Belonging and Healing: Creating Awesomeness for Yourself and Others

By Dave Cornelius

Belonging is a basic human need. We all need to feel like we belong.

 

Ubuntu is an African spiritual healing journey followed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former South African President Nelson Mandela. In Belonging and Healing: Creating Awesomeness for Yourself and Others, Dr. Dave Cornelius draws upon this powerful

• Language: English
• Publisher: JCWALK Ministries
• Release date: Jul 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9780996393652

Book preview

BELONGING

I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go.

– Langston Hughes

WHY IS BELONGING IMPORTANT?

I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.

– Maya Angelou

We experience belonging when there is a sense of acceptance, inclusion, and identity within a specific group. Since birth, most humans have been guided to belong to our family and community. This behavior is not limited to humans but includes some mammals that are part of the animal kingdom. Harari (2015) describes belonging as an intimate community where people know each other well and depend on each other for survival. Homo sapiens banded together to create a community for survival and protection. Being separated from the community could mean death physically and socially. Losing a sense of belonging creates anxiety that often leads to personal suffering that has generational impacts. Scanning the annals of history, there is evidence of groups of people who were denied acceptance and inclusion in communities across the world. The native people of the Americas were stripped of their birth land and limited to reservations and extinction. Africans were stolen from their native lands and made slaves in Europe, the West Indies, and the United States. People of the Jewish faith were imprisoned and killed in the Holocaust. These atrocities are the results of denying human beings a sense of belonging.

In work environments that allow the individual to bring their authentic self to work, there is a genuine sense of belonging. My experience with people from other countries, where they are allowed to share culture through food and celebrations, is a sense of genuine belonging. When people feel they belong at work, their performance and personal lives improve. Creating genuine experiences of belonging for all is of critical importance to improving engagement and performance within the business environment. The outcome helps support business goals.

Twaronite (2019) developed the EY Belonging Barometer study to uncover how more than 1,000 employed adult Americans define belonging. The respondents reported the following when asked in what ways they belong (Twaronite, 2019):

56% of respondents feel they belong most at work when they feel trusted and respected, with baby boomers feeling this way the most at 63%, compared with gen Xers at 56% and millennials at 53%.

39% of respondents feel they belong most at work when they can speak freely and voice their opinions.

34% feel they belong most at work when their unique contributions are valued, with Caucasian respondents agreeing the most at 36%, followed by black respondents at 31% and Hispanic respondents at 27%.

Many people spend fifty percent or more of their waking hours in the work environment five days a week. The amount of time spent at work is more than we spend with our family, at our place of worship, and in our community during the work week. This is another reason why belonging is so important. Expressing an appreciation for the unique backgrounds that each person brings in the workspace will improve the psychological and physical well-being of our