Manifesto of the Brave & Broken Hearted ~ Poem by Brene Brown
There is no greater threat to the critics and cynics and fearmongers, than those of us who are willing to fall.
Because we have learned how to rise.
With skinned knees & bruised hearts, we choose owning our stories of struggle.
Over hiding, over hustling, over pretending.
When we deny our stories, they define us.
When we run from struggle, we are never free.
So we turn toward truth & look it in the eye.
We will not be characters in our stories.
Not villains, not victims, not even heroes.
We are the authors of our lives.
We write our own daring endings.
We craft love from heartbreak, compassion from shame, grace from disappointment, courage from failure.
Showing up is our power.
Story is our way home. Truth is our song.
We are the brave & broken-hearted.
We are rising strong.
I fell in love with this poem this week. To me it just seems so right for our time so I very much hope that it strikes a chord with you, whatever your current situation and however you are feeling about the latest covid changes in your area. On the one hand we have hope that enough people have been vaccinated to keep the virus under control as the restrictions are lifted and on the other we have mixed emotions of excitement and perhaps some anxiety about what that will mean for us.
Many of us have found that life has given us more ‘skinned knees and bruises’ than usual over the past 18 months with the experience of covid and the way that it has affected us.
In making our personal choices about how to manage the situation, we are very much writing our own daring endings. I pray that you will find that though you may feel like one of the broken-hearted in this situation, that you are also rising strong. If you think talking about this or anything else would help to explore ways of fostering a sense of peace and calm in your lifestyle our chaplains are happy to listen.
You can find them on Mondays and Wednesdays in the outdoor areas near the duck pond and the woodshed weather permitting.
In the meantime, on the rainy days, or if you don’t manage to catch up with a chaplain outside, as always you can contact us via email on info@mitechaplaincy.com where you can request a call-back, or you are very welcome to call me directly on my mobile: 07526 378529 either to chat or to arrange a time to meet.
Debbie
We also have a range of resources on our web-site including some that are more specific to the Covid-19 outbreak and some that generally help in dealing with stress: https://mite.org.uk
If you prefer you can easily keep in touch with us on social media: Facebook: @mitechaplaincy Twitter: @mitesthwarr
