Summary

Chapter 10: Places We Go When the Heart Is Open:

Love - Brene Brown opens her chapter describing love which, primarily an emotion, is something that is not given or received but rather nurtured. Love, Brown states, is only cultivated “when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known….offering with trust, respect, kindness, and affection” (187). Love is damaged by blame, disrespect, betrayal, and shaming/the withholding of affection.

Lovelessness - In this section, Brown cites researcher bell hook whose book Teaching to Transgress describes how collective lovelessness has caused injustice and systemic oppression. Our country, in the words of hooks, “remain[s] unable to embrace a love ethic and allow it to guide behavior…doing so would mean supporting radical change…lead[ing] many citizens of our nation to betray their minds and hearts” (188).

Heartbreak - Heartbreak...