Cracks of Gold: Finding Strength in Vulnerability

find your way to a comfortable seat whatever that means for you in this moment let your shoulders soften your hands rest and just notice the gentle rise and fall of your own breath in and out there is nothing else you need to be doing right now doctor brene brown spent more than a decade researching shame and vulnerability before she gave her now famous talk on the subject that talk has been viewed over 60,000,000 times and in it she makes a choice the same kind of quiet powerful choice we spoke of last time the choice that lives inside a single breath she chose to

share the story of her own breakdown her own moment of coming apart as the very thing that led to her breakthrough we are taught so often that strength means being impenetrable an iron wall a fortress we learn to hide the parts of ourselves that feel tender or uncertain or broken we believe deep down that if anyone saw the cracks they would think less of us that we would be less but what if that's not true what if the whole story has been told to us backwards here's what that means if you're feeling fragile today if you feel like you're holding together a thousand tiny pieces with nothing but sheer will it

means you are not being asked to be a fortress think of the japanese art of kintsugi when a treasured piece of pottery breaks it isn't thrown away the pieces are carefully lovingly put back together but the cracks aren't hidden they are filled with gold the lines of breakage become the most beautiful part of the object they tell a story of what it has endured they become a testament not to its perfection but to its resilience that is what vulnerability offers it's the understanding that our strength isn't in never breaking it's in our willingness to see the beauty in how we put ourselves back together it's the courage to let the gold shine through and here's the thing when you allow someone to see your gold filled cracks you give them permission to see their

own your courage to be imperfect creates a space where they can be imperfect too that is not weakness that is the very foundation of human connection it's the quiet recognition of oh you too that is where the armor comes off and that is where the real belonging begins so what does this mean for your day for this moment right now it doesn't mean you have to stand on a stage and confess your deepest fears it can be much smaller much quieter it can be the choice to say i don't know instead of pretending the choice to ask for help when you need it the choice to let a friend see your tears instead

of saying i'm fine each one a small act of kintsugi a tiny line of gold allow yourself to be seen today just as you are