Tag Archives: Daring Greatly

Daring Greatly With Art

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“It’s not the critic who counts. It’s not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled. Credit belongs to the man who really was in the arena, his face marred by dust, sweat, and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs to come short and short again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming. It is the man who actually strives to do the deeds, who knows the great enthusiasm and knows the great devotion, who spends himself on a worthy cause, who at best, knows in the end the triumph of great achievement. And, who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and cruel souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”  Theodore Roosevelt

This famous quote by Theodore Roosevelt was the inspiration behind the title of author and researcher Dr Brené Brown’s latest book Daring Greatly.  Daring Greatly encourages us to show up, to let ourselves be seen, to try even when we are not sure if we will succeed and to be willing to be vulnerable.  Based on 12 years of research, Dr Brown argues that it is by embracing our vulnerabilities and imperfections, by choosing to live wholeheartedly that we find the courage to fully engage in our lives. The risks and emotional exposure which we all experience daily are what it takes to be vulnerable and to dare greatly.  Dr Brown argues that vulnerability is not weakness, on the contrary it requires great courage. Instead of asking ourselves the question “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”, we should ask ourselves “What is worth doing even if I fail?”

“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage.Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness.”  Brené Brown

In addition to writing The Happiness Experiment blog and running my translation business, I am also a mosaic artist and, with Brené Brown’s sound advice ringing in my ears, I recently decided to submit my work to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition along with a printmaker friend Suman Gujral.   (Suman also had the courage to appear in The BBC Culture Show Programme about the Summer Exhibition which aired on television this week.) Over 12,000 artists courageously submit their work to this open competition every year and around 1000 works are selected for display in the exhibition.  Neither of us were selected.

In The BBC Culture Show Programme art critic Alastair Sooke asks what makes someone an artist and why do they do it? Where does the compulsion to create come from? For some the compulsion to create enables them to lose themselves in their creative pursuits, others are compelled to create just for the love of it and would do so regardless of physical surroundings or challenging personal circumstances. (Try Happiness Experiment No 11: Go with the flow.) Many participants in the Summer Exhibition have submitted work year after year in the hope of being selected.

Despite the fact that my work was not selected, I found participating in the competition a hugely inspiring and exciting experience. When handing in my creative efforts to The Royal Academy for scrutiny by this year’s emminent judging panel of experts, I was really touched by the sheer outpouring of creative activity coming from such a broad range of people.  I was impressed not only by the fact that so many people were attempting to express themselves creatively, but also by the fact that so many were willing to be judged for their efforts. Both the artists who were not selected for the exhibition and those who are fortunate enough to have their work on display from in the Summer Exhibition from 10th June – 18th August have to be willing to run the gauntlet of criticism.  Facing up to the critics and the potentially vitriolic reviews of the Summer Exhibition, such as the article recently published by art critic Brian Sewell in the Evening Standard, takes a special kind of courage and in my view that courage should be celebrated.

After watching the recent The BBC Culture Show Programme I have also been pondering the question of what art is for and why artists create? I used to think that art was the domain of the select few whose innate creative talent, honed over years of training and practice, allowed artists to create beautiful works of art for our pleasure and entertainment.  After recently taking a drawing class at the V&A Museum with Sketchout, I realised that great artists not only have outstanding creative and technical ability but above all they have the ability to really see. One of my tutors at The Hampstead School of Art recently told me that art is less about what the artist sees and more about what the artist enables others to see.

Una Tazza di Te

‘Una Tazza di Te’ by Anita Klein

I think the ability to make other people see is a wonderful definition of what art is about, and the truth of this definition became obvious to me when I visited the private view of Anita Klein’s new paintings at Eames Fine Art Gallery in Bermondsey St last night. As an established and highly respected painter and printmaker, Anita Klein has her own very unique style and voice. Although I was impressed by both the originality of Anita Klein’s beautiful paintings and prints and by her technical ability this is not the what resonated with me most.  It struck me last night when observing Anita Klein’s work that her art is both the perfect embodiment of someone who is willing to dare greatly and to be vulnerable. Her ability to help us see the possibility of happiness in life’s small moments, from enjoying the simple pleasure of a cup of tea to sharing a tender moment with loved ones, is a wonderful reminder of what life is really about.  The cost of Anita Klein’s paintings ranges from £900 to £9000 and I’m sure her exhibition, which runs from 13th-19th June, will be a success. On the one hand the cost of purchasing an original painting or print is not within everyone’s pocket but I would encourage you to visit the exhibition nevertheless.  On the other hand, the value of realising that happiness is within everyone’s grasp if only we chose to savour and appreciate what we already have is priceless. The ability to remind us of this fact is, in my opinion, the real talent of Anita Klein.

Would I apply to the  Royal Academy Summer Exhibition again having been rejected this year?  Absolutely! It is not the critic who counts.

