Brene Brown

I now see how owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.

Kids who have an understanding of how and why their feelings are what they are are much more likely to talk to us about what's happening, and they have better skills to work it out.

Waking up every day and loving someone who may or may not love us back, whose safety we can't ensure, who may stay in our lives or may leave without a moment's notice, who may be loyal to the day they die or betray us tomorrow - that's vulnerability.

When we're looking for compassion, we need someone who is deeply rooted, is able to bend and, most of all, embraces us for our strengths and struggles.

For me, the opposite of scarcity is not abundance. It's enough. I'm enough. My kids are enough.

In many ways, September feels like the busiest time of the year: The kids go back to school, work piles up after the summer's dog days, and Thanksgiving is suddenly upon us.

Anonymous comments? You're not in the arena, man. If you can't say it to me in person in front of my kids, don't say it.

What's the greater risk? Letting go of what people think - or letting go of how I feel, what I believe, and who I am?

Many people think of perfectionism as striving to be your best, but it is not about self-improvement; it's about earning approval and acceptance.

I hesitate to use a pathologizing label, but underneath the so-called narcissistic personality is definitely shame and the paralyzing fear of being ordinary.

We judge people in areas where we're vulnerable to shame, especially picking folks who are doing worse than we're doing.

Men walk this tightrope where any sign of weakness illicits shame, and so they're afraid to make themselves vulnerable for fear of looking weak.