The Sierra Poetry Festival was spectacular. The power and beauty of this offering blows me away.

People pour their hearts and souls openly and with great care and artistry into words, sharing vulnerably their wisdom, their fears and failings, their faith and hope, their longings and grief, their wonder and questions. It’s a rare and special thing in our world.

I realize that I have a deep need—I think we all do—to be a part of something larger than myself and to make a contribution to the world. Helping to produce the Sierra Poetry Festival each year gives me that. As part of the most remarkable group of passionate volunteers, we give our time and energy to make this beautiful, astonishing day for others.

I’m longing for more of that in my life, more meaning and purpose, being a part of collaborative projects to bring beauty and wonder, hope and magic, art and connection into the world.

My teaching here at Brilliant Playground gave me a ton of that. Since I’ve been on this health journey for 7 months, I’ve had to cut way back on my teaching. And I feel the loss deeply.

Since I left the community based in indigenous wisdom traditions that I was a part of for 22 years, I have missed many things, including the deeper connection and fulfillment it gave me.

It’s not satisfying to be only consumed with my own little concerns or even my art, though art certainly helps me reach beyond myself and connect with things larger than me in the making and the sharing of it.

But I think there’s this fundamental need for each of us to participate and contribute to our world, to be a part of collective efforts to make the world a more beautiful, loving, just, wise place.

I think that fundamental need gets twisted in some people who are already twisted by trauma, and it becomes totalitarianism or racism or other horrifying, misguided movements.

Part of what all this has me realize is I have to look for opportunities to give, to collaborate toward the common good, and then, I have to dive in and welcome them.

Of course, I have to take care of my energy, especially these days. But I can be too cautious and rob myself of what these things give me. They nourish something deep within that can’t be nourished any other way.

Do you have something like that in your life now? Tell me about it. Or tell me what these musings bring up for you.