The Brilliant Ink team is a big fan of Brené Brown and the list of reasons why is long. Like, really long.

She’s a mind-expanding, life-changing researcher, professor, author, and speaker to start. She’s also brave, courageous, authentic, and kind. But on top of all of that she brings each of those qualities to her storytelling – and as a group of communicators, that’s music to our ears.

So for no other reason than my unadulterated love and devotion to her, here’s a roundup of some of her best inspiration for writers, storytellers, communicators, and humans:

“Curiosity is a shit-starter. But that’s okay. Sometimes we have to rumble with a story to find the truth.”

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“'I’m not that creative’ is a profoundly dangerous myth. The only unique contribution that we will ever make in this world will be born of our creativity. We are makers.”

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“Maybe stories are just data with a soul.”

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“When we engage in dehumanizing rhetoric or promote dehumanizing images, we diminish our own humanity in the process.”

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“Do not think you can be brave with your life and your work and never disappoint anyone. It doesn’t work that way.”

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“There is no greater threat to the critics, cynics, and fearmongers than a woman who is willing to fall because she has learned how to rise.”

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“Unused creativity is not benign. It metastasizes. It turns into grief, rage, judgment, sorrow, shame.”

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“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weaknesses.”

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“Courage is a heart word. The root of the word courage is cor – the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant ‘to speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.’ Love hard. Be brave.”

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“Empathy had no script. There is no right way or wrong way to do it. It’s simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of ‘you are not alone.’”

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“Work or take pretty pictures of work? Procrastination is my biggest muse AND my biggest challenge. I think I’ll just call it ‘research.’”

Okay we're done.

If you haven’t gobbled up every one of her books already, check out her latest, “Braving the Wilderness.” For even more inspiration, check out her library to see what she’s reading.

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