I've been thinking a lot recently about a subject that the American social worker and researcher Brené Brown tackles brilliantly in her work: vulnerability. Her view is that you cannot live a "wholehearted" life if you are full of defensiveness and shame, and if you don't open yourself up to vulnerability, which needs a lot of courage. Brown's examples are mostly from her experience in America, where she believes there is a widespread and deep-rooted culture of shame – the f