Your Hero’s Journey
Using the theme of a Hero’s Journey, let’s look at your life and see how it has gone thus far and how it might go in the future. You may note as we go along that this storyline expresses an optimistic viewpoint. The glass is always half-full. On one hand, it describes life as it is, how it goes regardless of how we might want it to go. At the same time, while we’re dealing with reality here, we’re doing so in a very hopeful, positive manner. We’re living in harmony with life as it is.
Below you’ll see how the Hero’s Journey storyline goes, with each of its milestones noted within the context of a cycle. Soon after one Journey concludes, another one eventually comes into your life with a new “Call to Adventure.” Yet this new Journey will play out at a higher level, so to speak. And so your life goes, ever upward.
Ordinary World. You start out your Journey in the normal world, with all the usual stress, anxiety, and sadness, plus excitement, happiness, and joy that most people experience. For the most part, you handle this just fine.
The cave you fear to enter
holds the treasure you seek.
Joseph Campbell
I am not discouraged, because
every wrong attempt discarded is
another step forward.
Thomas Edison
Meeting the Mentor. You contact someone like me, a mentor or expert guide, who helps you understand the Journey and that you are capable of making it successfully.
When the student is ready
the teacher appears.
Lao-Tzu
Crossing the Threshold. Once you have a better idea of what to expect along the way, you commit to proceed on your Journey and work on your issues, with me as your companion along the way.
Photo by Gilbert Tremblay
The journey of a thousand steps
begins with one step.
Lao-Tzu
Allies and Enemies. You figure out fairly quickly (because they’ll let you know) who wants you to get better and who doesn’t, each for their own reasons. With my help, you decide what to do about that.
Approach. We work together to develop an approach that works for you in every possible way. I call this a “Psychotherapy of One’s Own.” This way, after a while and when you feel ready, you can use this approach on your own.
Teachers open the door but
you must enter by yourself.
Chinese Proverb
The Ordeal. As the name implies, this can be the hard part. You come to terms with whatever bothers you and, with my help, figure out what to do about it.
What all myths have to deal with
is transformations of consciousness.
You have been thinking one way;
you now have to think a different way.
Joseph Campbell
Photo by Matt Benson on Unsplash
The Road Back. You decide, with my help if you want it, when you feel ready to slow down the process. We get you prepared for your new life outside the therapy process.
Resurrection. You decide that it is, in fact, time to stop our process and you go on by yourself.
When the student is truly ready
the teacher will disappear.
Lao-Tzu
Returning with the Treasure. You feel strong enough to help others because you’ve been through the Journey and know it can be done.
Believe that there is a light
at the end of the tunnel.
Believe that you might be that
light for someone else.
Kobi Yamada
Next, learn more about what to expect along the way once you Cross the Threshold into your Hero’s Journey.
Should you feel like getting started right now, please contact me.