Let’s take a journey for the sake of inspiring women and changing the world. Hopefully, you agree that Joseph Campbell is incredibly worthy of being the first man featured on the show.
For years, I searched to find that magical one thing that every other thing comes from when it comes to inspiring leadership. I was raised on superhero cartoons, Charlie’s Angels, and The Bionic Woman. Not only was I inspired by these characters, but I believed I could live life in some real way like a superheroine.
But I needed something solid, maybe that’s the engineer in me speaking… it seemed a little sketchy to suggest that we all simply become our own form of a real-world Wonder Woman without some level of data or research behind it. Although I know many incredibly inspiring women who are completely okay telling you that Wonder Woman is their inspiration. But I needed to find out what makes this true for so many people.
So let’s get into it!
After many years of searching and following some of the most inspiring leaders of our modern times, I found it! They were all pointing to the same source. There’s this guy by the name of Joseph Campbell and his whole life was all about finding that one thing that I was looking for. He figured it out and he created a guide that can teach us how to live a life like a Heroine. Of course, I will be using the word Heroine while he uses the word Hero.
In the movie ‘Finding Joe’ they begin with a quote by Joseph Campbell which says, ‘I don’t believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.’
Joe was a philosopher, and he was able to see the truth when most people have lost sight of it. I watched the DVD series on The Power of Myth and I’ve also read his books – The Hero’s Journey and The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The books are pretty intense and give incredible detail of the myth and the interpretations of the myths. The movie “Finding Joe” is a fun way to learn how Joe turned his life’s work studying myths into something inspiring for the world to know.
I am grateful to discover Joe’s work because I find meaning in the Heroine’s Journey and sharing it with others is part of my own journey. It is how I share the story with others while helping inspire women’s leadership in the world.
Joe dissected and diagramed all of our stories. He compared all the myths all the movies all the novels all the romances… and he found one story within all the stories that we can relate to no matter where you come from!
Robert Walter is the President of the Joseph Campbell Foundation and he tells us – The Heroine’s Journey is a pattern or an algorithm broken down into three parts – Separation, Initiation, and Return. Like a true engineer, I love a great algorithm.
Robert Walter tells us we have 3 options when the call to journey comes:
- Surrender to victimhood
- Give your victimhood to someone by asking them to just tell you what to do
- Realize you have a choice here and you are responsible for your own adventure
Here are the highlights on following your bliss:
- Ask yourself, what am I in this world to do, what am I most passionate about, what are my greatest gifts? Listen to your heart and follow your truth!
- How do you know what your bliss is? Journaling will help you as you have a conversation with yourself about what are your hopes, dreams, lessons, talents, gifts, weaknesses. What’s more important than personal success? How does what you want to do in life benefit the world?
- What if you don’t know, should you force it? Go looking! Try new things! Put yourself out there but don’t anticipate what you’ll find.
- What am I passionate about? What are the things I love doing? That’s where the door to your bliss opens!
- How do you find your bliss? Find your bliss through exposure… just watching someone else do something can spark or ignite your bliss.
- Why don’t we follow our bliss? Fear! Especially the fear of what others will think of us.
Watch the movie and find out more about how to ‘follow your bliss’.
Here are the steps to Slaying the Dragon
- 1st stop fighting it!
- Notice that part of you that is fighting
- Allow yourself to grow a bigger sense of yourself from what you notice
- You may choose to love your dragon! It feels a lot better when you look at it this way! This is optional and highly recommended to accelerate your growth.
- Receive the gift your dragon gives you when you love your darkness.
A Heroine’s Journey has basically three major parts. Separation, Initiation, and Return
Part I – In Separation – we answer a call to be separated from a world of illusions for a world that helps us further understand a meaningful truth, you are ready to resist the status quo.
Part II – In initiation – You are finding your bliss… you enter the forest and walk your own path to find your dragon, exercise the courage to fight your inner demons, slay the dragon, and achieve a personal transformation.
Part III – The Return – You share your story of transformation with others to make the world a better place and you have the privilege of a lifetime of being who you are.
Repeat the cycle as many times as you can!
Many thanks to the amazing people who were interviewed in the movie ‘Finding Joe’
Rashida Jones, Catherine Hardwicke, Rebecca Armstrong, Sir Ken Robinson, Deepak Chopra, Robin Sharma, Alan Cohen, Chunglian Al Huang, Gay Hendricks, Brian Johnson, Avika Goldsman, and the producers of ‘Finding Joe’ Patricia Frazier and Patrick Solomon.
We encourage everyone to journey responsibly and to reach out to mental health professions for support. Never hesitate to ask for help and to get the support you need.
Check out our show notes for mental health links and hotlines in the US.
Follow us to enjoy more of the adventures and discoveries from The Everyday Heroine!
For life coaching with Maria Kauffman check out our products and services here.
To schedule an empowerment session with Maria, go here!
For now, enjoy your adventures and journey responsibly!
Comments are closed