Our 2019 Deep Listening Festival, on the theme of “Finding a Place to Call Home”, was inspirational. We’re finding that we are being changed by this experience in ways which deepen our compassion and faith.

Homelessness, multicultural difficulties of settling in a new country and Margaret River and our inner home were explored through sharing stories, experiences, art and music. The dynamic presentations and conversations, complimented by the interactive art and music, created a community of people who were surprised at new learnings and heartfelt connections.

Why ‘deep listening’?
Sometimes we only half hear, or find someone else’s point of view difficult, or perhaps we just don’t have time to let their story unfold. We don’t quite know where it’s going and occasionally where we think it was going is absolutely not where a conversation ends up!

Ultimately we hoped that the community would think about the myriad of aspects of “Finding a Place to Call Home” in a way that they may not have thought about before.

This Deep Listening Festival gave us the opportunity for change in what we think is valuable, and our capabilities to respond to issues which can be painful and leave people on the edge of the community. When we can do this there is a change in culture and community hopefully for the common good.

A BIG thanks to our amazing team of volunteers who helped make Deep Listening possible this year, and to our wonderful contributors and participants. Plans are already underway for 2020, with a slight name change to ‘Deep Listening Forum’ and a growing list of ideas for another meaningful community event. Follow our Facebook page for news and updates throughout the year – https://www.facebook.com/deeplisteningmruc/

Thanks to Kay Dowling for contributing to this reflection.

Please enjoy looking through some photos from our wonderful weekend! Big thanks to Clare Smith for capturing these moments!