I recently had the great honor of having my original artwork printed on the posters, programs, and T-shirts of the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival. As I walked into the festival, I stopped to visit with my dear friend Linette DeSano, who has a booth at the festival every year, and said to her, “Hey Linette, I’m so happy to be here, but I didn’t think to get organized to bring any cards or my jewelry to sell.” With a self-deprecating whine I said, “I need to get my act together!”
She looked at me and said, “Why don’t you go home and get your stuff and bring it back? You can sell it here”.
In that moment I had a realization. I said, “Hey, together, we’ve got an act!”
It was great to have postcards about my art available, as well as to have Linette sell some of my Unione Symbol pendants, making the weekend even more fruitful for me. But what excited me even more was the opportunity to again experience to reality of, “Together, we’ve got an act.”
I must admit I’m somewhat of a loner. I love to paint, generally alone. I love to write music, almost always alone. And I love to hike and bike, also often alone. But, over the past few years I have come to appreciate doing things with others and experiencing the extraordinary possibilities of working together with other people.
One of the greatest experiences of my life was creating a CD with some amazing musicians from my community in Lyons, and then performing with them at my CD release concert. That was truly the definition of, “Together, we’ve got an act.”
Another project I am currently involved with is the Clarifier Project in Lyons, Colorado. This is a mosaic art sculpture that has taken over 10 years to complete, with many hundreds of people working literally thousands of hours. This has been truly an experience of a community coming together with some amazing leadership to create an act of pure beauty and magic.
The Clarifier Project came about as a few local artists saw the old abandoned local water treatment plant as a canvas instead of an eyesore. They began to solicit support and donations and got the town to give the building to a local art group, Confluence Community Arts (CoCoA), to bring the project into being. This project has become a beautiful example of how a few people with vision, commitment and know-how, can create a place for the entire community to participate – adding not only labor, but also opportunities to be creative within the project.
The project itself has a very long and powerful history, and I’m not going to begin to share it here. Please visit their website: http://clarifierproject.net/.
These are some high points of my life, but the true realization that we need each other came when I was trapped on literally an island with others in my community by a the devastating flood of September 12th, 2013. We truly needed each other to survive. I also found after the flood that I needed the help that came from friends, family and yes, the government.
It has been two years since the flood and there are many people who are still struggling to get their lives back together. Some people want to come home. Others have gone on with their lives, and don’t want any more changes. This has created conflict and division in our community.
I understand this perspective, as it comes from fear. People don’t want to loose what they have (perceived or real). There are many problems that we need to collectively address. We fear what we don’t know, and so we build walls to keep us safe. And then we distance ourselves from those who are different or may need us to give up something, and thus create the experience of separation.
But this is not how we are going to bring about critical solutions. To address all the problems in the world and turn them into opportunities, we need to unite. Not working together is self-defeating and self-sabotaging. I’m optimistic as I see this shift as part of an awakening in consciousness that is happening everywhere. When we expand our ability to be open-minded and open-hearted, we can see that creating separation is just an illusion. “They” become “We”, and we are all in this together.
I know everyone is valuable and everyone is needed. Everyone has a part to play and everyone has a gift. And when and where we realize it, we become the beneficiaries of those gifts. I am so grateful for everyone in my life and on this planet. As I have become more interested in collaboration and co-creation over my old habits of doing it alone, my life is definitely richer.
I am optimistic that this world can get its act together, because “together, we’ve got an act!”
Diane Dandeneau is a spiritual teacher, recording and fine artist, author and activist. She is the author of the book, Journey to the Soul, Connecting to the Truth of Who You Are Through Journaling, and the upcoming book, The Year of Awakening. She provides private coaching and group programs, teaching people how to Talk to God AND Get the Answers for Living a Divinely Guided Life.
