We judge people in areas where we’re vulnerable to shame, especially picking folks who are doing worse than we’re doing. If I feel good about my parenting, I have no interest in judging other people’s choices. If I feel good about my body, I don’t go around making fun of other people’s weight or appearance. We’re hard on each other because we’re using each other as a launching pad out of our own perceived deficiency.

One of the most painfully inauthentic ways we show up in our lives sometimes is saying "yes" when we mean "no," and saying "no" when we mean "hell yes." I'm the oldest of four, a people-pleaser - that's the good girl straitjacket that I wear sometimes. I spent a lot of my life saying yes all the time and then being pissed off and resentful.

Hope is really a thought.

Knowledge is important, but only if we're being kind and gentle with ourselves as we work to discover who we are.

I now see how owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.

It's hard to practice compassion when we're struggling with our authenticity or when our own worthiness is off-balance.

I became Vulnerability TED, like an action figure - like Ninja Barbie, but I'm Vulnerability TED.