selfie imperfection

« Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we’ll ever do. » Brené Brown

Brené, I wanted to share with you the story I posted yesterday for the Girl Effect Blogging Campaign created by Tara Mohr

Why Do You Always Write About The Girl Effect? You can read it here.

What had started as a genuine desire to contribute to spread the word and create a ripple effect to help girls realize their full potential has eventually given birth to sharing my own story and writing a gratitude letter to my parents.

When I see the big wave of kindness, support and gratitude this post has triggered, when I read the comments, the emails, the skype calls and the tweets, I know deep inside that it was the right thing to do.

My gratitude goes to all those who read my story and added a few words to say they cared and appreciated. It’s incredibly moving to see how words can reach hearts. Thank you, I was afraid of being too self-centered and to indulge into confessions. I was also thinking, who am I to talk about my childhood when the girls of the 21st century are living today, now and need food, shelter, security and love?

The truth is that I also spent an entire working day, between two seminars, writing, scanning old pictures, reading dozens and dozens of blogs, uploading videos, pictures, pasting links, editing, dreaming, crying, copying and pasting thousands of words, all day long. A day which could have been spent on invoices, administrative work, household tasks, writing « serious » business & leadership articles…

It could also have been dedicated to really listening and being there for my eldest daughter, Caroline, the one I’m mentioning in my post. She’s back from years of travel around the world. She’s 25 and learning to re-construct herself. She would hate that I disclose more about her here, publicly, so I won’t. Just to tell you that she kindly brought me a big warm mug of Tchai in the afternoon, when she thought I would be finished with my writing. I could see she wanted to talk with me. I thanked her, but ( tears rush to my throat as I’m writing this), I didn’t stop writing. I was too busy healing my own wounds. Ironic, isn’t it? There I was, blogging with the whole world about The Girl Effect, and I was not even available to take the tea with my own delicious, beautiful…and a bit lost and confused Girl! (Sorry for the lost and confused, I know you’re a  strong and confident young woman, who happens to be at a forkroad and could do with some support and time from her mom). I forgive myself for that. I think I showed her how important it was to face our fears, to talk our truth and to keep our commitments. As soon as I had pressed the « publish » button, I came to her and was there for her.

So here’s my « Trust Gratitude Inspiration Friday ».

I am worthy.

I am enough as a woman. I am enough as a mom. I am enough as a daughter. I am enough as a sister. I am enough as a spouse.

I am enough.

Thank you so much, Brené for investing your brilliant mind, your generous heart and your beautiful soul into researching and speaking about vulnerability, courage, authenticity and shame.

The title for this post is the name of one of one of the most powerful blog I have discovered.

Ordinary Courage has been created by Brené Brown.

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.

What is Ordinary Courage?

« The root of the word courage is cor—the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage literally had a very different definition than it does today. Courage originally meant “To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.” Over time, this definition has actually changed, and today, courage is synonymous with being heroic or performing brave deeds.

Heroics and bravery are important, but I think we’ve lost touch with the idea that speaking honestly and openly about who we and about our experiences (good and bad) is the ultimate act of courage. Heroics is often about putting your life on the line. Ordinary courage is about putting your vulnerability on the line. In today’s world, that’s pretty extraordinary. »

Wholehearted living is about engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness. It means cultivating the courage, compassion, and connection to wake up in the morning and think, No matter what gets done and how much is left undone; I am enough.

To learn more about brene and her work, her story, her books, DVD’s and beautiful badges, head on over to brene’s blog where she’s inviting you to share your stories of Trust Gratitude Inspiration Friday!

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