Instaread - Rising Strong: by Brene Brown / Key Takeaways, Analysis & Review

Rising Strong

by Brene Brown

Summary & Analysis

By Instaread

Please Note

This is a key takeaways and analysis.

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Table of Contents

OVERVIEW

IMPORTANT PEOPLE

KEY TAKEAWAYS

ANALYSIS OF KEY TAKEAWAYS

Key Takeaway 1

Key Takeaway 2

Key Takeaway 3

Key Takeaway 4

Key Takeaway 5

Key Takeaway 6

Key Takeaway 7

Key Takeaway 8

AUTHORS STYLE

PERSPECTIVE

REFERENCES

Rising Strong: the Reckoning, the Rumble, the Revolution by Brene Brown is a book about the importance of people getting back up after they have fallen. But it is also a book about the way they should bounce back. The author has a specific approach to bouncing back that, if followed, will make those who rise again stronger from what they were before they stumbled.

She calls the three steps to her approach the Reckoning, the Rumble, or Owning Our Story, and the Revolution. The Reckoning is recognizing that people are feeling emotion from a fall and want to know where the emotion is rooted, where it is coming from. The Rumble is the step when people challenge the initial stories they have concocted about the fall and try to achieve the real truth of what happened. The Revolution is the step where people transform themselves and grow from what they learned from the fall.

Browns approach is for those who take a fall to examine the emotions that the stumble unleashed in them so they can try to understand what really caused the fall because those emotions often betray the real story. Those who suffer a fall make up their own account of what happened that does not reflect reality. For example, they may say that someone else caused their fall, and actually believe it. Or they may blame themselves when they were not at fault. Or they may even come up with a conspiracy theory about what was behind their fall.

Only after reflecting on the situation with an eye toward arriving at the truth of what happened can they come up with the correct story. Once they have that story, they need to use what they learned while coming to that realization to connect better with others and live a more wholehearted life, which is to be a better spouse, parent, and colleague. In other words, they need to emerge from the fall a better, more rounded, and more empathetic.

Brene Brown: The author of Rising Strong, is a University of Houston social work professor and psychology researcher. She tells a lot of stories about situations in her own life to illustrate key points in the book.

Steve Alley: Brene Browns husband, Alley is a pediatrician who figures prominently in many stories in the book. He often brings wisdom that helps Brown understand emotions she is feeling about situations she is involved in, or helps her arrive at a framework for understanding a situation.

Diana: Diana is Browns therapist. Brown often mentions her therapy sessions in the book when discussing personal epiphanies concerning her emotions.

Jean Kantambu Latting: Jean Kantambu Latting was one of Browns professors and dissertation advisors. Latting is one of the authors most influential mentors.

Claudia: Claudia had a rough experience with her alcoholic sister. Brown uses this situation to help teach her method of overcoming a fall.

Pamela: Pamela sent a hateful email to Brown, causing her to learn about shame during a therapy session.

Ellen and Charlie: Browns children, Ellen and Charlie, also figure in several of Browns stories in Rising Strong.

1. Everyone falls. People need to learn to rise again in a way that transforms them into more wholehearted people.
2. The Reckoning which is the first step in rising from a fall is recognizing the emotion connected with the fall, then trying to understand what the emotion means.
3. The Rumbling which is the second step in rising from a fall is examining the first story the person told themselves about why they fell and, if they made up the story, seeking the truth.
4. The Revolution which is the third step in rising from a fall is arriving at the real story about why the person fell, and using the story to help achieve a better connection with the world and a more wholehearted life.
5. A person should be generous toward others they initially might want to blame for their fall, believing they are doing the best they can with their life.
6. It is important to understand that a range of emotions may get in the way of arriving at the truth about why a person fell. Acknowledging and managing these emotions makes it easier for people to get to the truth.
7. It is also important, when seeking the truth of why a person fell, to understand that people bring their own prism to the assessment process, including the lenses of shame, perfectionism, values, and regret.
8. It is important that a person be ready to ask for help when they fall rather than trying to bounce back on their own.

Everyone falls. People need to learn to rise again in a way that transforms them into more wholehearted people.

Analysis

Many people show courage by taking on a difficult task or trying something they have never done before. Sometimes they succeed beyond their wildest dreams, with everything going as planned. Other times, they fall. How they emerge from the fall says a lot about who they will be in the future and whether they will continue their personal development. If they can understand what really caused the fall, even if obtaining the understanding is difficult, they will grow as a person.

Greg Mathis transformation from heroin dealer and gang member to judge and television show personality is an inspirational story of how to rise from a fall. Mathis drew up in a tough neighborhood of Detroit, and fell in with the wrong crowd. Before he was 17, he spent time in juvenile detention. Finally, one judge had enough. He ordered Mathis to get a high school diploma or go to prison. The ultimatum came just before Mathis learned his mother was dying of cancer. He promised her that he would get his life back on track. Mathis could have blamed others for the troubled person he had become, such as the police, the system, or the lack of a father. But he did not. He ended up getting a law degree and being elected the youngest judge in Michigan history. He then served many years as a Michigan Superior Court judge, a post from which he retired. Television programs featuring real judges had become popular in the United States with the show, Judge Judy. In 1999, a television production company asked Mathis to be the title judge on a show involving a small claims court format. Thanks to the show, Judge Mathis, his adept handling of cases, and the fact that he overcame a difficult childhood, made him a role model in the African-American community [1].