the gift of seeing you, truly, deeply seeing you."
At the end of Brown's passage, Oprah wrote, "I just wish everybody could live by those words." Brown, who has one of the most watched TED Talks of all time with over 38 million views, agreed.
"That's how you change the world," Oprah concluded.
For more inspirational morsels like these, pick up The Path Made Clear. And, for additional ways to live your best life, plus all things Oprah, sign up for our newsletter!
