This article is an excerpt from a training transcript by Robert Dilts and Stephen Gilligan
AUTHORS FOREWORD
We (authors Stephen Gilligan and Robert Dilts) have been on a journey together for over thirty years, going back to the early 1970s when we were students at UC Santa Cruz. It was there that we met and worked with Richard Bandler and John Grinder, the founders of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). We also had the amazing opportunity to learn from Gregory Bateson, considered by many to be one of the greatest minds of the last century, and from Milton Erickson, who is possibly the most brilliant psychiatrist, hypnotherapist, and healer who has ever lived. After graduating, each of us went our own way. Our paths reconnected only in the mid-1990s. By that time, we were both married, had children and had independently established successful professional paths: Stephen in Ericksonian hypnosis and psychotherapy, and Robert in Neuro Linguistic Programming. However, we found that our very different journeys led us to many similar experiences and conclusions.
One of our most passionate shared interests is that everyone's life is a potential "hero's journey."
The essence of the hero's journey is this: Are you living a meaningful life? What is this life of deep self-giving to which you are called? How can you respond to this call?
If you don't find your calling, you may end up living in misery, feeling unhappy, lost, or confused, or it may all lead to some serious problems - maybe health, professional, or impaired. relations. If you live the hero's journey, it will bring the most amazing rewards, but if you turn away from it, it can cause great suffering.
We hope this book will help you understand and experience what your own journey is and how you could live it to the fullest. Our interest is to explore how you tune into and connect with the deepest part of your spirit so that everything you feel, think and do in this world is imbued with the human spirit. The hero's journey is about awakening and opening up - opening up to what life brings you and what it wants from you. And this calling is not always easy. Otherwise, you wouldn't have to be a hero to make it happen. The great advantage of the hero's journey is the feeling of being important and living in the world. But along with that you are challenged and there is a price.
Wherever there is light, there will always be shadows - and one could say that the brighter the light, the blacker the shadows. And to live a full life means to turn to both light and darkness and own them.
In other words, we are going to focus equally on what we call the gift and the wound.
We affirm that there is a gift deep within each of us and we are here to give it to the world. But equally deep inside each of us there is a wound. And of course, the wound does not begin with our own lives - we bear the wounds of our family, we bear the wounds of our culture, we bear the wounds of the entire planet. So the hero's journey is about understanding how to connect deeply with these two energies in a positive way.
So the hero's journey is about both living with your gift and healing your wounds. Your strength and fulfillment come from these two energies. These two energies will be present on the journey, having a major impact on your intimate relationships, your professional life, your health and your development as a person - and this synchronous process of healing and simultaneously sharing your gift with others will always be present in it. .
CALL AND CALL
On the Pacific island of Togo, when a child is born, village women perform a ritual in relation to the newly-minted mother: together with the child, they are taken to the forest and there they sit around the newborn spirit. They sit next to the child, feeling the unique spirit of this new life, and then, at some particular moment, one of them suddenly makes a musical sound. Another woman joins him, then another, and so the joint birth of a song for this baby takes place. The song is completely unique and meant only for him. Throughout his life, on birthdays and other ritual dates, women gather together and sing this song. And if a child does something bad or gets sick, instead of being punished or medicated, women gather around and sing a song to remind him of who he really is.
In this way, the song becomes a way that supports the development of the hero's journey for that being throughout his life. And when a person dies, the community sings the song for the last time, and it will never be sung again.
This is a perfect example of how we all need guardians to remind us of our true nature and encourage us to open our channel again and again and again.
SG: The need for such guardians is especially important when we take into account all the opposing forces that try to hypnotically convince us that there is no living spirit in us that will unfold in our journey through life.
Consider, for example, the dominant force in modern society, namely the trance of consumerism. His hypnotic spell reads: “There is no spirit within you. And you don't have any hero's journey. Your main goal is to buy refrigerators. Your main goal in this world is to eat cheeseburgers."
RD: McDonadds and Starbucks.
SG: Robert and I are proud that we are Americans - and that we bring all these wonderful gifts to the world. (Laugh.)
RD: And as you separate from your spirit, your channel begins to close. And when the channel closes, you start to get lost among your wounds, trying to compensate for the pain, and you consume even more goods. “If I take and buy another color TV, a new car, new shoes, I will feel better. Then I'll be considered human. Then I will feel more alive.”
SG: Often in a person's life there are symptoms similar to the singing of women of the Togo tribe. Their purpose is to call you back to your spirit. In other words, at every moment in time, human experiences can be understood as follows - this is the spirit trying to awaken into the world. And one can understand those particularly intense human inner experiences (both positive and negative) that we refer to as a call, a calling, a calling in the hero's journey.
RD: Call to action. Call for adventure. Call to be. A call to return to your spirit.
