Photo: Janice Sandeen, Late December Hoarfrost & Pueblo Peak, 12/29/2018

Quote: Toko-pa Turner, Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home, 2017

Competencies of Belonging

“Most of us think of belonging as a mythical place, that if we keep diligently searching for, we might eventually find. But what if belonging isn’t a place at all, but a skill: a set of competencies that we, in modern life, have lost or forgotten? Like the living bridge, these competencies are the ways in which we can coax, weave, and tend to the roots of our separation—and in so doing, restore our membership in belonging. Like any practice worth undertaking, belonging cannot be mastered overnight. Because it is a disappearing art, we might find ourselves going it alone for a while and the temptation to lose hope will be strong. But we must keep a vision of how we want our lives and the world to look, and work towards weaving those first threads together. Even when the garment of belonging seems flimsy and inadequate, we must keep to the task until it substantiates.”

Excerpted from Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home by Toko-pa Turner

Belonging is a 2017 Nautilus Gold Award winner.