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    Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone
    Unavailable
    Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone
    Unavailable
    Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone
    Audiobook4 hours

    Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone

    Published by Penguin Random House Audio

    4.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    A timely and important new book that challenges everything we think we know about cultivating true belonging in our communities, organizations, and culture, from the #1 bestselling author of Rising Strong, Daring Greatly, and The Gifts of Imperfection

    "True belonging doesn't require us to change who we are. It requires us to be who we are." Social scientist Brené Brown, PhD, LMSW, has sparked a global conversation about the experiences that bring meaning to our lives—experiences of courage, vulnerability, love, belonging, shame, and empathy. In Braving the Wilderness, Brown redefines what it means to truly belong in an age of increased polarization. With her trademark mix of research, storytelling, and honesty, Brown will again change the cultural conversation while mapping a clear path to true belonging.

    Brown argues that we're experiencing a spiritual crisis of disconnection, and introduces four practices of true belonging that challenge everything we believe about ourselves and each other. She writes, "True belonging requires us to believe in and belong to ourselves so fully that we can find sacredness both in being a part of something and in standing alone when necessary. But in a culture that's rife with perfectionism and pleasing, and with the erosion of civility, it's easy to stay quiet, hide in our ideological bunkers, or fit in rather than show up as our true selves and brave the wilderness of uncertainty and criticism. But true belonging is not something we negotiate or accomplish with others; it's a daily practice that demands integrity and authenticity. It's a personal commitment that we carry in our hearts." Brown offers us the clarity and courage we need to find our way back to ourselves and to each other. And that path cuts right through the wilderness. Brown writes, "The wilderness is an untamed, unpredictable place of solitude and searching. It is a place as dangerous as it is breathtaking, a place as sought after as it is feared. But it turns out to be the place of true belonging, and it's the bravest and most sacred place you will ever stand." 

    Praise for Brené Brown's Rising Strong

    "[Brown's] research and work have given us a new vocabulary, a way to talk with each other about the ideas and feelings and fears we've all had but haven't quite known how to articulate. . . . [She] empowers us each to be a little more courageous."—The Huffington Post

    Editor's Note

    Unleash your inner courage…

    Professor Brené Brown believes that embracing our vulnerabilities is the only way to overcome our differences, make meaningful connections, and be our best selves. BRAVING is an acronym for all the qualities you need to accept vulnerabilities in yourself and others.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 12, 2017
    ISBN9780525494898
    Unavailable
    Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone

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    Reviews for Braving the Wilderness