SG: Perhaps some people have never heard this call. Others hear but refuse it. As a psychologist, I do a lot of psychotherapy, and one of the main diagnoses I give my clients is: “It seems to me that in your constitution you are not like a sofa potato. This is the name of someone who constantly sits on the couch and watches TV, sipping beer and eating it with potato chips, and he does this for so long that he eventually becomes like a potato. (Laugh:)
And at the end of his life, they will write on his gravestone: “He watched a lot of TV, ate a lot of chips and complained all his life. Next!" (Laugh.)
So we ask you to think deeply: what inscription would you like to read on your gravestone? Some people are content to just live like a "sofa potato" - in the Tarot this is called "life in quiet desperation".
And some do it: just end the hours of their lives, living it in a fog. Others, whom I call fortunate, cannot do this - their soul causes them terrible anxiety and suffering to say: “Wake up! Wake up! Your life is more than this base trance!"
One of the issues that we will touch on in this work is how to recognize that your problems are a “call to return” to the path or a “wake-up call” to your hero, so that you can positively and beneficially deal with these imminent problems using them for your own growth and awakening.
RD: I work a lot in companies and organizations as a trainer and consultant. And I can clearly see when an organization has lost its soul or when people are selling their souls or their integrity. The main job of a coach is to help people reawaken their connection to their own souls. At the level of identity, we can say that there are two driving forces in us - the soul and the ego. Ego is our part, woven from wounds. It is connected with the fact that in psychology they call the “ideal self”, which, it seems to me, I should be in order to be loved, to be accepted, so that everything is fine with me. This ego becomes a soul trap - and you can see this in various organizations. But miracles sometimes happen and the soul is back in place and again singing its unique song and unfolding on its unique journey.
I want to give you an interesting organizational example: I have a colleague who took part in a study that was conducted by a large telecommunications company as a result of its huge failure - finding itself in a situation of strong competition, it needed to quickly develop a certain product in order to maintain its participation in a certain sector market. The project was so important that about a thousand people were involved in its development. But it turned out that one of the competitors surpassed this company by putting on the market a product of better quality, more economical and faster to manufacture. The reason for the study was that this competitor was successful with a team of only 20 people. And the big question arose: how can it be that 20 people outnumber 1000 so much?
In the language of the hero's journey, we would say that 20 people with their channels open - that's 20 souls committed to their calling - will always outperform a thousand egos who are just doing their job and nothing more. So how do you “clap your hands and sing to the soul” in an organization? What brings this sense of aliveness, creativity and foresight into the life of the individual, into the life of the group, into the relationship - and sustains it? This is one of the main issues that we will deal with in this work. And we hope that the material of the classes and the processes that we will explore are just as important and relevant for all of you.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE HERO'S JOURNEY
RD: In developing the general structure of this journey, we will begin with the work of Joseph Campbell. Campbell is an American mythologist who has studied various legends and myths involving men and women from different cultures throughout history for many years. Campbell noticed that there is a certain "deep structure" in all of these stories and examples, which he called "the hero's journey". His first book was titled The Hero with a Thousand Faces to emphasize that there are many different ways the hero's journey can be expressed, but they all share a common framework or framework. The following steps are a simple version of Campbell's journey map, which we will use to help us navigate our own hero's journey during this program.
Stages of the Hero's Journey
1. Call
2. Commitment to the call (overcoming rejection)
3. Threshold crossing (initiation)
4. Finding Guardians
5. Encounter with demons and their transformation
6. Development of the inner self and new resources
7. Makeover
8. Return home with gifts
1. call
RD: The journey begins with a call. We enter the world and the world offers us circumstances that call or attract our unique life force - or vitality, as Martha Graham would say. Eckhart Tolle, who wrote The Power of Now, says that the main function of the soul is to wake up. We do not enter this world to be idle. We have come to wake up and wake up again and grow and develop. So the call is always a call to grow, to participate, to bring more of that vitality or life energy into the world or give it back to people.
SG: Often the call to action comes from a problem, crisis, foresight, or someone in need of help. From something lost that needs to be restored, or some force in the world has weakened - and it needs to be renewed, some central part of life has been damaged - and its healing is required, a challenge has been thrown - and it needs to be answered. But at the same time, the call may come from inspiration or joy: you hear a piece of some great music, and you awaken to a world of beauty that you passionately want to manifest in this world; you feel an amazing love for education, and she calls you to manifest this archetypal force in society; you fall in love with your job and that's all you can think of. As we shall see, the call to the hero's journey can come from both great suffering and great joy, sometimes both.
RD: We must emphasize that the calling of a hero is very different from the personal goal that comes from the ego. The ego would like another TV and some more beer, or at least be rich and famous by the Hero's Journey. The soul does not want this and does not need it, it wants awakening, healing, connection, creation, it awakens at the call of deep tasks, but not to glorify the ego, but to serve and glorify life. So, when a firefighter or a policeman runs into a burning building to save someone, this is not the goal of their desires. It's a challenge, a risk, and no guarantee of success. Otherwise you wouldn't need to be a hero. Thus, the call requires courage. It requires you to become something more than you were before.
