By Penny Power – Business Author & Human-Centred Speaker
This week, while we await the arrival of our first Grandchild, I came across a picture of the first time our three children were together as a whole, when Hannah and Ross met Tj, just after he was born. Instantly he was embraced and loved. Instantly a family.
Family is a beautiful thing, but not all of us have had a great start in our family lives and some seek family in other ways. The sense of family is also found in communities. Family is possibly the first community we experience, our first sense of belonging.
Our need to belong is so strong and provides us with our confidence, resilience and self worth.
Belonging not not just to one person, not just to a partner or a parent.
But to a group, a circle of people who see us, value us, and hold us as a significant part of their world.
I was reminded of this through a Christmas speech this year, by Catherine, Princess of Wales, who said:
“We are drawn by an instinctive pull towards belonging and connection.”
Her words stayed with me. They took me back to stories I’ve heard over the years, surprising stories that reveal something deep about who we are.
People who lived through wartime described it as one of the “happiest” periods of their lives.
Others remember the early days of lockdown with a strange fondness, the shared vulnerability, the sense of all of us being in something together, the quiet unity of neighbourhoods.
Of course, these weren’t easy times. But emotionally, something awakened in us.
We remembered that we need one another.
We remembered that we matter to one another.
Families who, despite the fear and disruption, look back with warmth on the unexpected togetherness, parents and children playing games, slowing down, rediscovering each other.
And beneath it all was this:
We became significant to one another again.
Not through achievement.
Not through scale or status.
But simply because we were there.
Together.
Wherever we are seen and valued, feel significant to others, not for productivity but for humanity we are experiencing community, a sense of belonging.
Maslow placed “love and belonging” as the third rung on the hierarchy of needs, something we reach for once our basic survival is taken care of.
That may have been true in his era.
But in today’s world?
I believe belonging is no longer optional.
It is foundational.
- The lone wolf doesn’t thrive, not emotionally, not mentally, not in business.
- Hybrid working has left many people isolated.
- Families communicate through screens.
- Phones interrupt presence.
- Individualism is celebrated, yet people feel emptier than ever.
So, as we move more deeply into this year, I would love you to ponder this:
- Where do you feel you truly belong?
- Who are the people who see you, beyond your roles and responsibilities?
- How can you show someone this week that they are significant to you?
- And what might change, in your heart, in your business, in your life, if you let yourself belong more fully?
Belonging is not a luxury.
It is our human oxygen.
And when we give it, we receive it tenfold.
have a marvellous week, from my heart to yours
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