Unlocking Us with Brené Brown

We’re back, and we are starting the year with a deep dive into values. I’m not a fan of resolutions, but I absolutely believe in the power of resetting. I can’t think of a more powerful way to double down on ourselves than getting clear on our values and the behaviors that support them — and the shit that gets in the way. Join us as Barrett and I talk through a values exercise PDF that we made for...

It’s Part 2 of our two-part episode crossover from our other podcast, Dare to Lead with James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, which has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 50 languages. In Part 1 of our series, we talked about building systems to create habits, and in this episode, we talk about how and why habits are atomic and how to build a habit or brea...

This week, Unlocking Us is going to Dare to Lead! Even before James Clear and I met, I knew this would be a two-part series. I just had so many questions for the author of Atomic Habits, which has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 50 languages. Not surprisingly, this turned out to be exactly the type of conversation I’d anticipated. In Part 1 of our serie...

We asked for your Atlas of the Heart questions and, man, did you deliver. More than 1,500 questions poured in. So, in this final episode of our Sisters Book Club, Ashley, Barrett, and I answer as many questions as we can, tackling how emotional literacy affects self-awareness, how family patterns affect emotions, and how emotionally intense moments affect our decision-making. We also discuss the p...

It’s Part 2 of the three-part Sisters Book Club series, where Ashley and Barrett turn the tables and interview me about Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience. We dive into the specific findings on some of the 87 emotions and experiences covered in the book. And they ask me the podcast rapid-fire questions — including my top five songs. Plus, they in...

In this first episode of a three-part Sisters Book Club series, Ashley and Barrett turn the tables on Brené and interview her about her new book, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of the Human Experience. They ask all the questions we want to know, and they pull no punches—starting with stories about childhood superpowers, to matters of biology, biography, behavior...

I wanted to share with you a talk that I did at UCLA’s Royce Hall for Oprah’s Super Soul sessions where I uncovered the fundamentals of trust. What is trust? The data says there are seven parts of trust, and we organize these into the acronym BRAVING. Breaking down the anatomy of trust into specific behaviors allows us to more clearly identify and address breaches of trust. I love the BRAVING chec...

In this episode, I’m talking with Lukas and Willie Nelson about their new album, The Willie Nelson Family, a collection of country gospel–flavored songs performed by the Nelson Family Band and recorded at Willie’s Pedernales Studios — where we recorded this podcast — just outside Austin. We talk about faith and family, music as church, and love — and how it’s really all tied together. We also talk...

It’s Part 2 of our two-part series with Karen Walrond, writer, activist, and longtime friend. We are talking about her new book, The Lightmaker’s Manifesto: How to Work for Change without Losing Your Joy. In Part 1, we talked about activism and how it shows up in our daily lives. And in this episode, we talk about the connection between activism and spirituality. We talk about listening to the whi...

This week, I’m talking to Karen Walrond, writer, activist, and longtime friend of mine about her new book, The Lightmaker’s Manifesto: How to Work for Change without Losing Your Joy. This is the right book for the right time. Activism is such a big and often intimidating concept, and Karen breaks it down into small, intentional, and integrated acts that create a joyful life. We talk about how we m...

I’m talking with singer-songwriter, activist, and artist Jake Wesley Rogers, whom I discovered on TikTok. It was love at first listen — and I mean, I fell madly, truly, deeply in love with him and his art, as well as how it made me feel, how it made me dance, and how it made me sing. He takes me to church. His songs are relatable and universal, he is pure light and love, and I cannot wait for you...

OY! It’s our first LIVE Unlocking Us, recorded at ACL Fest in Austin, Texas. I asked Brett Goldstein — writer, comedian, producer, and Emmy Award–winning actor — to join me onstage for a conversation. We talked about the vulnerability and humanity behind comedy, we talked about the band we’d create, we talked about the Muppets — and we talked about why everyone loves his character Roy Kent and all...

I am back with my sisters, Ashley and Barrett, to do a follow-up on the Summer Sister Series on The Gifts of Imperfection. We received a lot of questions in the comments after the six-episode series, so I’ve pulled my sisters back in to seek some answers. We are also knee-deep in life stuff right now, so we open up about our own struggles with some of the topics in question, including running away...

