Interesting Ephemera

Butterflies of Ideas

J’ai des amis à découvrir et beaucoup de choses à connaître Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Le Petit Prince Yesterday as I drove down the highway, I noticed ..

Author Pico Iyer on the great floating tribe & home

Pico Iyer’s TEDGlobal talk on the evolution of the meaning of home is a sonata to the idea of belonging and is particularly useful for those of us who are ..

Interesting Ephemera

How belonging makes you smarter

After months of working on my belonging project here in my fourth country, I’ve realized that belonging is fundamental to finding meaning in life. It’s such ..

Interesting Ephemera

Is technology limiting our sense of belonging?

I was at a writing workshop on the weekend and, over lunch, began chatting with a woman who has recently started dating again. Dating was an ugly beast when I ..

Interesting Ephemera

Loneliness, suicide & the exhausting work of belonging

I’m out of steam. But I’m not supposed to admit that am I? When people ask me how I’m doing, I’m supposed to say ”fine”. Since when did we ..

Interesting Ephemera

How connecting with birds gives us a sense of belonging

A few months ago, near the beginning of my year-long project in belonging, we hung a metal bird feeder off the balcony. My eight-year old daughter chose the ..

Interesting Ephemera

Meeting author Geoff Dyer, or, how brief encounters with strangers boosts our belonging

I’m now seven months into my study of belonging here in Australia, my fourth country. This month I’ll be focussing on Reaching Out. I’m trying to see the ..

Interesting Ephemera

How to make belonging contagious 2

”We cry out only when there is hope that someone may hear us.” Jean Vanier Becoming Human In my last post, I suggested we reach out and ..

Interesting Ephemera

One-third of people are lonely so let’s make belonging contagious

”Our survival depends on our collective abilities, not on our individual might.” John Cacioppo, TEDxDesMoines A woman from a US ad agency ..

Interesting Ephemera

Jean Vanier on weakness at the heart of belonging

”Belonging then is a school of love where we learn to open up to others and to the world around us, where each person, creature, and thing in our world is ..