Rising Strong: An Evening with Brené Brown

A research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work and author of two #1 New York Times bestsellers, Brené Brown, Ph.D. has spent the past thirteen years studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame. Her TED talks on shame and vulnerability have garnered over 23 million views and changed our cultural conversation. A sought-after public speaker, Dr. Brown has shared her work with organizations all over the world, including Facebook, Microsoft, Pixar, AT&T, Costco, West Point, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, NBC Universal, and many others.

With The Gifts of Imperfection and Daring Greatly, Dr. Brown shared her research on how to have the courage to show up and be seen even if it means risking failure, disappointment, and heartbreak. She writes, “the physics of vulnerability is simple: if we are brave enough, often enough, we will fall.” The next step in Dr. Brown’s research teaches us how owning our stories of falling gives us the power to write a daring new ending. As with all of her work, Dr. Brown teaches through research and storytelling, though Rising Strong is by far her most personal book yet.

The rising strong process outlines the power in turning toward the pain of our fall and digging into our feelings rather than pretending, perfecting, or disowning our hurt. As Dr. Brown explains, “The opposite of recognizing that we’re feeling something is denying our emotions. The opposite of being curious is disengaging. When we deny our stories and disengage from tough emotions, they don’t go away—they own us then they define us. Our job is not to deny the story, but to defy the ending—to rise strong, reckon with our story, and rumble with the truth until we get to a place where we think, Yes. This is what happened. This is my truth. And I will choose how this story ends.” Living this process creates nothing short of a revolution in our lives.