„The foundation of courage is vulnerability – the ability to navigate uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure.

When strengthening our back is our particular challenge, we are often driven by what people think. Perfecting, pleasing, proving, and pretending get in the way of the strong back. One way to strengthen our courage muscle is learning how put BRAVING into practice: Boundaries, Reliability, Accountability, Vault, Integrity, Nonjudgement, Generosity.

Speaking against power structures that keep some inside and others outside has a cost, and the currency most often drafted from my account is belonging. Consequently, the wilderness sometimes feels very lonely and punishing, which is a powerful disincentive.
But I’ve discovered something beautiful; the loneliest steps are the ones between the city walls and the heart of the wilderness, where safety is in the rearview mirror, new territory remains to be seen, and the path out to the unknown seems empty.
But put one foot in front of the other enough times, stay the course long enough to actually tunnel into the wilderness, and you’ll be shocked how many people already live out there – thriving, dancing, creating, celebrating, belonging.
It is not a barren wasteland. It is not unprotected territory. It is not void of human flourishing. The wilderness is where all the creatives and prophets and system-buckers and risk-takers have always lived, and it is stunningly vibrant. The walk out there is life.

The mark of a wild heart is living out the paradox of love in our lives. It’s the ability to be tough and tender, excited and scared, brave and afraid – all in the same moment. It’s showing up in our vulnerability and our courage, being both fierce and kind. A wild heart can also straddle the tension of staying awake to the struggle in the world and fighting for justice and peace, while also cultivating its own moments of joy.

A wild heart is awake to the pain in the world, but does not diminish its own pain. A wild heart can beat with gratitude and lean in to pure joy without denying the struggle in the world. We hold that tension with the spirit of the wilderness.
It’s not always easy or comfortable – sometimes we struggle with the weight of the pull – but what makes it possible is a front made of love and a back built of courage.
If we go back to the definition of true belonging, we can see that it’s built on a foundation of tensions and paradoxes: True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness.

True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.

And we feel the pull here again in our practices: People are hard to hate close up. Move in. Speak truth to bullshit. Be civil. Hold hands. With strangers. Strong back. Soft front. Wild heart.

The mark of a wild heart is earned in the wilderness, but there is also a daily practice that I learned from this that is critical to our quest for true belonging.
[…] Stop walking through the world looking for confirmation that you don’t belong. You will always find it because you’ve made that your mission. Stop scouring people’s faces for evidence that you’re not enough. You will always find it because you’ve made that your goal. True belonging and self-worth are not goods; we don’t negotiate their value with the world.
The truth about who we are lives in our hearts. Our call to courage is to protect our wild heart against constant evaluation, especially our own.

No one belongs here more than you.

You are only free when you realize you belong no place – you belong every place – no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great. […] There will be times when standing alone feels too hard, too scary, and we’ll doubt our ability to make our way through the uncertainty. […] This is when you reach deep into your wild heart and remind yourself:

I am the wilderness.“

Brené Brown: Braving the wilderness, non-accurately quoted