And certainly never, ever compromise who our true selves are to fit in, that’s the furthest thing from belonging we should ever contemplate. The fundamental principle is that until you accept and love yourself you will never feel a sense of belonging anywhere. “You only are free when you realise you belong no place - you belong every place - no place at all. The whole narrative weaves around Brown’s youthful rejection of the Maya Angelou quote below and her path to acceptance, understanding and now teaching. It’s more expansive and has so much more potential. We’re ostracising ourselves from ourselves.īrown talks of conflict transformation as opposed to conflict resolution which I love.

No wonder we’re all struggling with our existential crises of where to belong, what to say, who to be. So contradictory from this inclusive, multi-faceted, world we’re meant to be embracing and comfortably growing in to. Listen to any news interview, political debate, conversation at work, it’s all either/or. I like this as solid food for thought and am acutely aware of how right she is. She expands by saying that the ability to think past ‘either or’ situations in in fact the foundation of critical thinking. Societies have become too linear in factions, are you in or out dogma. She ratioinalises that this stems from a modern adoption of a rigid ‘either or’ mindset. She alludes to a global social crisis where conflict is all too omnipresent. More acknowledging of a better, higher perspective, thank you Brene. I feel more peaceful and ‘connected’ after reading it. This feels both transformational and poignant in revelation and depth of teaching. Some cite Braving The Wilderness as Brene Brown’s seminal piece and, even without having read her other publications, I can understand why. I respect this book as my trigger to explore her other major work.

This has mainly stemmed from observing emotionally charged behaviours in situations like the following:- what happens when colleagues feel paranoid they’re on the management hit list ie next one out, what happens when my teenager is ostracised inexplicably by her ‘friends’, and indeed what family dynamics emerge when four exuberant children are simultaneously vying for status, belonging and their sense of home.īrene Brown did not disappoint me in my exploration and I wholeheartedly recommend you devour this asap. I was drawn to this book as I’ve been researching our human need to be part of a tribe with fascinated passion recently.

Brené brown braving the wilderness