Hero’s Journey and “The Next Level”
If you don't celebrate your victories, you aren't rewarding your heart for all the hard work. Why should it try again tomorrow?
If you don't grasp all you have learned, where will you get the confidence to learn the new thing?
George Leonard said that most people never get REALLY good at anything not for lack of talent, but because they can't handle the "fallow" periods where it feels nothing is happening, or that they are actually regressing.
And…once you get up on the roof, you don't need to carry the ladder with you.
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If I look at life, in all three major arenas I've finished another cycle of change, and am beginning a new one. After I've analyzed what went before, and taught the lessons to others.Applying the Hero's Journey to the process, some useful questions arise
What IS this next level? Have I recognized and acknowledged the challenge??
What is the fear associated with this moment and the days to come? What part of me must die to enable evolution? What are the risks?
Have I accepted the challenges? They will demand physical, emotional, and mental adjustment.
To the best of my ability, have I defined a daily ritual of action that takes me forward, so that I'm learning something new about life and my own being every day?
Have I clarified the abilities and skills I will need to acquire? The new allies I'll need? The role models who could CRUSH any challenges that frighten me? Integrate all of this, and my commitment to learn, do, and grow, into my Morning Ritual. SAY IT ALOUD while in motion.
What is the major disaster that awaits? Can I sense/see where a "crash and burn" will occur? This isn't a negative, really…it just acknowledges that "the only way you know how far you can go it to go too far." Study people who are at this Next Level in each of the three arenas. What is their reportage about the problems they faced, the crisis they overcame?
When depression and despair hit (and they WILL!) how will I remind myself I"ve been here before? How will I motivate myself to keep going?
What FAITH will I need to get through it. It will be some combination of faith in self, in my companions/mentors, or in a "higher power" however I define that.
I need to clarify my belief that this pattern is valid, and that if I take these steps in advance, and every day, I will win.
And in victory, will return to the beginning of the cycle at a higher level to begin again. If I DON'T follow this pattern carefully, I will fail and DE-scend.
There has never been a time when using this pattern of evaluation has not been revelatory. No, you can't always find all ten steps clearly laid out: sometimes, for instance, we are not at all bothered by fear. But if the challenge is enough to change your life and identity, you will probably find it valuable to go through this. In stories, the most famous and long-lasting stories tend to be those about major transformation externally or internally. But there are also quiet stories that only hint at the full arc: the "road of trials" one degree of arc of two friends just talking about life. A REALLY skilled writer can make that fascinating. Most of us need someone to slam a door, or blow up a building, or burst into tears or SOMETHING.
So…if you use this pattern to look at your life, and the life to come, you probably won't find every step clearly laid out, but it is hella valuable to understand what might be coming if you step into the unknown.
Completing this cycle…
Completes an entire arc of my life journey in terms of martial arts, and takes me into my Elder years
Completes an arc of parenting with Jason, and the promise Tananarive and I made to each other about the meaning of our marriage.
Completes an arc of career. I feel that certain things outside my control cost me about twenty years off my work life. I want that time back. While life has been kind enough to give me all my childhood dreams, I have some adult dreams yet to be satisfied, and the little kid inside me is delighted to step back up to the plate. I want a television series, and a movie. Boom.
This next journey is the last act of an aspect of my life. The first act of another aspect of my life. This is pure transformation time. I will need courage, a bulletproof work ethic, new allies and abilities, and deep deep faith for the moment, totally inevitable, when I hit the wall.
And need to feel that I'm doing this not just for myself, and my family, but my tribe. To make my little kid dance. To make the old man I'll be on my deathbed smile.
That's the whole enchilada. Can't get more serioius than this. So…I guess I'd better laugh about it all, right?
Namaste
Steve
