Attributing Outcomes: The Journey from Victim to Hero – Often the first step in the Hero’s Journey is learning to accept responsibility for our own lives. This article explores a concept called the “Locus of Control” and the process of building more effective, life-affirming meaning in our lives.
Gestalt’s Paradoxical Theory of Change – By far the most-read article on our site, this piece explores Gestalt psychology’s “Paradoxical Theory of Change” – that before we can become someone new, we must first become who we are – and its relationship to the Hero’s Journey process.
Making Meaning of our Journeys – One of the most important—but often neglected—parts of the Hero’s Journey is building meaning from experience. This article explore how our journeys must include a stage for reflection and consolidation for them to become meaningful.
Our “Storytelling” Brain: Neurobiology and the Hero’s Journey – In the past two decades, neurobiology has suggested potential biological explanation for our fascination with narrative and the journey. Research by Michael Gazzaniga led to the discovery of a module in our brain’s left hemisphere that organizes input from our environment and our memories into a narrative. This article presents an overview of this research and its relationship to the Hero’s Journey.
Ripening as a Hero’s Journey – In our culture we think of growth in quantifiable, measurable terms, but there is another kind of growth that is actually more important: the process of maturing. This article explores the concept of ripening as a Hero’s Journey.
Seeing with Soft Eyes: Envisioning Life’s “Larger Picture”: – Seeing with soft eyes means maintaining the focus needed to pursue our goals while, at the same time, keeping our vision open for other possibilities that may be available to us. Sometimes this means being able to see beyond the limits of our personal narrative to the opportunities that await on the periphery.
Self-Realization – To “realize” something is to bring it into being, to make it real. Often our quest in the Hero’s Journey is to realize a dream or a potential, to make it manifest in our lives. This article explores the Hero’s Journey as a process of self-realization.