In consideration of the question, “What is my true purpose in life?”, I came up with an answer that reflected a significant part of who I truly am. My purpose is to live a life that can be described as real. The one that is filled with experiences that help to grow as a person, to fall in love, to share love, and to value love.
In her presentation, Brené Brown discusses vulnerability and its role in our lives. She starts by describing the nature of her work as a researcher and storyteller. Initially, she wanted to quantify connection and discovered that it is ultimately linked to vulnerability and shame. Shame is the fear of disconnection or depreciation of personal value that makes people think they are not worthy of connection (Brown, 2010). Her research did not progress as she expected it to as she discovered that most of her data came down to distinguishing two kinds of people, ones who struggle to achieve the sense of worthiness of connection and those who do not.
The latter group is comprised of individuals that could be described as whole-hearted and genuinely connected. Professor Brown (2010) discovered that people who are truly whole-hearted accepted vulnerability as part of life and simply believed they were worthy of love and belonging. This fact was a devastating reality for Mrs. Brown, which caused her to seek professional help. Later, she returned to the research field with the dedication to comprehending the way people deal with vulnerability. The results demonstrated that people tend to numb their sense of vulnerability, but it also affects their emotions overall as humans are incapable of diffusing a single emotion. Her final words reflected the critical understanding of what it means to be humane or connected is to practice love, gratitude, and self-sufficiency.
Reference
Brown, B. (2010). The power of vulnerability [Video]. TED. Web.