“Only 4% of Americans host other people.”
In the sessions I attended at Aspen Ideas, belonging came up a lot.
Several speakers highlighted the crumbling of “inherited belonging” (think about the town, ethnic group, or faith community your ancestors were born into versus your own origin story). They argued that the need to “create” community intentionally is a recent and unusual proposition.
Continue reading “Individual Community Building”When we are transitioning to a new version of ourselves (or our organization is doing so), part of the struggle is figuring out where we now fit.
Last week, I referenced two strong books that focus on the “art and science of belonging.” A third one we discussed at Wiser by Choice on Friday is called The Courage to Be Disliked. Although I can’t recommend this title as strongly, this passage stood out for me: “A sense of belonging is something that one acquires through one own’s efforts — it is not something one is endowed with…” (p. 171)
Continue reading “Make an Effort to Belong”It’s book club week, and we’re talking about Belonging and Connection. I thought I’d give you a teaser here, because a couple of the books on this topic have taken up residence in my imagination.
Two of the titles we’ll be reviewing, by Jon Levy and Kasley Killam, both have “the art and science of connection” in their titles. Both are about the importance of “social fitness” as a powerful determinant of health, arguing we should pay it as much attention as we would to our physical and mental fitness. Levy writes, “The fundamental element that defines the quality of our lives is the people we surround ourselves with, and the conversations we have with them.”
Continue reading “Even Weak is Strong”
