When we fail to set boundaries and hold people accountable, we feel used and mistreated. This is why we sometimes attack who they are, which is far more hurtful than addressing a behavior or a choice.
Bren BrownRead
Numb the dark and you numb the light.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Suppressing pain also limits the ability to feel joy and light.
BrenΓ© Brown's quote highlights the interconnection between our emotions, suggesting that by trying to avoid or numb the darker aspects of our experiences, we inadvertently diminish our capacity to experience joy and positive emotions. To fully embrace the light in our lives, we must also allow ourselves to feel and confront the darkness.
Themes
EmotionsDarknessLightJoyPain
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about embracing vulnerability, one could use this quote to underline the importance of feeling all emotions.
More from Bren Brown
All quotes βPerfectionism is a twenty-ton shield that we lug around thinking it will protect us when, in fact, it's the thing that's really preventing us from taking flight.
Bren BrownRead
Social media has given us this idea that we should all have a posse of friends when in reality, if we have one or two really good friends, we are lucky.
Bren BrownRead
What we know matters but who we are matters more.
Bren BrownRead
Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we're supposed to be and embracing who we are.
Bren BrownRead
Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.
Bren BrownRead
Similar quotes
It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become prey to the active. The conditions upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt.
John Philpot CurranRead
Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.
Mark TwainRead
Those who have suffered much become very bitter or very gentle.
Will DurantRead
The weak are dominated by their ego, the wise dominate their ego, and the intelligent are in a constant struggle against their ego.
Hamza YusufRead
Some people hear their own inner voices with great clearness. And they live by what they hear. Such people become crazy... or they become legend.
Jim HarrisonRead
When you surrender and stop resisting and stop trying to change that which you can't change, but be in the moment, be fully open to the blessings you've already received and those that are yet to come and stand in that space of gratitude ... and look at where you are and how far you've come and what you've accomplished - when you can claim THAT and SEE that, the literal vibration of your life will change.
Oprah WinfreyRead