Some days it feels like the world is asking us to be everything at once: strong and soft, ambitious and ethical, productive and deeply human.
If you’re trying to build something sustainable – whether that’s a neighbourhood community or a transformation inside a corporation – it can be tempting to either push harder, or quietly give up.
This blog is about a third way: personal power that creates peace, and peace that creates community.
Personal power isn’t what we were taught
Most of us learned a strange definition of power.
We were told it lives in job titles, money, influence, being the loudest in the room. So we chase those, or we reject them altogether. But neither brings real peace.
The notes I collected for this piece describe power very differently: as energy that emanates from within us. Our emotions, our desires, our will, and our ability to transform our own life. Not power over others, but power with life itself.
That kind of power feels like being fully alive.
No wonder it can be scary. Many of us were subtly taught that wanting what we truly want is selfish, or dangerous. So we dim ourselves down, or we hand our decisions to others: bosses, partners, “the system”. We stay in roles or relationships that keep us small because they feel familiar.
We also project our disowned power onto others:
- “They never listen.”
- “This company will never change.”
- “The culture here is toxic.”
Sometimes that’s true. But sometimes it’s also a way to avoid feeling our own strength and responsibility.
Reclaiming personal power starts with a simple, honest question:
What do I really want and where am I pretending not to know?
Not the polished answer for your development plan, but the real one your body already knows.
Belonging: a being-state, not a bonus perk
Belonging is often treated as an HR topic or a marketing word, but at its core it’s deeply existential.
In the audio notes I used, belonging is described as a being state. A deep, whole-body longing to be part of something, and at the same time to feel that this “something” is also part of us.
Belonging is a gentle movement:
- coming back to yourself, sensing your needs and limits
- moving towards the community, sensing its needs and limits
- and then back again
Like breathing in and breathing out.
This movement requires trust and that’s exactly what our current culture has trained out of us. We’ve learned to be self-reliant, guarded, “professional”. To not lean too much on others. To not expect anyone to really have our back.
But without trust, there is no true belonging. There are only networks, teams, and LinkedIn connections.
Belonging is also not the same as fitting in. Fitting in asks us to edit ourselves. Belonging asks us to bring more of ourselves – including the parts that are unsure, afraid, idealistic, or different.
Community as an island of peace (even in a corporate building)
Thich Nhat Hanh writes about sangha – a community of practice – as “an island of peace” and “a community of resistance against violence, hate and despair.” He invites us to create such an island wherever we live and work.
That doesn’t have to be a monastery. It can be:
- a project team that refuses to work through fear and blame
- a small circle of colleagues who meet for 15 minutes of honest check-in each week
- a local group that practices listening and shared decision-making
In stormy times, these islands of peace are not a luxury; they’re infrastructure. They are what allows us to stay human while we navigate systems that are not designed for care, slowness, or regeneration.
Inside corporations, this kind of community is often where real sustainable change begins. Policies matter, strategies matter, but they are always downstream of what people actually feel safe to say and do together.
Bringing power, peace, and belonging into your work
So how do we move from concept to practice, especially if you’re “inside the system” trying to make things more sustainable?
Here are a few starting points.
1. Get clear on what you want to transform
Pick one concrete area where your personal power and values are not yet aligned with your context. For example:
- “I want our sustainability goals to show up in daily decisions, not just in reports.”
- “I want my team to be able to say ‘this isn’t realistic’ without fear.”
- “I want to spend more of my time on regenerative work, less on performative busy-ness.”
Write it down. Be specific. This becomes your inner North Star.
2. Notice where you leak your power
Ask yourself:
- Where do I stay silent when something in me says “this isn’t right”?
- Where do I say yes when I mean no?
- Where do I blame “the culture” while still participating in it?
No judgement, just honest seeing. Every place you leak power is also a doorway back to yourself.
3. Create micro-moments of peace
Personal power without peace easily turns into control or burnout. So build tiny practices of peace into your day:
- One conscious breath before speaking in a tense meeting
- A clear boundary around your non-negotiables (sleep, health, ethics)
- A short pause before reacting to an email that triggers you
These are not soft add-ons. They are the conditions that allow your inner compass to actually work.
4. Find (or start) your small community
You don’t need the entire company on board to begin. You need two or three people who care about similar things.
You can:
- Start a monthly “sustainability & sanity” lunch where people share what they’re trying.
- Propose a 10-minute check-in round at the start of your project meetings.
- Create a peer-coaching trio to support each other in taking bolder, kinder actions.
Think of this as building your own little Sangha at work. A place where you practice a different way of being together, even if the wider system hasn’t caught up yet.
5. Practice belonging as an oscillation
Remember the movement: self ↔ community.
In practice this looks like:
- Regularly asking yourself: What do I need to stay true to myself?
- Regularly asking others: What do we need as a group to feel safe and alive?
- Being willing to share your truth and to hear the truth of others, without collapsing or attacking.
This is how personal power becomes relational power.
Why this matters for sustainability
Sustainability isn’t just a technical project; it’s a profound shift in how we relate: to ourselves, to each other, and to the living world.
Without personal power, we burn out or comply.
Without peace, we recreate the same patterns of domination in greener packaging.
Without community and belonging, we stay isolated, competing for impact and recognition instead of weaving our efforts together.
But when we bring these three together, something different becomes possible:
- People feel safe enough to speak uncomfortable truths.
- Teams can hold tension without splitting into “for” and “against”.
- Leaders can make decisions that honour both business realities and the future of life on earth.
That doesn’t mean everything becomes easy. It means we’re no longer trying to do it alone, or from a place of fear.
A simple experiment
If you want to try this in the coming week, here’s a small experiment:
- Choose one meeting or gathering.
- Before it starts, take three slow breaths and silently ask:
“How can I show up in my full, peaceful power here?” - During the meeting, do one small thing that increases belonging. Ask a real question, name an elephant in the room gently, appreciate someone’s effort, or invite a moment of silence before a big decision.
- Afterward, notice: how did that feel in your body? What shifted, even slightly?
This is how new cultures begin: not with slogans, but with small, repeated choices made by people who remember their own power and dare to belong.
We don’t have to wait for permission to create these islands of peace and purpose. We can start exactly where we are – in our teams, our families, our streets, our Zoom rooms – and let our communities become an extension of the future we long for.