All The Tools You Need To Trust the Path.

This map represents a way to view your life—not as a road full of tears and woe but as a great adventure. It helps you see your life as your journey to grow into your full potential.

Where did this map come from? It’s embedded in our stories!

It’s a visual representation of a story pattern that’s been with us for thousands of years. It’s the same story framework that the blind poet Homer used in the late 8th century B.C. to tell of the adventures of Achilles and Odysseus. It tells us that life begins outside of our comfort zone so we have to answer the call to leave so that we can evolve.

It’s the same story pattern that charts the adventures of characters in our movies and novels today. We are drawn to these stories because they reflect our story -  how we, as real-life heroines, grow.

The journey theme is a pattern, a path available to all. It’s a way of structuring our experience. The hero’s journey isn’t just for certain people with special powers; rather, it’s for everyone. It’s a map that helps us find our own power.

We are all heroes within the context of this enduring, universal myth. We need to wake up to that fact, and the journey’s call is always ready to do just that – to let us know what to look at next within ourselves, if we but listen. 

You have to know the path to know that you’re on it! You have to know what I call the milestones.  That’s why you need the map!

The map says you have to leave your comfort zone and cross the threshold to get on your epic journey. Do it! You’ll receive a call – an urge to make a change – listen to your call. Answer it! Trust your call and you’ll be on the road, on the map to experiences that will turn you into an even more amazing heroine than you already are.

It’s a great gift, this map that has been laid out in stories since storytelling began. If you’re here reading this, then I say to you what the shopkeeper said, “Those only seem to appear when the right person comes in here and finds one. Take it. It will serve you well.”

Here are the structural elements or journey milestones and the corresponding map that I developed:

My Ordinary Life: Here the Heroine is going about her usual business. This is her background: where she lives, her home base, where she hangs out, what she does, what she looks like, what she likes or doesn’t like. It’s her current comfort zone (which is often another phrase that I use for Ordinary Life). 

The Call! But then something happens. The Heroine receives a Call. It takes her out of her ordinary situation. It may be that she’s fired from her job, or laid off, or she gets a promotion, or she breaks up with her partner. It could come as an internal urge to do something different or to go somewhere. Many internal and external incidents push her out of her old patterns, ruts, and routines. But she can always refuse the call. That’s the beauty of it! She can say, “No, I’m not ready. I am going to stay in my Ordinary Life.” 

Threshold Guardians: The Threshold Guardians sense that she is going to be making a change. They warn her to stay put because they want to keep her safe. These could be people she knows or her internal thoughts. They say things to her like: “You’re not smart enough.” “You’re too old.” “You’re too young.” “You don’t have enough credentials.” “They are going to laugh at you.” “You’re being selfish. You’re just thinking of yourself.” “You’re going to fail.” “You’ll never make enough money.” Interestingly, almost all Heroines hear the same kind of warnings from Threshold Guardians. But a Real-Life Heroine stays true to her Call, despite the Threshold Guardian voices.

The Leap: Sometimes the answer to a Call requires a BIG LEAP. The Heroine is asked to do something differently, to make a big change by going into the Unknown. Or it could be small sequential steps. It could be some steps and then going back to Ordinary Life. Eventually, the Heroine puts one foot in front of the other, leaves her Ordinary Life, and Crosses the Threshold.

Mentors at Work: People come forward to help the Heroine. It can be a chance encounter with someone who says just the right thing to keep her on her path. There are visible and invisible mentors that aid the Heroine. 

Adventure Road (Into the Unknown): Once on Adventure Road, the Heroine is on her journey. It is also called “Into the Unknown.”. All kinds of things happen on her journey. Good things. Bad things. But the Threshold Guardians continue to follow her. Their critical voices keep talking to her. But there are also people along the road who help her (both visible and invisible mentors). 

Belly of the Whale: At some point, she’ll arrive in the Belly of the Whale. It can seem like a maze getting there. There are dead ends. The Heroine experiences lots of turmoil at this point. She’s being shaken up and tossed around, up ended, and turned upside down. It’s like being in a Whale’s Belly. And it’s a good thing because this is where she can be born anew. She now sees things and herself from a different perspective. Often being in the Belly is about shaking off old limiting beliefs and unfolding into a more expansive (more evolved) version of herself. 

Adventure Road (continued): The Heroine will continue on Adventure Road. Uh oh, look at those Threshold Guardians, they are still with her. Fear, too, will be a constant companion on her journey. But again, the Heroine puts one foot in front of the other and keeps going. She’s persistent! 

I Find a Dragon: Dragons are older than the Threshold Guardians. They’ve been with the Heroine since her childhood. They are limiting beliefs about herself or what she might be ashamed of.  Often, she doesn't even know she had them. Sometimes they don’t come up on a journey. It’s not every journey that surfaces an old and difficult belief. Dragons are helpful, however, because they represent parts of us that are asking to be healed. Those misconstrued thoughts and beliefs emerge so the Heroine can confront them. She thinks they are a part of her, but they are not. They need to be healed and released. And here’s a difference with a Heroine going on a journey from a Hero. Often Heroes feel that they must slay their dragon and move on. Heroines, I’ve found, embrace their dragon. They want to understand it. They transform their relationship with the dragon. 

I Receive Gifts: Eventually, as the Heroine reaches the end of this journey, she'll realize that she has received gifts. Often the Heroine doesn't even realize what the gifts are until she has crossed the Return Threshold of that journey. But when she does get a chance to look back, she sees them. Gifts could be a new level of awareness, a new skill, more confidence, spiritual growth, or financial achievement. Whatever SHE needed to learn this time around the journey cycle she will be given.  

Return Threshold: This is the marker that this Journey is done. The Heroine returns to her community, and she has evolved. She is different from the person who left her comfort zone because of a Call. Then her duty is to share what she has learned with the people around her -- with her community. 

Free to Live! Eventually, a part of her or all of her gets to be free to live as her authentic self. She will see that what she has learned gives her the freedom to be herself. She has overcome some of her inner dragons and is no longer hostage to false beliefs. The Heroine has released, healed, and integrated some aspects of herself that kept her from being fully who she is.