TRANSCRIPT: Notes From Dunfanaghy 21 – Listen Deeply To Your Story
Hi, this is Megan. Welcome to the final Notes from Dunfanaghy.
So, Notes from Dunfanaghy — if you haven’t been following along for the past month or so, I have recorded, this is the 21st voice note, as I am preparing for the Dunfanaghy retreat at the end of September. And I’m just reflecting on the different ideas and concepts and things that I am thinking about as I prepare for the retreat, and I’m going to work into the retreat.
And so this is the final one, and I’m coming to you today from the side of a river in Ireland, and I’m just beginning to make my way back to London after a couple of weeks in Dunfanaghy. And I’ve been reflecting on my time in Donegal over the last couple of weeks.
And it has made me think about a quote that I heard from Sister Simone Campbell — I’m pretty sure her name is. I heard her interviewed, I think probably on the On Being podcast years ago, maybe before it was a podcast, maybe just the radio show. And she said something that, whenever I heard it, I wrote it on a Post-it note and stuck it at my desk, and it was there for years. She talked about the importance of listening deeply to our stories and seeing where they lead.
And that’s something that I talk about on the first day, it’s one of the very first things that I talk about at the retreat. The whole process of the retreat is about listening deeply to your story and seeing where it leads.
And that has been completely my experience of being in Dunfanaghy recently — not just this trip, but other trips that I’ve had this year. I’m coming back to this place, I’m coming back to my story with fresh eyes, I’m uncovering a new layer to the whole thing, I’m being drawn to different parts of the landscape and hearing the messages that the land has for me. And it’s totally this experience of, I’m just going, and I’m just listening, and I’m seeing, where does this lead me.
And so I think that’s kind of what I’m trying to do with the retreat in general. Anytime I bring people to Dunfanaghy, I’m walking them into my story by walking them through the landscape. Like, we’re walking deeply into my story, but really that is just a way of walking you deeper into your own story.
All of the exercises, everything that I put together, the whole experience is designed to walk you deeper and deeper into your own story and see where that leads. The whole thing is an improvisation, it’s an unfolding, and it’s always very exciting for me to see where it goes.
Whatever preconceived ideas people come with about what their story is, or even what they’re there for, that shifts and it changes over the course of the four days of the retreat. And if we take the time to stop and listen to our stories, if we find a space where we’re able to do that, your story will always lead you somewhere. It will always lead you to the place that you’re supposed to go next.
And so this couple of weeks’ trip that I’ve had in Donegal this time, I don’t have any major conclusions from it. It’s just another instalment in this chapter, where I’m seeing where the story goes. And I have a few new leads, and I’ve had a few new experiences, and there are places that I want to go when I come back. I’m coming back one more time before the retreat, and then I’ll be back again at the end of September for the retreat.
So I’m just very excited. The place is so alive for me right now. It’s always a thin place for me, but it’s extra a thin place for me right now. And so I’m very excited to walk people into my story while it is such a thin place for me, and I am very hopeful that you will find your own thin place with your own story if you come and join us in Dunfanaghy.
So I really appreciate you listening to these voice notes over the past 21 days, some of which have been very much for me, and I appreciate if you have followed along. I have been really grateful for all the messages, responses and musings that people have sent me in response to these voice notes. And if it feels like the right time for you to come to Dunfanaghy, I would absolutely love to see you and be there with you. If you have questions, you can reach out and I’ll be very happy to talk to you about it.
And whether you’re coming to Dunfanaghy or not, I will look forward to our next instalment. I’ll be doing more stuff later on in the year, I don’t know exactly what yet, that’s part of what I am allowing to unfold at the minute, but there will be something to come.
So thank you for listening. And whether you’re coming to Dunfanaghy or not, I really do encourage you to take Sister Simone Campbell’s advice and listen deeply to your story, and see where it leads.