Rising Strong as a Spiritual Practice

Written and Narrated By: Brené Brown PhD LMSW

Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins

Yes, yes, yes: There is indeed the book, but this, the conference is sooo much better!

Don’t get me wrong, I love Brené Brown no matter the format, but even though I do indeed have Rising Strong, and even tho’ that one is narrated by none other than herself (Thereby making it far more pleasurable than with other narrators…. say Karen White…), I do believe I much prefer this Rising Strong as a Spiritual Practice. If you already have the book-form, pretty much all of this lecture will be old hat for you. Reckoning, Rumbling, Revolution. Sewer rats and Scofflaws. And some of her stories were from the original book, so there’s that for ya also.

But what I dearly love about Brown is how, while she falters in narration, she shines when in front of an audience, kinda sorta interacting with the honest-to-God flesh and blood that we all are. Even if it’s just asking people to raise their hands if something resonates with them, there’s a certain spunkiness and sparkling joy that goes with the interaction. And whereas the strongest parts of her books are ALWAYS the parts where she is the storyteller part of her researcher/storyteller identity, giving her a chance to break free of staid narrative and statistics, in front of a crowd that storytelling blasts through the roof with each emotion she relays that she felt at the time, each (sometimes profane) thought that bursts unbidden to her mind, tho’ she has to stop and reconsider.

One really gets a feel for the process when Brown relays how the spiritual practice has worked/is working in her own life. TOTAL feel for it cuz the woman is plenty messed up just as we all are. She walks us through each petty or judgmental or fear-based thought she has, walks us through how it took her time to stop and listen to her body, to ask questions based upon knowing things are off to be reacting/thinking in such a manner, and walks us through the spots where we can choose our actions after coming to terms with our own, for lack of a better word: depravity. And if you’re a parent, you’ll be coming across this a whole heckuva lot as parenting means your actually being the person you want your child to be.

Sometimes, I do admit, I get tired of hearing of how truly horrible Brown is to the people around her; it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone as even her therapist says to pray/think things quietly before speaking and possibly taking someone down. I understand her as deeply flawed, as working through a lot, as having come a long way. It’s just that I s’pose I feel I know her sisters, hubby Steve, and her two children by now given how very many audiobooks I’ve listened to, and I don’t like hearing of them absolutely attacked and shredded. They seem like some incredibly awesome people to dismiss the destructive in her and to embrace the knowledge imparted/lived.

But ‘twould appear that they’ve all gotten used to her ways and do love and appreciate it; Brown tells the audience of a letter she received from an older daughter Ellen where Ellen says she’s learned what it means to be productive, loving, and successful all by watching her very own mother live the example. So that’s kinda nice, wouldn’t you say.

If you don’t have the book, or if you really enjoy, say, Brown’s TED talks because of her lively and personable manner, oh dooo get this book as the absolute primer on how to survive adversity, survive those in your environment, survive yourself.

Get this, the ultimate guide of how to craft your own story, complete with as decent an ending (that goes on and on, even unto death) as possible!

Trust me, Texans truly know how to tell tales!