Posted by Shona Lockhart on 13th June 2013

 

Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

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Brené Brown talking about her new book Daring Greatly.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”  US President Teddy Roosevelt

This quote, taken from a speech by  US President Teddy Roosevelt, is the inspiration behind the title of Brené Brown’s new book Daring Greatly.  I was fortunate to be at the UK launch of her latest book on Monday night at Conway Hall in London which took place at an event organised by the School of Life.

The sell-out event took the form of a conversation between Brené Brown and Roman Krznaric, a founding faculty member of the School of Life.  Roman had prepared many questions to put to Brené but as she is such a wonderful story teller, conversation flowed very easily and Roman ran out of time to ask all the questions he had prepared.  One of the endearing features of listening to Brené talk is the fact that she is very willing to share her own vulnerabilty and to share stories from her own personal life and experiences.  She openly admitted at the beginning of the conversation that as a Texan she was nervous about talking to a crowd of British people famous for their stiff upper lip, but as the conversation unfolded her genuine charm, sense of humour and honesty disarmed the audience and culminated in a standing ovation from the crowd at the end of the evening.

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So who is Brené Brown and what is so special about her?  Here is the bio from her own website:

Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She has spent the past decade studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame.

Brené is a nationally renowned speaker and has won numerous teaching awards, including the College’s Outstanding Faculty Award. Her groundbreaking work has been featured on PBS, NPR, CNN, and has appeared in The Washington Post,Psychology Today, and many other national media outlets.

Her 2010 TEDxHouston talk on the power of vulnerability is one of most watched talks on TED.com, with approximately 5 million views. She gave the closing talk, Listening to Shame,  at the 2012 TED Conference in Long Beach.

Brené is the author of the forthcoming book Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (Sept. 2012). She is also the author of The Gifts of Imperfection (2010), and I Thought It Was Just Me (2007).

In 2007, Brené developed Connections, a psychoeducational shame resilience curriculum that is being facilitated across the nation by mental health and addiction professionals. The Connections Certification process was launched in 2012.

Brené lives in Houston with her husband, Steve, and their two children.

This bio gives you the basic facts but does not convey how well Brené connects with an audience (even a British one) and leaves everyone feeling inspired and uplifited.  Her natural warmth and honesty shine through and as her conversation is backed up by over a decade of serious research in her field she is definitely someone worth listening to. The topics of shame, worthiness and vulnerability are not easy ones and many would prefer to sweep such concepts under the carpet.  By giving voice to these topics and to previously unspoken experiences through her own unique blend of humour, research and storytelling, Brené demonstrates the importance of recognising feelings of shame and unworthiness and of accepting that we are not alone in having these feelings from time to time.  Equally, she argues, it is by being willing to show our vulnerabilty that we are able to experience life to the full rather than building a wall to avoid feelings of discomfort.

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Brené has subtitled her new book Daring Greatly, How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. She explains in her book why expressing our vulnerability is not a sign of weakness but of courage and may be one of the most daring acts we can make.

Brené Brown talking at TEDx Houston 201O: The Power of Vulnerability

Here are some quotes from Daring Greatly:

“Vulnerability is not weakness, and the uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure we face every day are not optional. Our only choice is a question of engagement. Our willingness to own and engage with our vulnerability determines the depth of our courage and the clarity of our purpose; the level to which we protect ourselves from being vulnerable is a measure of our fear and disconnection.” 

“When we spend our lives waiting until we’re perfect or bulletproof before we walk into the arena, we ultimately sacrifice relationships and opportunities that may not be recoverable, we squander our precious time, and we turn our backs on our gifts, those unique contributions that only we can make,” says Brown. “Perfect and bulletproof are seductive, but they don’t exist in the human experience.”

“Worrying about scarcity is our culture’s version of post-traumatic stress. It happens when you’ve been through too much, and rather than coming together to heal (which requires vulnerability), we’re angry and scared and at each other’s throats.”

“I define vulnerability as uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure. With that definition in mind, let’s think about love. Waking up every day and loving someone who may or may not love us back, whose safety we can’t ensure, who may stay in our lives or may leave without a moment’s notice, who may be loyal to the day they die or betray us tomorrow — that’s vulnerability.”

“We judge people in areas where we’re vulnerable to shame, especially picking folks who are doing worse than we’re doing. If I feel good about my parenting, I have no interest in judging other people’s choices. If I feel good about my body, I don’t go around making fun of other people’s weight or appearance. We’re hard on each other because we’re using each other as a launching pad out of our own perceived deficiency.”

“Raising children who are hopeful and who have the courage to be vulnerable means stepping back and letting them experience disappointment, deal with conflict, learn how to assert themselves, and have the opportunity to fail. If we’re always following our children into the arena, hushing the critics, and assuring their victory, they’ll never learn that they have the ability to dare greatly on their own.”

 

Brené Brown talking at TED: Listening to Shame

Brené Brown’s new book Daring Greatly is now available to purchase. You can download her Manifestos for Parenting and Leadership and also her reading guide to accompany the book.

Posted by Shona Lockhart, 5th October 2012