SG: Another theme we will explore is that you may hear the call in very different ways at different times in your life. In one of our exercises, we will ask you to trace the chronology of your call. For example, here is a simple version of the request for such a clarification: "Take a few minutes to look back at your life, and allow yourself to become aware of the various events that have really affected you, that have awakened in you the beauty and deep meaning of life." Or a similar question: “What are you doing in your life that takes you outside of your normal self?” Your answers to these questions will reveal some of the ways in which you have felt the call. We will continue to emphasize that when you hear the call, your soul is uplifted and your spirit is clear. By paying attention to how this happens, you can begin to experience, track, and sustain your hero's journey. This is what Campbell meant when he said, "Follow your bliss!" Many misunderstood this as an endorsement of hedonism and misunderstood what Campbell meant: the place where your spirit flares up the most - when you feel "bliss" - is a sign that this is where you have to do something in this world.
RD: As Stephen said earlier, sometimes the call comes from symptoms or suffering. When my mother was in her early fifties, she was re-discovered with breast cancer, with metastases all over her body—not only in her other breasts, but also in her ovaries, bladder, and bone marrow in virtually every bone in her body. Doctors at best gave her a few months. As you can imagine, it was the worst thing that ever happened to her. At first, she felt very much like a victim and not a hero at all. I helped her with questions such as: “What is the appeal of cancer? What is he asking me to become? My mother opened up deeply to this exploratory journey and it completely changed her life.
Much to the surprise of the doctors, she made a wonderful recovery and lived another 18 years almost completely without symptoms. Later, looking back at that time, she said: “It was the best thing that ever happened to me! I'm lucky. I have lived two lives: one before I was diagnosed with cancer again, and one after. And my second life was much better than the first.”
What is life calling you to? Perhaps this calling is not so simple, perhaps it is not an invitation to go for a walk in the park. Calling is probably the most difficult, it is a beautiful but difficult path. This path usually destroys the status quo. When I work with people in companies, I pay attention to the fact that calling is not just an improvement of the present.
Calling and foresight bring the future into the present and can completely destroy the present, making it impossible for you to function in your usual way. A key part of the hero's journey is accepting the call and commitment to make the journey.
2. REFUSAL OF CALLING
RD: Precisely because the call can be defiantly difficult, it is often accompanied by what Campbell calls "rejection." The hero wants to avoid all the hassle that this will cause. "No thanks. Let someone else do it. It's too difficult for me. I don't have time for this. I am not ready". These are typical statements that are used to refuse a calling.
SG: And while some of the negative responses to the call may come from within, some come from outside - from family, friends, critics (whom Campbell calls "cannibals") or society. You may be told, "It's not real." Or, as many girls and women hypnotically say, "That would be selfish." Such words sometimes force you to turn away from your calling, although, fortunately, not always.
I had a friend named Allan. He was one of the major figures in American postmodernism. For as long as he could remember, he had always wanted to be an artist. But his father was a big lawyer in New York and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. He insisted all the time: “You will not be an artist. You will be my junior partner." He brought young Allan to his law firm and showed him the office that was already reserved for him. Incredibly, his name was already written on the door plate. Allan had a very creative and stubborn unconscious. He developed severe asthma, which forced him to move to the best climate of Tucson, Arizona, far from his father's hypnotic range. While he was growing up in Arizona, Allan developed his art.
This is an excellent illustration of how his unconscious insured himself so that he could realize his calling. Many people tell similar stories of how they evaded oppression in many ways, big and small, in order to continue to follow their spirit.
RD: In my mother's case, when she began to look inward and make these changes in herself, her surgeon looked her straight in the eyes and told her in no uncertain terms that this kind of research was "utter rubbish" and could "drive her crazy." And the doctor she nursed for remarked, "If you really care about your family, you won't leave them unprepared," which in itself is an interesting "hypnotic suggestion." This suggestion takes the form of a presupposition: “You will die, and trying to live is selfish. You must prepare yourself and all your loved ones for your death, and stop making a fuss." Shortly thereafter, my mother decided to stop working with him.
Interestingly, about six years later, this doctor fell seriously ill. He was not even close to being as advanced as my mother, and therefore, as a response to the disease, he took his own life. So no one has ever been able to find out whether his wife was a voluntary participant in all this, but she died with him. Because, of course, he couldn't leave her unprepared. So there are messages that come from within or from outside to block your calling. A key part of our work will be to recognize them and go beyond these messages.
3. CROSSING THE THRESHOLD
RD: Once you answer the call and commit yourself to take the path and experience the hero's journey, it leads to what Campbell calls "crossing the threshold." Now you are on a journey, you are on a test. "Let the games begin."
