Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash
A community is so much more than people sharing a space. It's a living, breathing network of connections and shared experiences. While it's usually defined as “a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common,” true community runs much deeper than that.
Diversity
It doesn’t matter how different we are. What matters in building a community is the desire to live in a peaceful and caring environment, despite all our differences.Good Neighbors
Good Neighbors
When searching for a new place to call home, we hope to stumble upon neighbors who can transform a neighborhood into something meaningful. We all need to be surrounded by people who genuinely care for the well-being of others. Only this type of people can create a community that is more than just a bunch of individuals living next to each other.
It Starts with One
Building a strong community starts with individual contributions, no matter how small. As long as you are kind and willing to help others in need, you’ll be a great community member. In exchange, your community will give you a sense of belonging and the feeling that you are never alone.
Here are 35 quotes on what makes communities special — community service, coming together, engagement, involvement, and support
Quotes about community coming together
One of the marvelous things about community is that it enables us to welcome and help people in a way we couldn't as individuals.
JEAN VANIER
There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.
MARGARET J. WHEATLEY
We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.
HERMAN MELVILLE
There is immense power when a group of people with similar interests gets together to work toward the same goals.
IDOWU KOYENIKAN
Our generation has the ability and the responsibility to make our ever-more connected world a more hopeful, stable and peaceful place.
NATALIE PORTMAN
Quotes about building community
We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human race.
CICERO
Some people think they are in community, but they are only in proximity. True community requires commitment and openness. It is a willingness to extend yourself to encounter and know the other.
DAVID SPANGLER
What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.
KURT VONNEGUT
We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.
DOROTHY DAY
The minute we become an integrated whole, we look through the same eyes and we see a whole different world together.
AZIZAH AL-HIBRI
This world of ours… must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
Every person is defined by the communities she belongs to.
ORSON SCOTT CARD
Quotes about community service, engagement, and involvement
Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.
MUHAMMAD ALI
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
MAHATMA GANDHI
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
Teaching kids how to feed themselves and how to live in a community responsibly is the center of an education.
ALICE WATERS
Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless.
SHERRY ANDERSON
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
LEO BUSCAGLIA
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
ANNE FRANK
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.
DR. SEUSS
The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.
OSCAR WILDE
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
MAYA ANGELOU
Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.
JOHN F. KENNEDY
Quotes about community support
In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.
CORETTA SCOTT KING
The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers & cities; but to know someone who thinks & feels with us, & who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
Diversity is about all of us, and about us having to figure out how to walk through this world together.
JACQUELINE WOODSON
One of the most important things you can do on this earth is to let people know they are not alone.
SHANNON L. ALDER
No man can become rich without himself enriching others.
ANDREW CARNEGIE
Quotes about community health
The power of community to create health is far greater than any physician, clinic or hospital.
MARK HYMAN
For a community to be whole and healthy, it must be based on people’s love and concern for each other.
MILLARD FULLER
Communities and countries and ultimately the world are only as strong as the health of their women.
MICHELLE OBAMA
When elected officials abandon our environment and ruin our natural resources, public health is endangered. I know the importance of providing a clean environment for our children.
GWEN MOORE
And I believe that the best buy in public health today must be a combination of regular physical exercise and a healthy diet.
JULIE BISHOP
These quotes remind us of the joy of being part of something bigger than ourselves.
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The Sacred 3 Findings of Life: the 1%, the Tribe and the System
Life is all about discovery. It is sometimes the things we find within ourselves, and sometimes external. There are things we add to ourselves that make us better, and things that we remove to make us more authentic. In all of this findings, there are three crucial ones that we seek our entire life.
These three are the 1%, the Tribe and the System.
So let's get right into it.
The Sacred 3 Findings of Life: The 1%, the Tribe and the System
The 1%
We are mostly unaware that we are searching for our 1%. When asked what we want in life, we respond with, "love, happiness, success." But how we get these things often remains unknown to us.
To get love, happiness, or success, we need to figure out what drives us. And these drivers are always based on our internal well-being, on our internal sources of motivation.
And here is the catch. Nobody can figure out what your internal motivation is except you. It is unique and authentic for every single one of us on Earth. You need to go on an internal adventure to find what it is that you deeply care about. You need to figure what is your own personal 1%. When you discover that, everything else becomes noise in the background -- "things you really, truly, absolutely, don't give a fuck about," as Mark Manson would say. And you become a leader of yourself.
So go on an adventure. Try stuff out, see what you like and dislike. Ask yourself why. Reinvent yourself.
Become true to yourself and you will figure out your 1%. And when you obtain it, your life will never be the same again. You will see the world through different eyes. And you will know why you were put on this Earth.
But knowing this is not enough. There are big obstacles ahead which you will need to deal with to be able to live out your purpose.
The Tribe
Figuring out your 1% is only the first step. When you figure it out, you need to live it. And this is where it gets super hard. Because you need to change your surroundings. You need to change the people whom you hang out with.
Because like it or not, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And if you are spending time with people who only drag you down and take a dump on your life goals, vision, and purpose, you will eventually start to do the same to your goals, vision, and purpose.
We are created to learn from osmosis. This basically means that you copy what people around you do. That's why Buddhism is not the major religion in Italy, nor Catholicism in India. And it's why you need to find a group of people who support you in this endeavor.
You have to have clear standards and criteria when picking your friends. Now that you understand your purpose, you can align your tribe with your 1%. And you need to sever the ties with people who just hold you down. I know that this is hard, and it sucks in the beginning. But it is the difference between just knowing what your purpose is and never achieving it, and knowing what it is and actually fulfilling it.
If you don't believe me, believe Jay-Z, Michael Beckwith or many others who shared the same process in their books.
Once you find your Tribe, you'll arrive at the last finding.
The System
You know what you need to do. You have people who support you. And now, it's all about making it happen. For this, we need the System.
The System is a collection of habits and rituals you do daily to live a purposeful life and achieve your life's vision. We need a system because our willpower depletes easily, so we can't rely on it in the long haul. The System helps us develop habits that will bring us a successful life, however we define that.
The System is usually based on just a couple of things you do every day which brings you closer and closer to your vision. For Warren Buffet it's reading, for James Altucher it's writing, and for Tony Robbins, it's practicing gratitude in the morning.
These kinds of habits are called keystone habits, because their positive effects ripple through every areas of your life. Here, you just need to define what kind of keystone habit will help you most in your 1%. Maybe it's reading, maybe writing, maybe both. For me, it's both reading and writing every single day.
But that doesn't have to be for you. Remember, it has to align with your 1%.
The 3 findings
When you pursue your journey and figure out your 1%, your life will change. Then, you will find your Tribe which helps and supports you and makes you feel safe. And at the end, you will find your System.
With these, you will conquer your goals and achieve your vision.
So what are you waiting for? Go and find your 1%, your Tribe, and your System.
And tell me about it in the comments.