The hero's journey

 
 

The hero’s journey is not one that requires us to travel to a foreign land to slay dragons hidden in remote caves.⁣⁣⁣
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The hero’s journey is a quest that beckons us to descend within.⁣⁣⁣
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It is the journey of returning home. Of re-membering. Of walking back into wholeness. ⁣⁣⁣
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Heaven, hell. ⁣⁣⁣
The jailer, the prisoner. ⁣⁣⁣
The demon, the hero. ⁣⁣⁣
The fool, the wise one.⁣⁣⁣
The author of the whole story… ⁣⁣⁣
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they are all contained inside of us. ⁣⁣⁣
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This adventure leads us to leave behind the security of the known and step into the wild mystery of the unknown.⁣⁣⁣
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It initiates us. It invites us to become intimate with our edges and thresholds. ⁣⁣⁣
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It takes us through the desolate landscapes that we have abandoned, evacuated and forgotten. ⁣⁣⁣
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It presents challenges that will ask for us to go beyond what we thought we were capable of.⁣⁣⁣

It will ask us to surrender who we thought we were, and it will show us who we really are. ⁣⁣⁣
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It invites us to come face to face with the parts of us we’ve shunned, starved, exiled.⁣⁣⁣
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It invites us to nurse these strangers. ⁣⁣⁣
And show more mercy and compassion than we thought was possible. ⁣⁣⁣
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This journey stitches our wounds, and it breaks us open.⁣⁣⁣
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It demands us to hold it all. To feel it all. And to let it all go.⁣⁣⁣
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It’s always been an adventure of you, with you, beloved one.⁣⁣⁣
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The world has been but a mirror pointing you in, where the truth lives.⁣⁣⁣
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Don’t get distracted by the illusion of maya. ⁣⁣⁣
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Turn back inside. ⁣⁣⁣
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Don’t let any part of you stand outside from your warm embrace. ⁣⁣⁣
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Let no part of you remain untouched by your attention and care.⁣⁣⁣
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The beautiful, the cruel, the ugly, the exquisite. ⁣⁣⁣
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Let them all know they are welcomed here. ⁣⁣⁣
Let them know your heart is big enough to contain them all.⁣⁣⁣
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Courage is needed for this adventure. ⁣⁣⁣
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And yet, like any legendary hero, each one of us already carries all that is needed for our own unique adventure. ⁣⁣⁣
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Stop waiting for a saviour to come get you, he’s not coming. ⁣⁣⁣
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It’s is only your own sword, your own commitment, that will deliver you back home.

 
 
Jeanine Gasser