Quotes About Community

In our personal, social, and political worlds, we do a lot of screaming and finger-pointing, but we rarely hold people accountable. How could we? We're so exhausted from ranting and raving that we don't have the energy to develop meaningful consequences and enforce them.

Sometimes our first and greatest dare is asking for support.

We may not always have a sense of belonging on the recess playground or at a big, fancy conference, but in that moment we knew that we belonged where it mattered the most—at home.

Not only do moments of collective emotion remind us of what is possible between people, but they also remind us of what is true about the human spirit.

Practicing spirituality is what brings healing and creates resilience. For me, spirituality is about connecting with God, and I do that most often through nature, community, and music. We all have to define spirituality in a way that inspires us.

Belonging, on the other hand, doesn't require us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are.

Who has earned the right to hear my story?" If we have one or two people in our lives who can sit with us and hold space for our shame stories, and love us for our strengths and struggles, we are incredibly lucky. If we have a friend, or a small group of friends, or family who embraces our imperfections, vulnerabilities, and power, and fills us with a sense of belonging, we are incredible lucky.

Technology, for instance, has become a kind of imposter for connection, making us believe we're connected when we're really not—at least not in the ways we need to be. In our technology-crazed world, we've confused being communicative with feeling connected. Just because we're plugged in, doesn't mean we feel seen and heard.

Because we don't talk about the things that get in the way of doing what we know is best for us, our children, our families, our organizations, and our communities.

They want to be a part of something --to experience real connection with others-- but not at the cost of their authenticity, freedom or power.

When we come together to share authentic joy, hope, and pain, we melt the pervasive cynicism that often cloaks our better human nature. When we come together under the false flag of common enemy intimacy, we amplify cynicism and diminish our collective worth.

fitting in is one of the greatest barriers to belonging. Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be in order to be accepted. Belonging, on the other hand, doesn't require us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are.

At the same time sorting is on the rise, so is loneliness. According to Bishop, in 1976

Unchecked loneliness fuels continued loneliness by keeping us afraid to reach out.

Love and belonging are irreducible needs of men, women, and children. In the absence of love and belonging, there is always suffering.

Something as simple as starting or ending meetings with a gratitude check, when everyone shares one thing they're grateful

It doesn't matter if the group is a church or a gang or a sewing circle or masculinity itself, asking members to dislike, disown, or distance themselves from another group of people as a condition of "belonging" is always about control and power.

We're all just walking each other home." For

Women most often experience shame as a web of layered, conflicting, and competing social-community expectations. The expectations dictate who we should be, what we should be, how we should be.

Fitting in emerges as the primary barrier to belonging.

Belonging is being somewhere where you want to be, and they want you. Fitting in is being somewhere where you really want to be, but they don't care one way or the other. Belonging is being accepted for you. Fitting in is being accepted for being like everyone else. I get to be me if I belong. I have to be like you to fit in.

We can only belong when we offer our most authentic selves and when we're embraced for who we are.

Men and women who have a deep sense of love and belonging believe they are worthy of love and belonging.

They live inside of what is essentially one huge wearable. Everyone connected to everyone even when they shit.