    4.5/5

    581 ratings43 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Brene Brown is my spirit animal. In this open and honest book—which often reads more like a memoir than a study—Brown expands her notions of vulnerability and emotional honesty and resilience to a more social and political context. An absolutely necessary tonic for our echo-chamber cultural era. I listened to the audiobook, read by the author, which takes only four hours and is well worth the time. Outstanding.
    • 4/5
      I was surprised by how much this one impacted me. There’s a thin line between self-help books and books they get to the core of a problem to actually solve a bigger social issue. I love the way she encouraged overcoming our differences to find a community instead of highlighting the issues that divide us. She asks readers to be brave by being vulnerable and allowing people to get close to you, while still holding to your own principles.“I can confidently say that stories of pain and courage almost always include two things: praying and cussing. Sometimes at the exact same time.”
    • 4/5
      The author is a research professor in Houston who did the acclaimed TED talk on vulnerability and three other books.I love the blurb "True belonging doesn't require us to change who we are. It requires us to be who we are." Nota bene - the book includes Notes and Index.Brene Brown gathers data and analyzes it, looking for patterns and a "clearer picture". She draws upon the image of "the Wilderness" used as a metaphor "to represent everything from a vast and dangerous environment where we are forced to navigate difficult trials to a refuge of nature and beauty where we seek space for contemplation." While she does not interrogate the contradiction in these two poles, she catches the common foot that all wilderness metaphors share -- the notions of "solitude, vulnerability, and an emotional, spiritual, or physical quest". [36]Taking up the quest to belong, the author dug into what we mean by "trust" and finds seven elements that are useful in both trusting others and ourselves. [38-40] I like her acronym BRAVING: Boundaries - respect them; Reliability - deliver and don't overpromise; Accountability - own your mistakes; Vault - keep confidences; Integrity - choose courage and correctness; Nonjudgment - we can talk about what we need and feel; Generosity - be generous of interpretation.Professor Brown concludes: "There will be times when standing alone feels too hard, too scary, and we'll doubt our ability to make our way through the uncertainty. Someone, somewhere, will say, "Don't do it. You don't have what it takes to survive the wilderness." This is when you reach deep into your wild heart and remind yourself, "I AM the wilderness."
    • 3/5
      Braving the Wilderness is the second book I've read by Brené Brown (I recently reviewed Daring Greatly).  It's a book about finding belonging within ourselves and using that to relate effectively to others.  She writes with very accessible language and a conversational tone that draws the reader in.  The book is relatively short, which makes it a fairly quick read.The wilderness metaphor didn't especially resonate with me, and so sometimes I found myself wondering what exactly she was talking about.  She writes: "Belonging so fully to yourself that you’re willing to stand alone is a wilderness—an untamed, unpredictable place of solitude and searching."  She adds that "the special courage it takes to experience true belonging is not just about braving the wilderness, it’s about becoming the wilderness. It’s about breaking down the walls, abandoning our ideological bunkers, and living from our wild heart rather than our weary hurt."  "Someone, somewhere, will say, 'Don’t do it. You don’t have what it takes to survive the wilderness. This is when you reach deep into your wild heart and remind yourself, 'I am the wilderness.'"  I think Brene Brown is wonderful, but I'm still reading those lines and thinking huh?!?  Maybe I'm just a bit too concrete.That's not to say that all of it was lost on me.  When she wrote "cynicism and distrust have a stranglehold on our hearts", I felt like she could easily have been speaking about my own heart.  She tells us that in order to achieve true belonging, we must be vulnerable and have the courage to take on difficult things and be uncomfortable.  I liked her observation that when we're bullshitting, "the truth  doesn’t matter, what I think matters."The book is focused around four key approaches to improve belonging:People Are Hard to Hate Close Up. Move In.Speak Truth to Bullshit. Be Civil.Hold Hands. With Strangers.Strong Back. Soft Front. Wild Heart.The book contains many useful nuggets of advice, including practicing gratitude and breaking the habit of seeking confirmation that we're not good enough.  There are also many common sense ideas that are perhaps not so common, such as approaching conflict with a genuine attempt to understand the other person's perspective.  While boundaries may seem like a challenge sometimes, Brown takes the perspective that establishing and sticking to clear boundaries in conflict actually promotes compassion and belonging.  Boundaries are the first ingredient in her BRAVING acronym for facing the wilderness.While there was definitely good stuff there, I have to say that for me this book was a bit of a disappointment.  I'm a big Brene Brown fan, and I like what she has to say, particularly about vulnerability, but the wilderness metaphor just didn't do it for me.  I definitely want to read more of her work, though.
    • 2/5
      Brown begins by quoting Maya Angelou on personal freedom. Oh, well this should be interesting. She claims she doesn't want to zero in on the current political climate but that is exactly what she does. So this book is now about how to turn your armor around so it protects your back while trying to remain civil. I heard this as a short talk online. It was good. But it was not an entire book of good. The book meanders off and on topic. The most interesting and useful information was about why bull**** (dont know if I can use that word here) is more deadly than angry opposition. And we have a boatload of that stuff to wade through these days.
    • 5/5
      I am new to Brené Brown’s work but she has fast become one of my favorites. I appreciate her fact based and open minded approach to a variety of topics. She has a way of talking about tough, and often controversial topics, by presenting facts and ways of navigating topics and situations in an open and constructive way.