The word "threshold" has several meanings. One of them implies that beyond the threshold lies a new frontier, a new territory, unknown, uncertain and unpredictable, a ghostly promised land.
Another meaning of the threshold is that you have reached the outer limits of your comfort zone. Before the threshold, you are in known territory, you are in your comfort zone, you know the terrain of this area. Once you cross the threshold, you are out of your comfort zone. Therefore, everything becomes difficult, difficult, dangerous, often painful, and perhaps even fatal. Stepping into this challenging new territory is a defining moment in the hero's journey.
The third meaning of the threshold is that it is a fatality: you cannot go back. It's like if you have a child - you can't just say, "Oh, I made a mistake. It's too difficult. I don't want it anymore. Take him back." Once you have crossed the threshold, there is only one possibility for you - to go forward. Thus, the threshold is the moment when you are about to step into new and challenging territory - where you have never been before and where you can not go back.
SG: And this is where your ordinary intellect will fail you. Your ordinary mind only knows how to create different versions of what has already happened (a bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic in an attempt to save the ship). It cannot create new realities. Therefore, as you understand, your ordinary consciousness cannot be the leading system on the journey, and then, as a rule, disorientation reactions occur - paralysis, confusion, trembling, uncertainty, fainting, etc. These are all “subtle signals” that you are called go beyond where you've ever been before.
In this work, the idea that your ordinary consciousness cannot guide your hero's journey will be central.
4. GETTING THE KEEPERS
RD: Campbell points out that when you're about to embark on a hero's journey, you must find your own guardians. Who are they who will sing my song and remind me of who I am? Who are they - those who have the knowledge and tools that I will need and about which I know nothing? Who can remind me that travel is possible and offer me their support when I need it most? Who are they - my teachers, my mentors, my patrons, my awakeners? This is a big part of your learning on the journey - the constant search.
Of course, this is your journey and no one else will make it for you. You are the one you will most need to listen to, learn from, and consult with. But at the same time, you cannot make this journey alone. This is not an ego excursion. It is something that will challenge you beyond all the possibilities you currently have.
In this regard, we think it's useful to distinguish between a hero and a champion. The hero is, in general, a normal person who is called by life to act in extraordinary circumstances. A champion is a person who fights for some ideal, which he considers the right way, the right map of the world. And everyone who is against this ideal is an enemy. In this way the champion imposes his own view of the world on others.
SG: Therefore, the champion will say something like: "You are either with us or against us," and other unforgettable words that you hear from many priests and politicians. (Laugh.)
RD:"We fight for truth, justice and the American way... around the world." (Laughter) "And we're going to liberate your country by occupying it."
SG: One small note about guardians. They can be real people - friends, mentors, family members. They can also be historical figures or mythical creatures. For example, when I think about my path as a healer and therapist, I sometimes think of all those who have walked it before me, entire generations of people gave their love and devoted their lives to forging traditions and developing ways of healing. While in meditation, I feel their support coming through time, from different cultures and different places, and coming to me to support my humble journey. So the next important question we have to figure out is, "How do I feel for my guardians and how do I stay connected to them - those who can guide and support me on my journey?"
5. FACE TO FACE WITH YOUR DEMONS AND SHADOWS
SG: The key difference between a hero and a champion is their relationship to what Campbell called "demons". Demons are entities that try to interfere with your journey, at times threatening even your very existence and the existence of those with whom you are connected. One of the main challenges in the hero's journey is how to deal with "negative otherness" both within and around oneself.
The champion wants to dominate and destroys everything that differs from his ego-ideal.
The hero operates at a higher level - at the level of the relative transformation of demons. The hero is called to do something that will transform not only himself, but also the relatively large area in which he lives. This change is taking place at a deep level, and, again, such a change requires a different kind of consciousness - which is one of the main themes of our journey together.
RD: In many ways, the culmination of the hero's journey is a confrontation with what we call "the demon," what is perceived as a malevolent presence that threatens you and is determined to prevent you from reaching your calling. Campbell points out that initially the demon is perceived as something outside of you and turned against you, but the hero's journey leads you to understand that the problem is not what is outside of you, but what is inside you. And a demon, ultimately, is just an energy that is neither good nor bad. It is just an energy, a phenomenon. And what turns this something into a demon is the fact that I am afraid of him or he confuses me. If I wasn't afraid of it, it wouldn't become a demon. And what turns someone or something into a demon is my reaction: my anger, my frustration, my grief, guilt, shame, etc. This is what makes the problem seem so difficult. The demon serves as a mirror for us; It exposes our inner shadow - reactions, feelings, or parts of our own selves that we don't know how to deal with. Sometimes I call them our "domestic terrorists".
SG: From a practical standpoint, the demon could be an addiction, a depression, an ex-wife... (Laughter)
RD: For an organization, a financial crisis, a recession, a new competitor, etc. can become a demon.
