Social Health

An individual who has become a person has staged a rebellion. She rebels against the individualistic ethos and all the systems of impersonalism. Society tells her to want independence, but she has declared her interdependence. Society says we live in a materialist reality, but she says we live in an enchanted reality. Society tells her to keep her

David Brooks • The Relationalist Manifesto

Brandy Cerne

Being free is, in part, achieved through being connected.

Notes & Highlights for How We Show Up by Mia Birdsong

Brandy Cerne

Relationships do not scale. They have to be built one at a time, through patience and forbearance. But norms do scale. When people in a community cultivate caring relationships, and do so repeatedly in a way that gets communicated to others, then norms are established. Trustworthy action is admired; empathy is celebrated. Cruelty is punished and

David Brooks • The Relationalist Manifesto

Brandy Cerne

Hyper-individualism leads to tribalism. People eventually rebel against the isolation and meaninglessness of hyper-individualism by joining a partisan tribe. This seems like relation but is actually its opposite. If a healthy community is based on mutual affection, the tribalist mentality is based on mutual distrust. If a healthy community is based

David Brooks • The Relationalist Manifesto

Brandy Cerne

I struggle with the cultural push toward insularity and self-reliance. I suffer from the inertia of screens and the ennui of stuff. I indulge in the brief hit of dopamine comfort that comes from online shopping (the kitchen gadgets, the houseplants, the skincare products). I drink wine to unwind. I sip from the warm cup of promised safety and... See more

Notes & Highlights for How We Show Up by Mia Birdsong

Brandy Cerne

Hyperconnected 'Kakao Kingdom' - "Everything is hyperconnected on KakaoTalk. It connects people, as well as numerous services affiliated from taxi-hailing to banking."

Maria Carolina Suarez

We will benefit from giving ourselves and others the benefit of the doubt as we navigate our understanding of ourselves and of others. We need to reach for grace as we weave in and out of what is me and what is you, and what is us.

Notes & Highlights for How We Show Up by Mia Birdsong

Brandy Cerne

The relationalist doesn’t walk away from the capitalist meritocracy, the systems of mainstream life. But she balances that worldview with a countervailing ethos that supplements, corrects, and ennobles. She walks in that world, with all its pleasures and achievements, but with a different spirit, a different approach, and different goals. She is

David Brooks • The Relationalist Manifesto

Brandy Cerne

People join communities for benefits, not belonging.

They want to learn something new, to achieve a goal, to grow status, to be entertained, to have fun, etc.

They only find and value belonging after they've been a member and formed relationships.

David Spinks • Tweet

Brandy Cerne