Reflections 3rd April

Photo by Vino Li on Unsplash

On My Mind

Belonging

I've been thinking about belonging this week. As we move inexorably to hybrid working as a norm for many, and as we see demonstrations of relationships reflecting a range from the callous (P&O) to the inspirational (Ukraine) to the merely insensitive (NHS parking charges for staff) it begs the questions of where we feel at home.

Home, writes Stephen Jenkinson, ‘means more than having memories associated with a given place. It means learning again how you and those you love and admire – in every physical, metabolic, chemical, mythical and spiritual sense it can be meant – are made of the things that make the place you belong to. That is the alchemy of belonging.’ Being at home is not a feeling; being at home is a skill, maintains Jenkinson, who came to these conclusions after many years supporting people at the brink of death, having learned much from indigenous peoples about rootedness and a connection to ancestors and land.

Taken from Citi…