Unlocking Us with Brené Brown

We’re at the halfway mark of our six-episode Summer Sister Series on The Gifts of Imperfection, and this week, we dig into Guideposts #3 and #4 (Cultivating a Resilient Spirit: Letting Go of Numbing and Powerlessness and Cultivating Gratitude and Joy: Letting Go of Scarcity and Fear of the Dark). Ashley, Barrett, and I look at our lives post-COVID and talk candidly about the ways we’ve numbed over the past year — and how we’ve lost some of our gratitude practices. These two things may be related. Moving forward, we (re)commit to making wholeheartedness a family affair.

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It’s Part 2 of our six-part Summer Sister Series on The Gifts of Imperfection, with my sisters, Ashley and Barrett. In this episode, we start with Guidepost #1 (Cultivating Authenticity and Letting Go of What People Think) and move into Guidepost #2 (Cultivating Self-Compassion and Letting Go of Perfectionism). Practicing authenticity — and, yes, it is a daily practice — is really connected to boundary work, so we admit the individual fears we each experience when setting boundaries. We also talk about perfectionism as a process addiction and how our imperfections are not inadequacies, but instead, they’re reminders that we’re all in this together.

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Join me and my sisters, Ashley and Barrett, for Part 1 of our six-part Summer Sister Series on The Gifts of Imperfection. In this episode, we start with the Introduction, go over the 10 Guideposts, and talk about our personal Wholehearted Inventory scores. Surgeon General’s Warning: This is about as real as it gets. Equal amounts laughing, hard conversations, surprising revelations, and cussing. And some singing. But I file that under painful and/or laughing. If this sounds like your kind of conversation, join us for the rest of the series.

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I’m talking to writer, teacher, and scholar Dr. Clint Smith about his new book, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America. We talk about the history of slavery in this country and how we approach, excavate, recognize, and react to that history — and how we have a responsibility and accountability to get the story and the history right. Because when we can be honest about the history, we can begin to acknowledge it, reckon with it, and heal from it.

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In this episode, I’m talking to writer Ashley C. Ford about her new memoir, Somebody’s Daughter, and how it is written for everyone who walks into a bookstore and feels like they can’t find a book about themselves — and there are a lot of us looking for that. We talk about the writing process, the truth-telling process, and how connecting the two can be liberating not only to us but also to others. Our conversation is not just a story about her life, it is a story about life and what connects us to show us that we are not alone — and that we are braver than we know.

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I talk with Justina Blakeney, designer, artist, and New York Times bestselling author, about how we can create spaces to tell our stories. We talk about how color, pattern, plants, and windy paths can be personalized to help express our individuality and how connecting with both our unique roots and adventures allows us to not only look at objects and space differently but also see ourselves and our worlds in new ways.

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I’m talking to Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Bruce Perry about their new book, What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing. We define trauma and talk about why big and small traumas activate our stress-response systems and create emotional, physical, and social consequences and how we can find the path to healing.

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This week’s episode features two audio essays from You Are Your Best Thing, an anthology on the Black lived experience of vulnerability and shame resilience, led by my friend Tarana Burke, an organizer, writer, activist, and the founder of the ‘me too.’ Movement. It starts with an introduction from Tarana and me, followed by an essay from Jason Reynolds, award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author. All of the essays in the book are urgent, compelling, heartbreaking, and heart-affirming. I’m proud and grateful to share this work with you.

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I have a tough, loving conversation about dementia and Alzheimer’s with Jason Karlawish, physician, researcher, professor, clinician, and author of The Problem of Alzheimer’s: How Science, Culture, and Politics Turned a Rare Disease into a Crisis and What We Can Do About It. This heartbreakingly common diagnosis creates multiple patients — both the diagnosed and the caregivers. We talk about the difference between Alzheimer’s and dementia, how we respond to a disease that diminishes our autonomy, and what we can do to take care of ourselves and each other.

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Get ready for a delicious conversation. I am talking to Samin Nosrat, author, cook, teacher, podcaster, and the force of nature behind the revolutionary cookbook Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat and its Netflix documentary. We connect on her work and the struggles and realities of creating connections in a period of great disconnection.

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