The Hero’s Journey

How would you like to share your contribution with the world?  What legacy would you love to leave to subsequent generations?  Do you see your business or career as central to that legacy and contribution?  Or is it more focused on family?  Society? Environment? Justice?  Politics? What gifts can you offer to the world and how will you share those gifts?

Life coaching can be such a powerful process to discover and clarify how you would love to contribute and define your legacy.  It challenges you to question who you are becoming and how you might be playing small and getting in the way of your greatness.  As well as classic life coaching tools such as exploring different perspectives and fulfilment, I use embodiment and archetypes to deepen that exploration.  By offering free webinars and workshops, I introduce the concepts of embodying archetypes for your personal growth so that you can gain clarity on your legacy and contribution, become aware of how you might hold yourself back and ways to overcome those obstacles.

Sovereignty and The Hero’s Journey

Because there is a core part of you that wants to express your greatness.  In the language of the Hero’s Journey, this is Sovereign.  You, like everyone, were born into sovereignty.  But there are forces in your life that encourage you to hide those gifts.

Through telling off, ridicule, humiliation, expectation, tradition, judgement, ritual and indoctrination, you have been shaped to conform to some degree.  From a young age, you learned to play small to fit in at school, in your family and within society.  This was certainly my experience and I hear many clients share how formative relationships curbed their uniqueness and authenticity.  I felt forced to hide my sovereignty just to survive and get along in a world that did not understand me nor seemed to want what I had to contribute.

In every story you have ever heard about the Hero’s Journey, there is always hiding.  In Harry Potter, our Hero hides his sovereignty with Muggles at Privet Drive.  In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker is hidden on the planet of Tatooine.  Siddhartha was hidden in a palace before he escaped and became Buddha.  Elsa and Anna were hidden away before they found their gifts in Frozen.

You can hide your sovereignty, but your sovereignty is always available to you.  You might have noticed it when you began to question, “Is there more to life?”  As a result, you go on a quest in search of “more”.  You might have fumbled around for a while, but in time you meet a teacher- a person, book, film, podcast etc. that trains you in the arts to reclaim your sovereignty.  For me it was a martial arts teacher who championed my uniqueness and greatness.  There have been many others along the way as well.

Stepping out of your Comfort Zone

This training may take many years.  But in the end, you face your doubts and fears, the sense of inadequacy and not feeling good enough, the worry about being seen and heard and the potential attacks that might follow.  It comes by taking those small courageous steps outside your comfort zone that prove to you that you are more than you might have imagined you are.

The training introduces you to Sovereign, Warrior, Magician and Lover.  Four archetypes that help uncover your greatness, authenticity and uniqueness.  You:

• learn about courage, fierceness and determination
• explore your intuition, creativity and imagination
• discover compassion, empathy and love
• unearth your purpose, values and the power of responsibility.

Embracing your Saboteurs

On your journey, you realise that fighting your dragons (also known as Inner Critic, saboteur, trolls, demons) cannot get you to your goals.  That war will only exhaust and defeat you.  You have to learn to accept, embrace, pacify and bring them into the fold of the wholeness of who you are.  Only through self-compassion can you find the treasure that is you.  And share that with the world.  By reclaiming your sovereignty, you take ownership of your wholeness.

Personally, I have seen myself face up to many of the dragons that I once tried to run away from or dominate.  Instead, I have learned to befriend them with compassion and understanding.  It has raised my awareness of where my frailties lie and how I can work with them through the power of my strength and self-acceptance.  Fear of public speaking has given way to a love of sharing my experience and insights.  A reliance on logical thinking has evolved into a creative and intuitive side that balances my rational mind.  I am articulate and I can listen.  Once I steered clear of emotion.  Now life holds the richness of love and joy as well as pain and sadness to help me navigate through life with peace and well-being.

The Hero’s Journey Completed

At this point, you have come full circle and you can share your gifts/ treasures with the world.  This becomes your contribution and legacy which you can only give fully once you take ownership of your sovereignty, greatness and strength.  As a life coach, trainer and facilitator, I share my gifts to bring people to their inner treasures.  It is fulfilling work that lights me up from within as Sovereign, Warrior, Lover and Magician support me on the journey.

This Hero’s Journey allows you to be more fully the:

• giving, loving and present parent
• compassionate work colleague who takes responsibility for their leadership role in the team or organisation
• solopreneur that cares deeply for their client and runs their business with integrity
• partner who is willing to be vulnerable, love unconditionally and commit to the relationship whole-heartedly.

What these people have in common is that their openness comes from a place of wholeness.  They have accepted and embraced their frailties and magnificence.  So that they walk through the world with humility and confidence.  Life has become a series of choices that gives opportunities for evolution and co-creation to endlessly unfold.  They realise that there is no need to hide and there is a joy in being seen, in contribution and in building a future that is a spring-board for generations to come.

Over to You

There isn’t a part of your life the Hero’s Journey does not touch.  In your work, what contribution and legacy would you like to leave in your organisation?  Would you like to have an impact on society and humanity?  How might your journey to fully embracing your greatness influence your parenting, work relationships and connection with your partner, family and friends?  How might working with your archetypes on that journey impact how you show up at work?  If you’d like to learn more about how the Hero’s Journey could impact your life, get in touch and we can discuss what courses and resources would best serve you.

Pass it on

Would did you find useful about this blog?  What are you taking away with you?  Can you think of someone at work, or in your network, who might resonate with the Hero’s Journey?  If so, why not forward the link to them?