I’ve realized that we gain wisdom and compassion when we let people tell their own stories. I invite you to pause in the next few days remaining in 2016 and listen to a moving, heartfelt and at times funny talk by someone who has walked the path. I hope it will give you as much new insight and inspiration as it had given me, or even more.

Brené Brown: Human Connection
“…Religion has gone from ‘I believe in faith and mystery’ to certainty–‘I’m right. You’re wrong. Shut up.’ This is what politics is today. There’s no conversation. There’s just blame. We try to perfect, most dangerously, our children. They’re hardwired for struggle when they get here. Our job is not to make them perfect. Our job is to tell them that they’re worthy of love and belonging…”
[ted id=1042]

Andrew Solomon: Identity and Meaning
“…We don’t seek the painful experiences that hew our identities, but we seek our identities in the wake of painful experiences. We cannot bear a pointless torment, but we can endure great pain if we believe that it’s purposeful…”
[ted id=2005]

Bryan Stevenson: Justice
“…We love innovation. We love technology. We love creativity…There is no disconnect around technology and design that will allow us to be fully human until we pay attention to suffering, to poverty, to exclusion, to unfairness, to injustice…Ultimately, our humanity depends on everyone’s humanity…”
[ted id=1378]