If I can name “This is who I am and this is what I do,” I’m on the path to discovering my identity. 

If I can identify “This is who you are and this is what you do,” I can make accurate predictions about your behavior and better understand what to expect in our relationship. 

In the process of experiencing belonging with another, I internalize an understanding of “This is who we are and this is what we do.”  

As a global worker, in a cultural context different from my own, the path to belonging can feel extra challenging. 

Therefore, I’ve found Brene Brown’s description of true belonging to be both relevant and hopeful. 

“True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.” (Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience) 

When we learn to authentically be who we are and belong deeply to ourselves, we don’t have to look to others to affirm our worth or define our identity. By living with integrity, we can either stand alone in the wilderness or sit with others in community, filled with confidence of who God has created us to be. We best enter into any “we” relationship by first being fully “me.”

Within this framework of true belonging, we can learn how to adjust to a foreign culture without changing who we are at the core.

Brown goes on to say, “Because we can feel belonging only if we have the courage to share our most authentic selves with people, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.” 

Who, then, do we actually believe ourselves to be?

“For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].” Ephesians 2:10, Amplified