Belong: Find Your People, Create Community, and Live a More Connected Life

This is excellent as an intro or as a refresher course on belonging. It is more of an inspirational art ride through the factors of belonging, with little artsy road signs pointing to additional directions and people to follow up on in any area. You land at the end feeling reconnected to the vision you had or a new vision to hold on to. I will keep this on my shelf for a long time - it will inspire me and inform anyone who picks it up, without being taxing or weighty, or too simple.

Ever felt like you haven't quite found your community yet, the place where you can fully flourish as the best possible version of you? No need to wait anymore. In "Belong", Radha Agrawal shows you how you roll your own.Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (1943) was pretty cool, but let's face it -- it could use an update. Radha does just that, putting belonging right at the bottom of the pyramid amongst humans' most basic needs. Especially in a world where most Americans live alone, have few to no confidants, and are disengaged from public service, connection is urgent medicine. As Jack Kornfield puts it, we are in the midst of a crisis of the heart. And the healing must come from us.To that end, Agrawal offers practical solutions for cultivating healthy relationships and creating communities of belonging. First, get to know yourself a little better and become aware of your Green Ego (kind) vs Red Ego (mean). Listen less to the Mean Girls of comparison, perfectionism and judgment; hang with the Soul Sisters of inspiration, gratitude and curiosity. Know your values, abilities, and interests. Cut out negative people from your life. Ban gossip. Show up.For me, the real gold of the book was in Agrawal's 6-step framework for intentional community building, followed by the CRAWL method. I have been attending Daybreaker events in 4 different cities since their inception 4 years ago, and they embody everything the book says. Core values, Ritual, Aesthetics, Why/What, Language: it totally works!I particularly appreciate Agrawal's sounding the alarm about how our supremely addictive devices are wrecking our relationships. Her antidote: be the F-Yeah Friend, the one who says "F-Yeah!" and shows up every time.This is an inspiring, honest, and practical manual for creating the kind of communities we all need and crave: ones that nurture our spirit. With heart and pragmatism born from deep experience, Radha gives us the roadmap. Read it and go make some new friends already.-- Ali Binazir, M.D., M.Phil., Happiness Engineer and author of  The Tao of Dating: The Smart Woman's Guide to Being Absolutely Irresistible , the highest-rated dating book on Amazon for 4 years, and  Should I Go to Medical School?: An Irreverent Guide to the Pros and Cons of a Career in Medicine

If you are either feeling like you don’t have enough friends or your friendships aren’t nourishing and supporting you the way you’d like, this book provides guidance on finding friends who will align with your values and interests, understand and accept you, and fill your emotional tank.If you’re interested in organizing a community, this book offers some practical steps to take and suggests some helpful questions to answer to help you design a sustainable community with a clear goal.The author provides some amazing statistics and health claims. For example, she noted that a study found that “Having poor social connections is as bad as being an alcoholic and twice as bad as being obese.” Unfortunately, she did not provide a citation for that study, so I was unable to refer to the original source to learn more.I liked the idea of getting to know yourself better so you can be intentional about choosing compatible friends and community. I love the sections discussing personal and community core values, and how by defining the core values and constraints of a community, “you know if it’s your thing, and if it’s not.” I also liked the idea of selecting your friends and designing your community as an act of “thoughtful energy curation.” I appreciated the helpful reminder that “Expectations are resentments waiting to happen,” as well as the suggestion to turn judgment into curiosity.I was less fond of the author’s invention of multiple new acronyms, which I had trouble remembering. Also, I think the book will probably appeal more to energetic young extroverts than middle-aged introverts like me who cringe at a phrase the author is fond of which includes a certain obscenity that Amazon reviews cannot reference.I was provided an ARC through NetGalley that I volunteered to review. Because I have not seen the final published version, I cannot comment on the final editing and formatting. However, the ARC had minimal proofreading errors, and the quirky formatting and graphics added charm and helped the book stand apart.

Stop hanging out with the wrong people doing things that don’t fulfill and energize you, and choose how you spend your time and who you spend it with. Find your FYFs — friends who are game for going deep, creating mischief, supporting you unconditionally, etc. Radha Agrawal is here to help you first understand yourself (your true self, not the self you project into the world, if they are different) then find the right tribe to go through life with. The book explains how Agrawal worked hard to find and expand a strong community of like-minded and like-spirited individuals, and she offers advice and interactive assignments that transform this book about self discovery and self love into a very tangible and highly productive guide to creating a much more fulfilling and enjoyable life for yourself.

After watch the Mindvalley talk with the author I decided to buy the book. I love it and it is easily written and great to refer back to.

I love this book, the creativity, the charts and the step by step encouragement. Smart, tender, honest and funny. Fill out the pages, follow the gentle pacing and encourage yourself back to your natural stream. Brilliant work on loneliness, community and what it means to belong

Really amazing book.

I loved it and my kiddo (aged 7) loved it too. Solid advice for everyone.

It’s all about the way we feel and the energy we bring!