wholeheartedness: a short study on daring greatly

I've always been a skeptic about what I call  "fluff" psychology. I didn't think it possible to find an academic who studies matters of the heart. While I'm a bonafide "feeler" according to Meyers Briggs, I'm also addicted to the scientific process. It's the journalist in me that requires all "facts" backed up with valid research references.

Enter Brene Brown, author of Daring Greatly, whose dissertation included what it takes to live wholehearted-- a lifelong pursuit of mine. In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brown defines ten guideposts for wholehearted living:

1. Cultivating Authenticity: Letting Go of What People Think
2. Cultivating Self Compassion: Letting Go of Perfectionism
3. Cultivating a Resilient Spirit: Letting Go of Numbing and Powerlessness
4. Cultivating Gratitude and Joy: Letting Go of Scarcity and Fear of the Dark
5. Cultivating Intuition and Trusting Faith: Letting Go of the Need for Certainty
6. Cultivating Creativity: Letting Go of Comparison
7. Cultivating Play and Rest: Letting Go of Exhaustion as a Status Symbol and Productivity as Self Worth
8. Cultivating Calm and Stillness: Letting Go of Anxiety as a Lifestyle
9. Cultivating Meaningful Work: Letting Go of Self-Doubt and "Supposed to"
10. Cultivating Laughter, Song and Dance: Letting Go of Being Cool and Always in Control

I followed this with a four page study of the translations of the word heart in the New Living Translation of the Bible, which shows seven different Hebrew and six different Greek translations of heart. When you compare these to the word wholehearted, it all comes back down to the inner man, the combination of the mind, will, understanding and the inclination or resolution to act on that.

This heart as the seat of appetites, emotions and courage renders Brene Brown’s research relevant from a scriptural point of view. There is no courage to dare or live wholly without an elemental understanding of the heart. Our emotions must be rooted properly, like a strong tree, in order for our courage to engage. This is why food has so many emotional ties. If we satiate our appetites too well, our heart becomes flaccid, just as poor nourishment grows shallow roots, and our courage will be empty. Interesting how this might be connected to America's infamous obesity crisis and a rampant rise among our youth in an inflated sense of entitlement.

If I'm reaching a bit too far in drawing parallels, challenge me. I think Brown is onto something that would change the way we live if we could just apply it. What do you think?