1. The Hero’s Journey—
Your Journey
Nancy Goodman, MSEd, LPC
Vocatus—”rethink what you know about life and work”
208-406-3234, goodnanc@yahoo.com
http://vocatusidaho.blogspot.com

2. Who has ever…
• Experienced an unexpected life change—
job loss, divorce, illness, and so on
• Resisted change
• Married, had a child, started a new job,
relocated
• Had to make a terrifying decision
• Embraced a new challenge
• Dreamed of pursuing a long-held passion
• Longed to live life authentically; on your
own terms

3. Dust off your suit of armor
and…
WELCOME TO
YOUR HERO’S
ADVENTURE!!

4. Your Tour Guide—Joseph
Campbell
• Sarah Lawrence College
• Mythology and Comparative
Religion
• George Lucas and Star Wars
• Carl Jung
• “Follow Your Bliss”
• Power of Myth with Bill
Moyers—featured on
Gilmore Girls episode
• The Hero With a Thousand
Faces
• www.jcf.org

5. Who is a hero?

6. Who else is a hero?

7. The Hero as Metaphor
• Stories of Mythology and Religion have
common themes, characters, and
outcomes
• The adventure of the hero is ultimately
psychological
• Change in worldview as a result of the
adventure
• The hero is us

8. Types of Heroes
• Physical Types of
• Spiritual Adventures
• • In the v
Willing illage
• Cast ou
t of t h e
• Hero-in-training village
• Rite of
• Reluctant Passage
–Serendipitous

9. The Serendipitous Hero
• The “Magic” of Life
• When the student is ready, the
teacher/lesson appears
• Adventure evokes aspects of character
that have been dormant
– Courage, creativity, brilliance, spirit, self-
reliance…
• “You might not get that which you
seek…”

11. Hero’s Journey Cycle

12. al
Refus
of the
Call
KNOWN
UNKNOWN
Re
fu
of t sal
h
Ca e Ref
us
ll
of th al
e
Cal
l
Refusal of the Call = The
Abyss
al
al Refus
Refus of the
of the Call
Call

13. The World of Common Day
• Our comfort zone
• Our not-so-
comfortable zone
• things are predictable
and known
• Established set of
“rules”
• Some people spend life
in this world, unless…

14. The Call to Adventure
• Event or circumstance
that shatters status quo
– Divorce, job loss, act
of God, any transition
• Urges toward a more
authentic life
– Vocation, avocation
– Big calls, small calls

15. Refusal of the Call
• The voice of NO
• The “yeahbuts”
• Fueled by fear,
uncertainty, lack of
self-trust and
confidence
• Occurs at beginning and
throughout adventure

16. Threshold Crossing
• Ready or not, there you
are
• Transition between
known and unknown
worlds
• Meet allies, gather
resources
• First day of class,
parent orientation, grad
school!

17. Road of Trials…and Revelations
• Challenges elicit hidden
strengths
• Getting lost, dead-ends,
receiving help,
improving skills
• developing new
mindset
• Ups and downs

18. The Abyss
“It is by going into the abyss that you discover the
treasure of life. Where you stumble, there lies your
treasure.” –Joseph Campbell
• The darkest times, but ultimately the
most enlightening times
• Exhaustion, hopelessness, fear,
uncertainty
• Patience and Ego battles
• Question purpose, self-doubt, feel alone
• “Hanging by a thread”

19. “Slaying the Dragon”
• Dragons are internal
• The bound ego
• Epiphanies, insight, self-
awareness, taking risk,
conquering fears,
challenging old ideas
• Surrendering,
acceptance, patience,
restoration of faith
• Neutralizing negative
feelings, “letting go”

20. The Return
• Return with boon to
share with those around
you
• How will you be
received?
• New center, new “home
state,” new way-of-being
• What will this adventure
have taught you for the
next one?

21. The Journey is…
• Spiritual
• Psychological
• Social
• Transformative
• Cyclical
• Catalyst for positive growth
Thank You!