SG: Your demon could be Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden or George Bush. (Laugh.)
RD: The demon can be a health problem or your boss, your mother, mother-in-law or child. The point is that ultimately we (and Joseph Campbell) believe that what makes something a demon is your attitude towards it.
6. DEVELOPMENT OF THE INNER "I"
RD: Thus, the hero's journey is always a journey of transformation, especially of the transformation of oneself. When I work in companies and organizations, I talk about the difference between the outer game of business and what author Timothy Galwey calls the "inner game."
Success in any activity—whether it's a sport, your job, intimate relationships, artistic endeavors—requires some degree of mastery of the outside game (eg, line-up, environment, rules, physical skills, patterns of behavior). Many people can master the outer game quite well, but the highest level of performance can only be achieved by mastering the inner game. It depends on the person's ability to deal with stress, setbacks, pressure, criticism, crisis, loss of confidence, etc.
One of the skills a hero must learn is how to play this inner game. It includes much more than our cognitive mind. It is a function of emotional and body intelligence, as well as spiritual wisdom, which includes establishing a connection with a wide field of consciousness - a deep perception of information beyond the ego and intellect. In the hero's journey, you must grow. You can't be a hero and refuse to grow and learn.
SG: The cultivation of inner play can be described in many ways. We will call it here the development of the inner self, the development of intuitive intelligence, which connects the conscious mind of a person with a wide field of consciousness, which generates greater confidence, deeper understanding, more subtle awareness and increases the capabilities of a person on many levels.
7. TRANSFORMATION
RD: As you develop new possibilities within yourself and find your guardians, you become ready to face your demons (and ultimately your own inner shadows) and participate in the great transformational challenge of the journey. Campbell calls these tasks your "trials."
SG: This is a time of great struggle, devotion and battle, which leads to the emergence of new knowledge and new means. It is here that you create within yourself and in the world that which has never existed before. This is what we mean by generative: going beyond what once already existed to create something entirely new. This process, of course, can take a long period of time. It can take twenty years of marriage, a lifetime of work, or years of research and innovation. There will be many setbacks and setbacks, there will be a time When it will seem that all is lost and there is no future. These are all predictable elements of the hero's journey. A hero is someone who can rise up to that challenge and create new ways and possibilities to deal with it successfully. The transformation stage is when you have succeeded in your journey.
8. RETURN HOME
SG: For example, I have a good friend - a famous psychologist who wrote a very interesting paper. And he told me that when he was a child, he liked to watch old films about the lives of great scientists - such as Marie Curie, Louis Pasteur and Sigmund Freud. Each of these films serves as a generalized example of the hero's journey: early calling, commitment, great trials, hard-won discoveries, and so on. Usually, at the end of these movies, the scientist stands in front of a large audience - the same people who despised him before and attacked him during the journey - and receive some great reward, as recognition of his life's work. A friend of mine remarked that after watching such films, he always soars in spirit and feels inside himself called to bring something very significant into the world. And he told me about it quite recently - already after he was presented with an award for his life achievement in front of thousands of people, and he felt how the end of that movie was happening in his own real world, as if he had hypnotically tuned in to this for many years. before, looking at what is happening on the screen. Those films answered his call, and his reward was the recognition that he had succeeded in the great task of his journey.
However, as Campbell points out, even at this stage there can be a lot of resistance. Sometimes the hero doesn't want to come back. He is tired, perhaps he is worried that others will not understand him, or perhaps he has exalted himself in his new state of higher consciousness. Just as people sometimes refuse to respond to a call, so they may refuse to return. Sometimes, as Campbell explains, some other person or creature must appear and call the hero to return home. Another problem is that the community may not welcome the return of the leader. Moses may come down the mountain and find his people partying; warriors can return home from battle, but they are not expected there ... or no one saw or noted the horrors they experienced; people may not want to hear the story of a man whose journey shows them that they must heal themselves. Therefore, once the great battle in the state of higher consciousness has been successfully completed, the next big task is to integrate it into the ordinary consciousness of everyday life.
And at the same time, there are many examples of heroes who have passed this final stage. We mentioned here Milton Erickson, who was the main mentor for both of us. He is a good example of the completed hero's journey. Here is one of the many interesting details of his life: as a result of severe polio, he was paralyzed at the age of 17, which, by the way, is near the age of initiation into adulthood, in which the classic “wounded healer” becomes seriously ill or injured. Therefore, instead of following the traditional path of mainstream society, such a person is separated from ordinary life and must begin their own healing journey. In Erickson's case, the doctors told him that he would never move again. And instead of simply giving in to this negative suggestion, Erickson began a long series of body-mind studies to simply see what could be done to heal his condition. It is amazing that he succeeded in this process, regaining his ability to walk, and in addition, he developed new concepts and ways of healing with the help of the body mind. He subsequently applied this radical new knowledge to his long career as a psychiatrist, helping others learn about their own unique ability to heal and transform.
