IAM FEELING PLENTY VULNERABLE, with publication date for “And I Shall Have Some Peace There” less than a month away. Three years into this “new” life, I a lot of what my days have been about so far is being at once vulnerable, afraid, and also wildly excited–and trying to wrangle that Hydra of feelings so that the latter doesn’t get choked to death by the first two. I first watched this TEDxHouston talk by Dr. Brene Brown last fall, and stashed it away for a refresher course right about now.

Dr. Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate School of Social Work focusing on sometimes-gnarly topics like vulnerability, courage, authenticity and shame, is the author of “The Gifts of Imperfection: Letting Go of Who We Think We Should Be and Embracing Who We Are” (Hazelden, 2010). You can get a good introduction on her blog, which is well-named Ordinary Courage [dot] com.

To learn more about TED, a nonprofit dedicated to “ideas worth spreading,” and its affiliated TEDx satellite conferences, visit its website, once of my regular haunts (as we’ve talked about before).