I’m talking with first-time authors and longtime podcasters — and even longer-time friends — Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman. We’re talking about their book, Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close, and why the lack of meaningful, intimate, vulnerable friendships is almost a crisis right now. One key learning for me is how many of us believe that friendships should be easy and require little ef...

Sarah Niles plays respected sports psychologist Dr. Sharon Fieldstone on Ted Lasso — and I just want to let you know that we have worked very hard for no show spoilers at all. It’s just a great conversation about where she came from, what she believes in, and the story of how she ended up as this central and pivotal character on one of our favorite shows. This is one of those podcasts where if you...

I’m talking to Esther Perel, psychotherapist, New York Times bestselling author, and podcaster, about relationships in the pandemic and beyond. She blew my mind around some patterns that Steve and I have discovered over the past months in lockdown. We also talk a lot about paradox and straddling the tension of two competing ideas that can both be true. It’s maddening and inspiring. And you’ll hear...

I’m talking to my dear friend Tarana Burke about her new memoir, Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement. Her book is beautiful, hard, and breathtaking. Tarana is unflinching in her storytelling. As she takes us on the journey that transformed her life and the world, we can feel our own transformation happening. The person who starts this book is not the person who fin...

It’s the final episode of our six-part Summer Sister Series on The Gifts of Imperfection with my sisters, Ashley and Barrett, and we finish strong with the last of the Guideposts, #9 and #10 (Cultivating Meaningful Work: Letting Go of Self-Doubt and “Supposed To” and Cultivating Laughter, Song, and Dance: Letting Go of Being Cool and “Always in Control”). We talk about how doing meaningful work co...

In this second-to-last episode of the Summer Sister Series on The Gifts of Imperfection, I have a couple of in-real-time revelations: namely that I suck at cultivating quality rest and play (a.k.a. Guidepost #7). Thankfully, on the flip side, I’ve gotten pretty good over the years at cultivating calm and stillness (thank you, 5-mile-long daily walks) and letting go of anxiety as a lifestyle (Guide...

This might just be the toughest, most personal episode yet in the Summer Sister Series on The Gifts of Imperfection. As Ashley, Barrett, and I tackle Guideposts #5 and #6 (Cultivating Intuition and Trusting Faith: Letting Go of the Need for Certainty and Cultivating Creativity: Letting Go of Comparison), we reflect on our upbringing, which was marked with uncertainty, unpredictability, and plenty...

We’re at the halfway mark of our six-episode Summer Sister Series on The Gifts of Imperfection, and this week, we dig into Guideposts #3 and #4 (Cultivating a Resilient Spirit: Letting Go of Numbing and Powerlessness and Cultivating Gratitude and Joy: Letting Go of Scarcity and Fear of the Dark). Ashley, Barrett, and I look at our lives post-COVID and talk candidly about the ways we’ve numbed over...

It’s Part 2 of our six-part Summer Sister Series on The Gifts of Imperfection, with my sisters, Ashley and Barrett. In this episode, we start with Guidepost #1 (Cultivating Authenticity and Letting Go of What People Think) and move into Guidepost #2 (Cultivating Self-Compassion and Letting Go of Perfectionism). Practicing authenticity — and, yes, it is a daily practice — is really connected to bou...

Join me and my sisters, Ashley and Barrett, for Part 1 of our six-part Summer Sister Series on The Gifts of Imperfection. In this episode, we start with the Introduction, go over the 10 Guideposts, and talk about our personal Wholehearted Inventory scores. Surgeon General’s Warning: This is about as real as it gets. Equal amounts laughing, hard conversations, surprising revelations, and cussing. A...

I’m talking to writer, teacher, and scholar Dr. Clint Smith about his new book, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America. We talk about the history of slavery in this country and how we approach, excavate, recognize, and react to that history — and how we have a responsibility and accountability to get the story and the history right. Because when we can be ho...

In this episode, I’m talking to writer Ashley C. Ford about her new memoir, Somebody’s Daughter, and how it is written for everyone who walks into a bookstore and feels like they can’t find a book about themselves — and there are a lot of us looking for that. We talk about the writing process, the truth-telling process, and how connecting the two can be liberating not only to us but also to others...