Today I will tell you about a very lively atmospheric book:
Hero's Journey. The way to discover yourself
Stephen Gillinen, Robert Dilts
“What is this road you are on? What is this myth that you live by?
With philosophy and humor about a call to action, to the awakening of the hero inside. About a call to adventure. About the call to "be".
The book contains an integrated and generalized experience of the authors in the field of Ericksonian hypnosis, NLP, mythology and Eastern philosophy over 30 years of joint activity. The result of this integration was the development of the third generation of Ericksonian hypnosis called Generative Trance, or the third generation of NLP. The transcript of the training contains a detailed description of the stages of the hero's journey and numerous practical exercises aimed at developing the skills of centering, harmonizing the three types of mind (bodily, cognitive and field), opening to the field, as well as working with resistance, with archetypes and archetypal energies, and integration shadows, the transformation of internal demons (fears, restrictions) and the acquisition of internal guardians and patrons.
It is intended both for specialists - counseling psychologists and psychotherapists, hypnotherapists, NLP practitioners, leading various trainings, as well as for a wide audience of readers interested in developing their capabilities and looking for an answer to the eternal question of human existence: “Who am I? Why am I? What is my purpose in this world?
You can live like traveling, and travel like a hero. Some thoughts are strongly imprinted in the consciousness that they want to be re-read and "feel" again and again in order to get into this state of the hero's journey.
For example:
"Miracles sometimes happen and the soul is back in place and singing its unique song again and unfolding on its unique journey." (When was the last time your soul was in place and sang its song?)
“When I was a young man and I first went to meet Milton Erickson, at one point he showed me a map. It depicted a small man standing on a small planet in the middle of a large universe. And next to it was written: “When you think about how huge and mysterious the universe is, doesn’t it make you feel small and insignificant?” And if you turned the card over, on its back it was written: "Me - not at all!" Because if you feel you are part of this greater mystery, you are not small and insignificant. You are big and mysterious, just like the universe itself, connected to an even greater intelligence that passes through you to empower you with magic.
“Most of all, we are afraid not of our weakness, but of our limitless strength. It is our light, and not the darkness, that frightens us the most.”
“Take a few minutes to look back at your life and allow yourself to be aware of the different experiences that have really touched you, that have awakened in you the beauty and deep meaning of life.”
Here I am re-reading this phrase again and I think I need to print this question on a card and meditate on it. Every day. And what awakened in me the beauty and deep meaning of life today? Today the answer is this - I am convinced once again that these are good books, an affectionate voice on the phone, a close or not very close person, what difference does it make if the voice is kind) it touches.
What are the events that move you? And what are you like when beauty awakens in you? You can think about this for hours.
There are many books about mental energy - about creativity, about brain development, etc., but this book is different - about bodily energy and about spiritual. Although there are many questions “to think about” in it, they are all addressed to the soul and deep values. (There is not a single thought in the book about making money and about marketing strategies. This is not usual. But it is)
I really liked three exercises:
Second skin
Creation of a second energy skin for protection in stressful situations.
1. Identify the context in which you were overwhelmed, confused, or attacked by the anxiety-provoking situation.
2. Pick a spot in front of you, step into it, and mentally immerse yourself in the situation, imagining that you are now in it, observing what you saw, hearing what you heard, and feeling what you felt.
3. Step back, get out of the situation and shake off this state. Rub your hands to make them warm and sensitive.
4. Bring the palms of your hands together so that they almost touch each other. Bring your presence and consciousness into your palms and allow them to become so sensitive that you can feel the life energy of your body between them. Feel the presence of energy in the space between your palms.
5. Slightly move your palms to the sides until they are about 8-10 cm apart. Keeping consciousness in your hands, continue to feel the energy field between them at this distance.
6. Let your arms and hands slowly move into position as if you were about to hug someone.
7. Holding this sensation of the energy field in your hands and arms, surround yourself with it who was caught in the difficult situation identified in the 1st and 2nd steps of the exercise. Imagine that you are sculpting and creating a second skin around you at that time. The skin metaphor is very important here. It's not armor, it's not a force field. The skin allows you to be connected to the situation and selective to influences at the same time.
8. Step into the self now surrounded by this second skin and use your hands to make sure you feel the presence of the energy skin around you. Feel it
feeling both safe/selective and connected to your surroundings. As you re-experience the problem context and the problem situation, notice what the difference is for you.
9. Step into the future, imagining that the next time you will be in a similar situation, being protected by your “second skin”.
Archetypal Energies
An exercise in adding to your goal the three archetypal energies - tenderness, rage and playfulness. Why are they, and how to feel them at the same time?
The general sequence of actions in the exercise is as follows: target, energy ball, lower the target inside the energy ball, make four rotations around the energy ball, first adding tenderness, then rage, then playfulness, then all at once. Then grab your hand
your future, integrate transformation into your center, make a promise for the future, and come back.
