Atlas of the Heart

Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

by Brené Brown

Number of pages: 336

Publisher: Random House

BBB Library: Booklets

ISBN: ‎ 978-0399592553



About the Author

Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston where she holds the Huffington Foundation – Brené Brown Endowed Chair at The Graduate College of Social Work. She has spent the past sixteen years studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy.

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Editorial Review

In Atlas of the Heart, Brown takes us on a journey through eighty-seven of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human. As she maps the necessary skills and an actionable framework for meaningful connection, she gives us the language and tools to access a universe of new choices and second chances—a universe where we can share and steward the stories of our bravest and most heartbreaking moments with one another in a way that builds connection. Over the past two decades, Brown’s extensive research into the experiences that make us who we are has shaped the cultural conversation and helped define what it means to be courageous with our lives. Atlas of the Heart draws on this research, as well as on Brown’s singular skills as a storyteller, to show us how accurately naming an experience doesn’t give the experience more power—it gives us the power of understanding, meaning, and choice. Brown shares, “I want this book to be an atlas for all of us, because I believe that, with an adventurous heart and the right maps, we can travel anywhere and never fear losing ourselves.”

Book Reviews

Like her other self-help books, "Atlas of the Heart" teaches us to tap into our inner selves to embrace our emotions, honor our experiences, and use meaningful language to build deeper connections with others.

Atlas of the Heartincludes a few photos and illustrations, but Brown primarily describes it using the metaphor of a map or atlas, intending to help connect our emotions and experiences by providing “landmarks to orient us” and “language to label what we’re experiencing” (xxix).

Brené Brown is a #1New York Timesbestselling author, and this book will surely be as popular as any she has written. It is accessible, powerful, and packed with wisdom. Dr. Brown is one of our great contemporary spiritual teachers.

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Wisdom to Share

“Avoidance will make you feel less vulnerable in the short run, but it will never make you less afraid.”

“The near enemy of love is attachment. Attachment masquerades as love. It says, “I will love this person (because I need something from them).” Or, “I’ll love you if you’ll love me back. I’ll love you, but only if you will be the way I want.” This isn’t the fullness of love. Instead there is attachment—there is clinging and fear. True love allows, honors, and appreciates; attachment grasps, demands, needs, and aims to possess.”

“Choosing to be curious is choosing to be vulnerable because it requires us to surender to uncertainty. We have to ask questions, admit to not knowing, risk being told that we shouldn't be asking, and, sometimes, make discoveries that lead to discomfort.”

“In fact, research shows that the process of labeling emotional experience is related to greater emotion regulation and psychosocial well-being.”

“But those who are able to distinguish between a range of various emotions “do much, much better at managing the ups and downs of ordinary existence than those who see everything in black and white.”

The bittersweet side of appreciating life’s most precious moments is the unbearable awareness that those moments are passing. — MARC PARENT, Believing It All

Awe and wonder are essential to the human experience. Wonder fuels our passion for exploration and learning, for curiosity and adventure. Researchers have found that awe “leads people to cooperate, share resources, and sacrifice for others” and causes them “to fully appreciate the value of others and see themselves more accurately, evoking humility

As researcher and writer Sherry Turkle says, “Boredom is your imagination calling to you.

Maps are the most important documents in human history. They give us tools to store and exchange knowledge about space and place.

we find that what we regret most are our failures of courage, whether it’s the courage to be kinder, to show up, to say how we feel, to set boundaries, to be good to ourselves, to say yes to something scary.

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