Magnificent mama, time to feed your soul. Find a comfortable space. Roll back your shoulders, stretch your neck and loosen your jaw muscles from the tension of the day. Now prepare for a truly special 30 minutes. Enjoy!
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About Brene
Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She has spent the past ten years studying vulnerability, courage, authenticity, and shame. Brené spent the first five years of her decade-long study focusing on shame and empathy, and is now using that work to explore a concept that she calls Wholeheartedness. She poses the questions:
How do we learn to embrace our vulnerabilities and imperfections so that we can engage in our lives from a place of authenticity and worthiness? How do we cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection that we need to recognize that we are enough – that we are worthy of love, belonging, and joy?
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 was the topic of two 2010 TEDx talks (Houston and Kansas City).
Brené is the author of The Gifts of Imperfection: Letting Go of Who We Think We Should Be and Embracing Who We Are (Hazelden, 2010) and I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t): Telling the Truth About Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power (Penguin/Gotham, 2007). She is also the author of Connections, a psychoeducational shame resilience curriculum that is being facilitated across the nation by mental health and addiction professionals.
Brené’s current research focuses on authentic leadership and wholeheartedness in families, schools, and organizations.
Brené lives in Houston with her husband, Steve, and their two young children, Ellen and Charlie.
You can learn more about Brené and her work here: www.brenebrown.com
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What did you think? Please share what struck you from this interview, your aha moments, your thoughts and your feedback– let’s get into conversation!
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Loving these interviews. Love that some of the moms are older, like me (38 when I had my first, 40 when I had my second). Love that some have been open about having breastfeeding issues – something I did not know could even be a possibility until I had my own very painful and heartbreaking struggles with my first child (much better 2nd time around, thanks!). Grateful for the honesty, the insights, and the inspiration in each interview. And grateful for the reminder not to judge / compare, because it would be so easy to go to the place of “she’s a martial artist AND a mom, with only 15 hours of childcare a week? I used to be a martial artist but don’t remember the last time I even went for a walk” – lol. Or, she does all that and I can’t even – - – - (you know, fill in the blank with the most mundane tasks), This is a great series, and a treat to look forward to each moening. Thank you!
Thank you Sharron…I’m grateful for you and your presence here!
Just finished listening to Brene Brown and the first interview with Renee Trudeau. These interviews are wonderful and such a gift. I loved the piece in Brene Brown’s interview about trying to be the type of adult you want your children to grow up to be and that who we are as human beings, and being transparent and honest about our own journeys, has such a profound impact on our children. What a powerful message and something I am going to really reflect on this weekend. I try to be honest with my children, to tell them I’m sorry and ask for forgiveness if I make mistakes or regret my behavior, and to be honest about the ups and downs of my life. They are still little (4 and 2) so I do this in an age-appropriate way but I’m sure it will only become more important as they grow and mature. Looking forward to catching up on the two other interviews from this week over the weekend and the other interviews in store!
Thank you for sharing the connection between how we love each other/how our children will love themselves; how we feel about ourselves/how our children will feel about themselves. Wonderful.
Another great interview! God, help me to model wholeness and love to my son!
Oh my! All of these honest, insightful and encouraging discussions have been great, but this is the one that hit home for me the most so far with so many points– the ideas about perfectionism, the idea of when to let the self-sacrificing go, the ideas about comparisons, the ideas about mid-life and reintegrating “former selves” and so much more.
When the interview came to a close, I wished it could keep going. I want more. Do an encore, please!
Thanks so much…wonderful interview with Brene- we all struggle so much with what was said , I feel a huge connection with Brene… You get me! and I get you!… thanks agian-
Brene is a true rockstar! What a find. Thank you Lisa for cueing her up!! My fav part of your interview was the truth about our ability to parent being only as “good” as our ability to be human. Your conversation with your daughter about your book review and her pony tail was touching. I’m finding the same type of conversation starting with my 4 year old daughter. Such an opportunity to teach them that we all struggle with doing what is best for us and others. Blessings!
I am a fangirl of Brene too!!! Thank you so much for including her in the MAPP Gathering! It is true, “this idea that we have children and we stop our journey and then our whole focus becomes putting them on the right track is mythology… they become who they watch us being as we are actually living our life.” And I love, love, love your question “when does self-sacrifice… an appropriate element of motherhood and when is it crossing the line of becoming counter-productive and stifling and actually limiting how I’m mothering in the first place?” It is a powerful question for us mothers to help us take a step back and reflect and get re-focused and energized
Beautiful! Thank you Lisa! Not only are your interviewees awesome, you are a gem too 
Wow- there was so much to really chew on in this interview, I know I will be listening to it again. Some of the points mentioned in the comments above were my favorite moments, too. I was really moved by the part about our children seeing us do life- because it’s a conversation I have had with my kids- that I am learning to mother, I am still “growing up” in a sense- I don’t have it all together and all worked out, and I know I don’t always get it right. (My oldest is 13, so these conversations go a little deeper now than when they were very little!) It has been my hope and prayer that this would give them the freedom to make mistakes, and not set such high expectations on themselves as I did when I was younger, to just be able to accept who they are. I was SO HAPPY to hear Brene say how powerful an influence that is, because while I can’t measure up to my old idea of the ideal mother, what I CAN do is be ME, figuring out life, with each new season at it comes. Thanks so much for these interviews, Lisa!
Brene has been my guide for the 2 years–I first heard of her when my husband’s client gave us her cd set “The Gift of Imperfect Parenting” and then I carried her book around with me for months (The Gift of Imperfection). So I was thrilled to see her included in the interviews! So much of what you talked about hit home for me–I’ve been reminding myself regularly of the notion: “you can’t give your kids what you don’t have”. It’s led me to work more deeply on myself so that I can parent from my heart and with love for myself and my family. Thank you for doing these interviews!