Finding Guardians
“Who really understood or blessed you in life?”
Patrons and guardians do not have to be living people. They can be historical figures, spiritual beings, or even natural phenomena.
Our custodians and patrons are on the same road, but they started it a little earlier than us and therefore can give us, who are walking behind, resources and recommendations. We can tune in and benefit from their positive presence. We have our family lineage - our parents, grandparents, and so on - those from whom we received our gifts and wounds. We also have a spiritual and professional lineage - these are healers, artists, warriors, friends who have gone through their journey before us. And we can find guardians in these and other bloodlines. There are many positive beings in the world who want to support you on your journey. And as you open up to find them, they will find you.
If you have already identified your guardians, imagine where they would need to be physically located around you in order to best support you. Take turns putting yourself in the place of each of the guardians and look at yourself through their eyes (in the second person). What message or advice does each guardian bring to you? Get back to your own point of view and
(in the first person) accept these messages.
All exercises are detailed in the book, with instructions and demonstrations. I highly recommend this book for your home library.
And finally, a very difficult simple question:
"What is your practice? What exactly do you do every day—not for your job, not for your family, but for yourself—to become a better person?”
Ecology of knowledge. Psychology: Joseph Campbell is an American mythologist who has studied various legends and myths involving men and women from different cultures throughout history for many years. Campbell observed that there is a certain unified "deep structure" in all of these stories, which he called the "hero's journey".
The hero bravely embarks on a journey from the world of everyday life to
area of supernatural wonder: here he meets
fabulous powers and wins a decisive victory: the hero
returns from this mysterious adventure
endowed with the power to bring benefits to their fellow tribesmen.
Joseph Campbell. "The Hero with a Thousand Faces"
Joseph Campbell is an American mythologist who has studied various legends and myths involving men and women from different cultures throughout history for many years.
Campbell observed that there is a certain unified "deep structure" in all of these stories, which he called the "hero's journey". This is the path that the soul takes as it develops. The following steps are a simple variation of Campbell's Hero's Journey map.
1. Call
The journey begins with a call. We enter the world and the world offers us circumstances that call or attract our unique life force. Eckhart Tolle, who wrote The Power of the Here and Now, says that the main function of the soul is to wake up. We do not enter this world to be idle. We have come to wake up and wake up again and grow and develop.
Often the call to action comes from a problem, crisis, or someone in need of help. From something lost that needs to be restored, or some force in the world has weakened - and it needs to be renewed, some central part of life has been damaged - and its healing is required, a challenge has been thrown - and it needs to be answered.
But at the same time, the call may come from inspiration or joy: you hear a piece of some great music, and you awaken to a world of beauty that you passionately want to manifest in this world; you feel an amazing love for education, and she calls you to manifest this archetypal force in society; you fall in love with your job and that's all you can think of. As we shall see, the call to the hero's journey can come from both great suffering and great joy, sometimes both.
Ask yourself: “What is life calling me to?” Perhaps this calling is not so simple, perhaps it is not an invitation to go for a walk in the park. Calling is probably the most difficult, it is a beautiful but difficult path. This path usually destroys the status quo. A vocation is not just an improvement of the present. Calling and foresight bring the future into the present and can completely destroy the present, making it impossible for you to function in your usual way.
A key part of the hero's journey is accepting the call and commitment to make the journey.
2. Refusal of calling
Precisely because the call can be defiantly difficult, it is often accompanied by what Campbell calls "rejection." The hero wants to avoid all the hassle that this will cause. "No thanks. Let someone else do it. It's too difficult for me. I don't have time for this. I am not ready".
These are typical statements that are used to refuse a calling. And while some of the negative responses to the call may come from within, some come from outside—from family, friends, critics, or society. You may be told, "That's not realistic," or "That would be selfish," or "That's not sustainable," and so on. Such words sometimes force you to turn away from your calling, although, fortunately, not always.
3. Threshold crossing
Once you answer the call and commit yourself to take the path and experience the hero's journey, it leads to what Campbell calls "crossing the threshold." Now you are on a journey, you are on a test. The word "threshold" has several meanings. One of them implies that beyond the threshold lies a new frontier, a new territory, unknown, uncertain and unpredictable.
Another meaning of the threshold is that you have reached the outer limits of your comfort zone. Before the threshold, you are in known territory, you are in your comfort zone, you know the terrain of this area. Once you cross the threshold, you are out of your comfort zone. Therefore, everything becomes difficult, dangerous, often painful, and perhaps even fatal. Stepping into this challenging new territory is a defining moment in the hero's journey.
The third meaning of the threshold is that it is a fatality: you cannot go back. Once you have crossed the threshold, there is only one possibility for you - to go forward.
Thus, the threshold is the moment when you are about to step into new and challenging territory - where you have never been before and where you can not go back.
