At the very heart of belonging is spirituality — the deeply held belief that we’re inextricably connected to each other by something greater than us... rooted in love and compassion...
Brené Brown
Connected to Each Other
Topic: Spiritual Growth & Practice
“Well, when I started looking into belonging, and I started really wanting to understand the bones of belonging—what does it mean? How do we, from a researcher’s perspective—and probably my own personal armor, really—is: What are the data here? What exactly is happening here? And I think the first thing that was surprising to me is that at the very heart of belonging is spirituality—not religion, not dogma, but spirituality, and a very important, specific tenet of spirituality, which I believe cuts across faith and denomination and belief system. And by “spirituality” I mean the deeply held belief that we’re inextricably connected to each other by something greater than us. And that thing that is greater than us is rooted in love and compassion—that there’s something bigger than us and that we are connected to each other in a way that cannot be severed.”
Brené Brown
Humanism, Arts and Sciences
Braving the Wilderness
Brown, Brené. “Dr. Brené Brown - Strong Back, Soft Front, Wild Heart.” Edited by Krista Tippett, On Being with Krista Tippett, The On Being Project, On Being Studios, onbeing.org/programs/brene-brown-strong-back-soft-front-wild-heart-feb2018/.
Brené Brown
Resources
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Brené Brown on Belonging (continued from Context…)
“And so when I started to look at belonging, what I realized is that it is a spiritual practice, and it’s the spiritual practice of believing in ourselves and belonging to ourselves so fully that we find what’s sacred in not only being a part of something, like our DNA calls us to be, but also, we find sacred the need, on occasion, to stand alone in our values, in our beliefs, when we’re called to do that, as well. And so, to me, this idea of true belonging is a type of belonging that never requires us to be inauthentic or change who we are, but a type of belonging that demands who we are — that we be who we are — even when we jeopardize connection with other people, even when we have to say, “I disagree. That’s not funny. I’m not on board.””
— Brené Brown [Strong Back, Soft Front, Wild Heart—On Being with Krista Tippett].
Brené Brown on Spirituality [Excerpts]
I recorded an audio program for Sounds True titled, Rising Strong as a Spiritual Practice. Spirituality emerged as an important theme in the data I collected for Rising Strong…
This definition was first published in The Gifts of Imperfection. For some people, that power greater than us is God; for others, it’s fishing. Some are reminded of our inextricable connection by faith; others by expressions of shared humanity. Some find that religion is the best expression of inextricable human connection that is guided by love and compassion, and others believe that no entity has done more to corrode that connection than organized religion.
While diverse in practice, the definition of spirituality and the importance of it to the concepts of wholeheartedness and rising strong has withstood the test of new data. In Grounded Theory, a theory is only as good as its ability to work new data. This one has stood the test of time and emerged again as an important variable in the research on true belonging that I write about in Braving the Wilderness.
—Brené Brown [Defining Spirituality—brenebrown.com (March 27, 2018)].