Hero's Journey - Refusing the Call

More often than not, the Hero REFUSES THE CALL and is RELUCTANT TO CHANGE.

When faced with the daunting challenge to step out of his Ordinary World, distasteful as it may be, the hero often flinches, doubts, or runs the other way.

Hesitation may be from a sense of duty or obligation to family and friends, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his Ordinary World.

The main thing holding the Hero back is fear – fear of the unknown, doubt and uncertainty.

FEAR is nothing but False Evidence Appearing Real.

Have you seen a 1000 pound elephant tethered to a slender rope tied to a small stake hammered into the ground?

Obviously, the adult elephant could pull up the stake and walked away anytime it wants.

Ever wondered why then does the magnificent elephant allow itself to be tied to the tiny stake.

The answer is FEAR – False Evidence Appearing Real.

The adult elephant wrongly believed that it does not have the strength to free itself of the rope.

You see, when the elephant was a baby, it was tethered to a thick rope tied to a stake firmly hammered into the ground.

The baby elephant would try several times to get free, but it lacks the strength to break the rope.

After a year, the stake and the rope are still strong enough to keep the small elephant tethered, although it continues to try, unsuccessfully, to get free. At some point, the animal accepts that the rope will always be too strong and so it gives up trying.

When it reaches adulthood, the elephant still remembered how, for a long time, it had wasted its energies trying to escape.

At this stage, the trainer can tether the elephant with a slender rope tied to a broom handle, and the elephant will make no attempt to escape to freedom.

Isn’t it amazing that these animals which could at any time break free from their bonds are stuck where they are because they believed they couldn’t break free?

Put another way, FEAR – false limiting beliefs - keeps us stuck to our circumstances, however distasteful we may find it.

The Call to Adventure always beckons as we are all heroes and have our own Hero’s Journey.

Even if our answer is “no”, the Call remains waiting for the Hero in us to overcome our FEAR to become the Hero that we are destined to become.

The call will persist until the Hero realises that if we don’t answer the Call of our own Hero’s Journey, no one else will.

And, that's a sad story.

Hero's Journey - Meeting the Mentor

After refusing the call, if the Hero is ready, the MENTOR WILL APPEAR.

The Mentor can appear in many forms. It could be a wise person, a good book, a long lost friend, a pet, an insight that comes to you unexpectedly, a traumatic event that is a wake up call.

The Mentor will give the Hero a great gift and this great gift is none other than the treasures that already exist inside the Hero all this time.

These are great gifts which the Hero always has. All that is needed is for a Mentor to make the Hero aware of them.

These gifts are qualities like confidence, persistence, courage, integrity, optimism, and so on.

Once you know your gifts, you can claim them and release their great power to serve you.

Once you claim your gifts, you have the resources to OVERCOME the demons that stop you like fear of the unknown, uncertainty, and need for security.

You may have heard the story of the Frogs in the Rut, first told by Abraham Lincoln.

Two frogs were playing happily in a muddy road. They dug a deep rut with their gleeful hopping. One of the frogs got bored and hopped out of the rut, while the other frog looked on enviously.

"Let’s get out of here!" cried the first frog.

"We need to go find food somewhere else or we’ll starve.”

The frog in the rut was hungry, but he was also tired. Besides, there was no guarantee that one will find any food beyond the rut. At least, here in a rut there is mud and occasionally a stranded fly might wander by.

“I can't. I'm exhausted,” the second frog whined.

“Besides, I like it here. It is warm and comfortable.”

The first frog pleaded with his companion over and over again to leave the rut.

“You can’t stay in a rut the rest of your life, can you?”

The second frog made a half-hearted attempt at hopping out to humour his friend, and when that failed gladly settled in the rut.

Then both frogs heard a low rumble and saw a cloud of dust rising in the distance. The rumble grew louder and louder until the ground shook with it. Then they saw the front grille of a large truck barrelling towards them.

One front wheel was in the same rut where the second frog was afraid to leave! The frog outside the rut screamed and forced his eyes shut as the truck hurtled by!

Then, as it grew quiet again after the truck disappeared and when the dust settled, the first frog slipped up to the edge of the rut and peered down. There was no one there! Had his friend been grounded into paste? As he trembled in fear and sorrow, a voice called out from behind him.

On the side of the road sat his friend, croaking cheerfully.

“How did you get there?”

“I took one big hop with all my might and then, here I am,” the friend proudly announced.

"But," said the first frog, "you said you couldn't get out. What changed?"

"Inspiration!"

The big truck was the wake up call that staying in the rut was not an option.

This story shows how amazingly far we can hop -- if we meet our Mentor and receive the right inspiration.

Hero's Journey - The Ordinary World

The Hero’s Journey starts in the Ordinary World.

Life in the Ordinary World is boring, unfulfilling, and people there live a soulless, empty existence. Life is directionless, the people are disengaged, and their spirits and energy levels are hitting bottom.

The people despair as they have no outlet or platform to release their creative energies meaningfully.

People don’t sleep well and wake up more tired than before they got in bed.

Here, the Hero does not know his personal potential or calling, and is clueless about how to get out of his predicament.

Plans, if he has any are sketchy and tentative, and don’t seem to work out.

The Hero’s mindset in the Ordinary World reminds me of the story of a dog.

A postman passes a house every day. There was a dog lying on the dirt at the front porch. Everyday the dog makes a whining noise. The postman could tell that the dog was in obvious pain.

One day, the postman could not hold back his curiosity any longer, and he finally asked the owner of the dog what is going on.

The owner replied that the dog is lying on a nail, hence the continuous whining.

The postman then asked the owner why doesn’t the dog walk away from the spot where the nail is.

The owner replied: “Perhaps, it is not painful enough.”

Are we not sometimes like the dog in the story?

Do we sometimes find ourselves stuck in a situation that is causing us pain but stayed on by making excuses about why the situation is bearable?

There is no need to accept and resign to life in the Ordinary World.

The Hero's Journey offers a way to revitalise our spirit, helps us rise above the soul destroying Ordinary World, and makes our lives worth living.