And here there is one very important point. This is where your ordinary intellect will fail you. Your ordinary consciousness only knows how to create different versions of what has already happened. It cannot create new realities. Therefore, your ordinary consciousness cannot be the leading system on the journey. Only your higher self can support you with wisdom and courage and chart the course of your hero's journey.
4. Finding Guardians
Campbell points out that when you're about to embark on a hero's journey, you must find your own guardians. Who are they who will sing my song and remind me of who I am? Who are they - those who have the knowledge and tools that I will need and about which I know nothing?
Who can remind me that travel is possible and offer me their support when I need it most? Who are they - my teachers, my mentors, my patrons? Keepers can be real people - friends, mentors, family members. They can also be historical figures or mythical creatures.
5. Face to face with your demons and shadows
Demons are entities that try to interfere with your journey, at times threatening even your very existence and the existence of those with whom you are connected. One of the main challenges in the hero's journey is how to deal with the "negative otherness" both within and around oneself.
The hero is called to do something that will transform not only himself, but also the relatively large area in which he lives. In many ways, the culmination of the hero's journey is a confrontation with what we call "the demon," what is perceived as a malevolent presence that threatens you and is determined to prevent you from reaching your calling.
Campbell points out that initially the demon is perceived as something outside of you and turned against you, but the hero's journey leads you to understand that the problem is not what is outside of you, but what is inside you. And a demon is ultimately just an energy that is neither good nor bad. It is just an energy, a phenomenon.
And what turns this something into a demon is our attitude towards it. This is what makes the problem seem so difficult. The demon serves as a mirror for us, it exposes our inner shadow - reactions, feelings or parts of our own Self that we do not know how to deal with. And the essence of this stage is the transformation and integration of the shadow.
6. Development of the inner self
Thus, the hero's journey is always a journey of transformation, especially of the transformation of oneself. Timothy Galwey calls it the "inner game". Success in any activity - whether it's a sport, your job, close relationships - requires some degree of mastery of the external game (eg line-up, environment, rules, skills required).
Many people can master the outer game quite well, but the highest level of performance can only be achieved by mastering the inner game. It depends on the person's ability to deal with stress, setbacks, pressure, criticism, crisis, loss of confidence, etc.
One of the skills a hero must learn is how to play this inner game. It includes much more than our cognitive mind. It is a function of emotional and body intelligence, as well as spiritual wisdom, which includes establishing a connection with a wide field of consciousness - a deep perception of information beyond the ego and intellect. In the hero's journey, you must grow. You can't be a hero and refuse to grow and learn.
7. Makeover
As you develop new possibilities within yourself and find your guardians, you become ready to face your demons (and ultimately your own inner shadows) and participate in the great transformational challenge of the journey. Campbell calls these tasks your "trials."
This is a time of great struggle, devotion and battle, which leads to the emergence of new knowledge and new means. It is here that you create within yourself and in the world that which has never existed before. It is going beyond what once already existed to create something entirely new. This process, of course, can take a long period of time.
It can take twenty years of marriage, a lifetime of work, or years of research and innovation. There will be many setbacks and setbacks, there will be times when all will seem lost and there is no future. These are all predictable elements of the hero's journey. A hero is someone who can rise up to that challenge and create new ways and possibilities to deal with it successfully. The transformation stage is when you have succeeded in your journey.
8. Return home
However, even at this stage, there can be a lot of resistance. Sometimes the hero doesn't want to come back. He is tired, perhaps he is worried that others will not understand him, or perhaps he has exalted himself in his new state of higher consciousness. Or society is not waiting for his return. Therefore, sometimes some other person or creature must appear and call the hero to return home.
So now you know the basic structure of the hero's journey, and you can use it as your own map. Unless, of course, you have the courage and commitment to do so. published
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It is intended both for specialists - psychologists-consultants and psychotherapists, hypnotherapists, NLP practitioners, leading various trainings,...
The book contains an integrated and generalized experience of the authors in the field of Ericksonian hypnosis, NLP, mythology and Eastern philosophy over 30 years of joint activity. The result of this integration was the development of the third generation of Ericksonian hypnosis called Generative Trance, or the third generation of NLP.
The book is a transcript of one of the psychological trainings conducted by the authors. It contains a detailed description of the stages of the hero's journey and numerous practical exercises aimed at developing the skills of centering, harmonizing the three types of mind (bodily, cognitive and field), opening to the field, as well as working with resistance, with archetypes and archetypal energies, and integrating the shadow , the transformation of internal demons (fears, restrictions) and the acquisition of internal guardians and patrons.
It is intended both for specialists - consultant psychologists and psychotherapists, hypnotherapists, NLP practitioners, leading various trainings, students and graduate students of the indicated specialties, and for a wide audience of readers interested in developing their capabilities and looking for an answer to the eternal question of human existence: "Who me? Why me? What is my purpose in this world?"
