DEBORAH GRIGG
My Journey into Deeper Listening
Healing Through Deep Listening
I am not simply the qualifications I have gathered. I have arrived at this place through a lifetime of knowing, learning and evolving.
A lifetime of listening and learning
Every person who has entered my life - and every situation I have encountered - has taught me something. The happy parts, the sad parts and everything in between have shaped who I am. My parents, who were vastly different from one another, were perhaps my first teachers. Then came my siblings, friends, relationships and the many experiences that have unfolded along the way.
My mother was an earth angel. She had a remarkable ability to truly see people and listen deeply to everyone. There was always a cup of tea, home-baked cookies, a listening ear and a bed for anyone who needed it. From her, I learnt what it meant to make space for another person and welcome them exactly as they were.
Nature has always been my saviour. A swim in the ocean or a walk through the bush brings me home to myself, restoring a sense of stillness and listening within.
Animals have also been some of my greatest teachers. I have loved and worked with horses, cats and dogs, but one particularly incredible girl was CC, my border collie. She taught me so much about listening and seeing beyond what first appears to be. Animals communicate without needing words, inviting us to become still enough to notice what is really being expressed.
I feel that my journey has always been leading me towards a deeper place of listening.
Nursing, travel and becoming a parent
My wise father encouraged me to enter the school of nursing. He seemed to know that a qualification would ground me within a community and provide meaningful work, while still allowing me to follow my desire for travel, exploration and fun.
I trained and worked as an Enrolled/Community Nurse, then set off by myself and walked many different paths. I left home to travel and work in many countries.
Someone once told me that my life was like an Enid Blyton story - except that I seemed to play every character. In many ways, that feels true. I have explored, travelled, taken risks and lived through many different chapters.
Eventually, I was faced with the choice of whether or not to become a parent. My daughter became one of the greatest teachers life could ever have offered me. I stepped into parenting, continued learning and upgrading to Registered Nurse. This path eventually took me away from hospital work and into a completely different life in Central Australia.
I left behind a beautiful outdoor life of swimming, snorkelling, sailing and cycling to live and work on a variety of projects in remote communities surrounding Alice Springs. It was an honour to work with Aboriginal people in this extraordinary part of Australia.
Learning through living
I attribute much of my capacity for deeper listening to the individuals I met and worked alongside, as well as to the profound stillness of the land itself. I spent more than seven years working across drug and alcohol services, mental health, research, and child and family health programs in remote Central Australia, Katherine and Darwin.
While living in Central Australia, I also began studying Ortho-Bionomy. Its simple principles spoke to something I already understood about life: that we do not always need to force change and that, sometimes, less truly is more.
I also trained in touch therapy with somatic teacher Kathy Kain, which deepened my understanding of what the body may be holding and communicating.
I became an Advanced Ortho-Bionomy Practitioner and hoped to continue into instructor training. When that path was closed to me, it was difficult to understand. In reflection, however, it became one of life’s greatest gifts. It led me away from learning only in a classroom and into an entirely different education - learning through living.
I have been and done many things, but one thread has woven through them all: the journey towards becoming a deep listener.
What I bring to my work today is not only professional training, but a lifetime of listening, learning and being shaped by people, animals, nature and experience. It is the ability to hold space without judgement and to listen in a way that allows change and evolution to arise from within. I continue to work with families, individuals, cats, dogs, horses and whatever presents.
MY HOPE IS SIMPLE
That each person feels truly met through deep listening on all levels.