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Lesson Objectives
- Identify 1-2 potential barriers to engagement in the course and begin to develop strategies to deal with those barriers with a permission slip exercise.
- Explore the ten primary vulnerabilities associated with falling and the related rising strategies.
- Learn why we are neurobiologically wired for story and how understanding the basic structure of a story aids us in our own rising process.
- Choose a story of struggle to explore in this course and use as a learning tool.
Reading Assignment – Rising Strong
Note on Research
Introduction
Chapters 1, 2, and 3
Introduction Video
Lesson Video – The Physics of Vulnerability
The Man in the Arena
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.”
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood … who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly …”
Theodore Roosevelt
Exercise One – Permission Slips
This is a great time to revisit the concept of permission slips. Now that we’ve worked our way through Daring Greatly, you have a better sense of what you might need to finish strong! Add to your existing permission slips or start a new stack.
Fill out your permission slip Post-It note. (This will show up as a Post-It note in your workbook.)
And just a reminder: You’re welcome to write more than one permission in the same field.
Exercise Two – The Physics of Vulnerability
1. If I am brave enough, often enough, I will fall; this is the physics of vulnerability.
2. Once I fall in the service of being brave, I can never go back.
3. This journey belongs to no one but me; however, no one successfully goes it alone.
4. I’m wired for story.
5. Creativity embeds knowledge so that it can become practice. I move what I’m learning from my head to my heart through my hands.
6. Rising strong is the same process whether I’m navigating personal or professional struggles.
7. Comparative suffering is a function of fear and scarcity.
8. I can’t engineer an emotional, vulnerable, and courageous process into an easy, one-size-fits-all formula.
9. Courage is contagious.
10. Rising strong is a spiritual practice.
This may be a great time to revisit permission slips!
Exercise Three – The Story Acts
Story is central and I learned much about STORY from PIXAR.
“Story is the big picture.
Story is process.
Story is research.
STORY IS KING.” – Pixar
The Three Acts of a Story
Act 1
The character faces or is confronted by a challenge and accepts that challenge. The rules of the world are established, and the end of Act 1 is the “inciting incident.”
Act 2
The character looks for every comfortable way to solve the problem. By the climax, s/he learns what it’s really going to take to solve the problem. This act includes the lowest of the low.
Act 3
The character needs to prove s/he has learned the lesson, usually showing a willingness to prove this at all costs. This is all about redemption—an enlightened character knowing what to do to resolve a conflict.
Choose a favorite story from a movie, TV show, book, or fable.
Act 1:
Does the character deny the problem? Blame someone else? Avoid the issue? Look for an easy answer? Fall apart? Run? Shut down? Get angry?
What happens that forces the character to finally turn toward the problem and face the challenge?
Act 2:
The Story Rumble Glossary can be found in the Lesson Files below.
Act 3:
If the definition of vulnerability is uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure – how did your character face and handle these experiences?
Identify one or two values that drive and inspire your main character.
Exercise Four – Identify Your Fall
“When we deny our stories, they define us; when we own our stories, we get to write the ending”
Brené Brown
Pick a story of struggle that you want to explore.
Remember, a fall can be a small moment, a painful conversation, a big failure, or a growing disappointment. The important thing is to be specific. Capture the moment in detail. Also, be sure to only talk about the moment of your fall – don’t try to figure out the ending.