"Expanding Perception: If you cannot measure it, it does not exist."

"Embracing Discomfort in Social Work: One of the big sayings in social work is lean into the discomfort of the work."

"The Power of Connection: Because by the time you're a social worker for ten years, what you realize is that connection is why we're here. It's what gives purpose and meaning to our lives. This is what it's all about."

"The Paradox of Connection and Disconnection: So very quickly, really, about six weeks into this research, I ran into this unnamed thing that absolutely unraveled connection in a way that I didn't understand or had never seen. And so I pulled back out of the research and thought, I need to figure out what this is. And it turned out to be shame. And shame is really easily understood as the fear of disconnection. Is there something about me that if other people know it or see it, that I won't be worthy of connection? The things I can tell you about it, it's universal."

"Understanding Self-worth and Connection: And that was the people who have a strong sense of love and belonging believe they're worthy of love and belonging. That's it. They believe they're worthy."

"Discovering the Essence of Wholehearted Living: What they had in common was a sense of courage. And I want to separate courage and bravery for you for a minute."

"The Definition of Courage: The original definition of courage when it first came into the english language, it's from the latin word cur, meaning heart. And the original definition was to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart. And so these folks had very simply the courage to be imperfect. They had the compassion to be kind to themselves first and then to others, because, as it turns out, we can't practice compassion with other people if we can't treat ourselves kindly. And the last was they had connection. And this was the hard part. As a result of authenticity, they were willing to let go of who they thought they should be in order to be who they were, which is you have to absolutely do that for connection."

"Embracing Vulnerability: They believed that what made them vulnerable made them beautiful. They talked about the willingness to say I love you first, the willingness to do something where there are no guarantees, the willingness to breathe through waiting for the doctor to call after your mammogram, the willing to invest in a relationship that may or may not work out."

"Understanding Vulnerability: I lost the fight, but probably won my life back. And so then I went back into the research and spent the next couple of years really trying to understand what they. The wholehearted, what the choices they were making. And what are we doing with vulnerability? Why do we struggle with it so much?"

"Embracing Vulnerability and Self-Worth: 'I'm just so grateful because to feel this vulnerable means I'm alive... is to believe that we're enough. Because when we work from a place I believe that says I'm enough, then we stop screaming and start listening. We're kinder and gentler to the people around us, and we're kinder and gentler to ourselves.'"