      Take away a from this book:
      - Conflict transformation over conflict resolution
      - Dangers of dehumanizing
      - Learning to be alone without feeling lonely and staying true to yourself.
    • 5/5
      Phenomenal!!! I love Brené Brown. This should be mandatory reading for everyone.
    • 5/5
      I honestly need a physical copy cause I want to annotate the crap out of it! This was just mind blowing minute after minute. In my opinion, everyone needs to read this book.
    • 5/5
      The authenticity of Brené has changed my life from the inside out.
    • 5/5
      I kept saying YES!!! throughout this book. Many truths. Thanks!
    • 5/5
      I have listened to quite a few books , this book has best connected with me and as it resonates while still hearing the middle of the Chapter , I’m hit with another beautiful golden nugget. This woman’s writings are fantastic . She is remarkable and brave , honest and independent. I would greatly enjoy meeting Bre
      Thank you for writing “Braving the Wilderness” you have taught me ; That I AM The Wilderness. Please listen and buy book. It will reignite your flames for humanities as a whole independent spirit and that someday soon. We will all find something that will force us to be brothers and sisters weather the colour of our skin is the same or the beliefs of our religions are opposite. I have Faith and I Will read and download this book just to hear the beautiful words from a beautiful human spirit. Thank you. Welalin.
    • 5/5
      Brenee is straight forward and easy to relate too, great story teller with great parallels to relate to, love Brene
    • 5/5
      Simply the best. Brene has this power to make me feel brave and remind myself of who I really am
    • 5/5
      This book is a true gift, thank you Brené Brown for one of the most inspiring and moving books I have ever read.
    • 5/5
      A wonderful guide for self discovery! Thanks for this wonderful experience.
    • 5/5
      I loved every second of it! It is the most accurate representation of our society today and how we view each other. I would also love to meet her as she is my favorite person and someone I can relate to. Just thank you...
    • 5/5
      This book so speaks to my soul, I will listen to it 100 times over and get something new every time.
    • 5/5
      Brene is able to put words and descriptions to the feelings we feel and to let us know that we're not alone. We all make up crazy stories in our head that are often way wrong and way off from what is really happening.
    • 5/5
      q changing paradigm shift. My perspective has changed on bravery, being vulnerable and facing the world with an open heart instead of shielding myself from life’s messy emotions in order to avoid pain. I used to tell my friends “ I don’t do weddings or funerals” because the pain of divorce and the horrible aftermath of a murder in my family made both too uncomfortable. I now see that the ability to connect was damaged. It touched me deeply, thank you.
    • 5/5
      Wow. Just oh my god wow. I’m going to be sharing this with anyone and everyone I can and I’m excited to read what other people felt and experienced while listening too and reading this work. My heart and soul feel exfoliated. Thank you Brené and everyone involved in this work just thank you.
    • 5/5
      Brené Brown, I don't know if I will ever find the words to express my gratitude for your work! Thank you!
    • 3/5
      The book started great and I was weeping after the first quote from Maya Angelou “You only are free when you realize you belong no place — you belong every place — no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great.” - that really hit home with me. But as the book continued I just found it boring and repetitive. Brené’s attempt to be vulnerable and use examples from her own life didn’t resonate with me, it just seemed like someone complaining a lot for no real problems. There were some other good bits in the book but overall I expected more.
    • 5/5
      Her premise is that true belonging only comes when we face the fear of being rejected, when we take up our courage to stand alone.

      Heartwarmingly communicated in true Brené style.

      I love this book, it is an incredibly important read during this time in the history of our world when politics, fear, and pain are so savagely polarizing us.
    • 5/5
      Loved every minute!! Will read again and again and
    • 5/5
      Two things made this book great for me - of course the insight and wisdom (boy do I have a lot of work to do), and second the way it was written and the pace of the voice really helped me listen and digest the material without feeling like I need to take notes - which is great because I often listen while driving!

      Seriously, the content is wonderful. My only wish would be for the addition of more practical day-to-day things I can do to cultivate each of the pints made.
    • 5/5
      This is a great book that everyone should listen too.
    • 5/5
      Another fantastic insightful book by Brene Brown! We shouldn’t hold onto shame!
    • 4/5
      Brown encourages you to sit in your discomfort, and decide fully if you are going to be the person you actually are, or the you that you want everyone to think you are. She also challenges the idea of what it means to disagree with someone you love and how to have to discussions with more empathy and less anger. Might be a tough read for those who have a difficult time when their own perspectives or beliefs are challenged.
    • 5/5
      This is an important book, especially for these volatile times. I recommend We all read it at least once. I plan on starting again soon so I can take notes.

      This book would Work Well in church groups, therapy groups, maybe even work teams.

      She addresses the importance of standing up for yourself (Alone), but also talks of how we can still belong and get along despite our differences.
    • 5/5
      This is a wonderful look at being brave enough to stand up for your own thoughts while respecting those around you. Some of the best summaries of this work are in her chapter titles:- People are hard to hate Close Up – Move in.- Speak truth to bullshit. Be civil. Hold hands with strangers, - Strong back, Soft front, Wild heart I love this quote she uses by Joseph Campbell: “If you see your path laid out in front of you, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take.”I'm looking forward to reading her newest book [Atlas of the Heart].