Quote:
Originally Posted by comrademoomoo
People in this thread might be interested in this book:
Belonging – Remembering Ourselves Home, a book by Toko-pa Turner | Toko-pa's Official Website
I haven't finished it yet, but it explores our deep yearning to belong and how this is a part of the human condition. She speaks about belonging as something ancient and something which is more than having friends or volunteering, etc. It's a strangely reassuring and sad book. It looks at how we can belong and how we ostracize *ourselves*, as well as how we are cast out from the places where we should belong - family, community, etc.
So yes, I get the search for belonging. I think it's why I gravitate back to therapy even when I find my therapist painful. I yearn to belong and yet I am also fearful of it: the fake relationship with her is as much as I can manage. I push away from all of my personal relationships and whilst I still do this with her, I have to worry about it less. |
I have been wondering if people reading this thread, or other people generally, might be interested in trying a support group on the theme of belonging, our longing for it, and far too often our estrangement from it?
I had poor experiences with therapists but have had a good experience with a support group I lucked into about 7-8 years ago. It’s just a general support group – everybody in it was experiencing depression at the time.
There was a conflict among some members and it broke up after 6 years but 3 of us are still talking and I am talking separately with one other. The experience with these people has provided me with a glimmering sense of being accepted for myself that therapy never did, and therapy didn’t provide me with the ability to make friends that I felt a sense of belonging with on my own, either. I count myself very lucky.
I don’t know if an online group can duplicate any of the kind of group experience I have had but if anybody is interested I’m willing to try. I think we could set it up as a social group, assuming the administrators approve, and if it seems to work and people want to expand it, we could look into some video options.
I think we would need at least 3-5 people to start.
If you are interested, please respond on this thread or you can PM me if you prefer. Please also post any ideas you have about a potential group and what you would like to maybe help it work for you, to help you explore and develop your sense of belonging with other people, and on this earth.