Over the past week, I’ve been stepping through the first chapter of the Returning Home narrative arc on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn - @AwakeningLands on each.
It’s been an experiment in digital participatory storytelling, using thematic carousels and prompts to explore the four “passages” of Chapter 1: Remembering the Life of Place:
Personal stories of return
Collective patterns of separation and longing
Perception shifts that open us to seeing the living systems that surround us
Daily acts and rituals that can root us more deeply
It’s been surprisingly fun and informative... and honestly, quiet too.
A few people have reached out saying they’re intrigued, but not quite sure how to engage. More than one has said it would feel more real if it were somehow rooted in a specific place.
They’re right. This process wants to be rooted in the ground.
From social media (the matrix) to in-person
I feel the digital approach slowly building momentum, and I’m finally able to share the participatory narrative journey I’ve long been shaping. That feels great! But it needs to be paired with on-the-ground participatory storytelling of place, gatherings where stories somehow feed back into the online conversation and give it a sense of realness.
That’s what led me to a local church a few days ago, where I shared a proposal for hosting a participatory storytelling gathering. The person I spoke with seemed quite interested and now they’re considering whether it’s a fit for their community. I’m reaching out to others as well. The idea of participatory stories of place are very novel to most people. It’s common for people to be excited about the idea, it resonates widely. But committing to something so unknown is an entirely different thing.
In the process of increasing my on-the-ground outreach, I created a workshop format to be ready, and to share with all of you. It’s something I want to offer for you facilitators out there to run as-is or adapt to your own place.
The Tree of Place Workshop
This ~90-minute workshop is designed to cover Chapter 1 of the Returning Home arc, but it could work as a standalone too. The heart of it is a collective artifact called the Tree of Place, which would symbolically organize memories, moments, and visions of place from the group into roots, trunk, and branches, each carrying their own meaning. I could see it being gifted forward to the wider community.
I’m sharing the full facilitation guide here as a PDF. Feel free to download, use, adapt, and make it your own. I’d be thrilled.
If you try it…
I’d love to hear:
How did you adapt it to your place?
What surprised you?
What might you change for next time?
What felt possible afterward that wasn’t possible before?
You’re always free to drop me a DM if you have any thoughts, reflections, advice…
The digital participatory narrative journey of Returning Home will keep going. Next up is Chapter 2: Revealing Transformation. My hope is that more people and groups walk it in their own places as time goes on. I’ll continue to experiment with how this can be accessible, visible, and valuable. I’ll strive for the online participatory process to become something like a hub to richer, more rooted, more impactful, and more alive storytelling.
P.S. If you missed them, I also published the final two passages of Chapter 1:
Passage 3 - Seeing and Hearing Living Systems
Passage 4 - Living the Return to Relationship
Stay tuned… much more to come. Have the best weekend.
Fighting off the currents of limitation in a sea of gratitude,
Benji
Please share with friends and neighbors!