The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
The Gifts of Imperfection – When our embarrassments and fears lie, we often listen to them anyway. They thwart our gratitude, acceptance, and compassion—our goodness. They insist, “I am not worthy.” But we are worthy—of self-discovery, personal growth, and boundless love.
With Brené Brown’s game-changing New York Times bestseller The Gifts of Imperfection—which has sold more than 2 million copies in more than 30 different languages, and Forbes recently named one of the “Five Books That Will Actually Change Your Outlook On Life”—we find courage to overcome paralyzing fear and self-consciousness, strengthening our connection to the world.
A motivational and inspiring guide to wholehearted living, rather than just the average self-help book, with this groundbreaking work Brené Brown, Ph.D., bolsters the self-esteem and personal development process through her characteristic heartfelt, honest storytelling. With original research and plenty of encouragement, she explores the psychology of releasing our definitions of an “imperfect” life and embracing living authentically. Brown’s “ten guideposts” are benchmarks for authenticity that can help anyone establish a practice for a life of honest beauty—a perfectly imperfect life.
Now more than ever, we all need to cultivate feelings of self-worth, as well as acceptance and love for ourselves. In a world where insults, criticisms, and fears are spread too generously alongside messages of unrealistic beauty, attainment, and expectation, we look for ways to “dig deep” and find truth and gratitude in our lives. A new way forward means we can’t hold on too tightly to our own self-defeating thoughts or the displaced pain in our world. Instead, we can embrace the imperfection.
Book Review by MarcusARoyus
Let me begin by stating where I was coming from, when I picked this book up. I’ve spent 11 years in the Army and done quite a few combat deployments. Moreover, I had recently been dumped in my ‘perfect’ engagement by my fiancee who had been cheating on me with a male coworker. So, this ’emotional’ genre of reading isn’t usually my thing and my sense of worthiness was very injured. I initially avoided this book out of concern that it was one of many under-evidenced self-help titles.
Changing my mind on reading this was undoubtedly one of the best decisions I have ever made and I am a much better person for it. I don’t guarantee very much, due to my skeptical nature; but, I think I can guarantee that something in this book will profoundly change you. Perhaps this was done by Dr. Brown’s approach of confronting the ‘things that stand in our way’ of leading a ‘wholehearted life’. This is important because thoughtful people need to confront these things in order to overcome them and develop not just a positive mindset; but, a *realistic* one that doesn’t ignore the potentially negative cognitions that arise.
Some of my PROs and CONs follow. But, allow me to be clear: if you have just been dumped, divorced, or experienced a break-up, then I think this is a great book for you. Some other titles like to do half-baked analysis of what happened between you two. Some of those books are like your own, highly-biased pep talker (“she was all wrong for you”, “you’re better off, now”, etc.). While well-meaning, this can weaken you going forward. They sacrifice truth and accuracy for ‘feel-good’ support.
Much has already been said about this book, so I’ve avoided a super thorough review.
PROs
-well-organized content. topics overlap somewhat (of course), but they are introduced in the form of very manageable daily ‘guideposts’.
-content is qualitative research-based. I think this is the right approach, since qualitative research is well-suited to derive meaning from the experiences of people.
-writing style is down-to-earth, clear, and very humorous at times.
-the book is relatively inexpensive.
-the approach of tackling ‘obstacles’ of thinking that prevent wholehearted living.
-realistic expectations of the results of reading this book.
-comprehensive treatment of the elements of wholehearted living.
-the persuasiveness of pretty much every guidepost.
CONs
-for the uninitiated (read: myself), I thought that guidepost 8 wasn’t as clear in defining the concept of stillness.
-umm.. I’ll have to get back to you on this one.
I would like to conclude with a few things that convince me that something in this book has made profound changes. First, I grew-up with a very domineering father and reading this book has made me truly comfortable with him for the first time in my life. Second, I NEVER danced at a bar without having some ‘liquid courage’ to prime me. After reading, I danced several songs (badly, of course 😉 ) and truly enjoyed myself. Third, because of my balding, etc. I always felt a little too self-conscious to dare flirting with some very beautiful ladies that I’ve met. Not any more.
These are just a few thoughts, but I hope that they speak to someone out there.
Editorial Reviews
From the Author
Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston where she holds the Huffington Foundation—Brené Brown Endowed Chair at The Graduate College of Social Work.
She has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy and is the author of four #1 New York Times bestsellers: The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, Rising Strong, and Braving the Wilderness. Her newest book is titled Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.
Brené’s TED talk—The Power of Vulnerability—is one of the top five most viewed TED talks in the world with over 35 million views.
Brené lives in Houston, Texas with her husband, Steve, and their children, Ellen and Charlie.
About the Author
Brené Brown, Ph.D., L.M.S.W., is a member of the research faculty at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, where she studies how shame affects the way people live, love, parent, work, and build relationships. She is the author of I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t): Telling the Truth About Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power, and the new book The Gift of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are.