ON COPYING: You are welcome to quote or link to my articles, but please do not copy or repost them. If you would like a PDF copy to use for your classroom or work, contact me. Ironically, when most of us think of the Hero’s Journey, we think not of Joseph Campbell’s iconic monomyth, but […]

To “purify” the mind doesn’t mean that you become holy or other than you are; it… Read More A challenge either knocks us down or lifts us up, depending on our attitude. Read More Resilience is an innate capacity in the brain that allows us to face and deal with… Read More Don’t demean your […]

The Hero’s Journey: Life’s Great Adventure – This is the original student text from our teacher’s guide discussing why we should study the hero’s journey and outlining its eight stages. (This material has been updated and expanded in our new teacher’s guide.) My Journey into the Journey – This article chronicles my (Reg Harris) forty-year exploration of […]

In 1975 I was hired by St. Helena High School (St. Helena, CA) to replace a teacher who had to leave just one month into the school year. When I walked into her classroom on my first day, I found a paper on her desk with a note attached. “This might be of help,” the […]

Attributing Outcomes: The Journey from Victim to Hero – Often the first step in the Hero’s Journey is learning to accept responsibility for our own lives. This article explores a concept called the “Locus of Control” and the process of building more effective, life-affirming meaning in our lives. Enantiodromia: Dancing with the Shadow, Part I – In […]

NOTE: You are welcome to link to this article, but please don’t copy or repost it. If you would like a PDF copy to use in your class or work, please contact me. Preface: The Writer’s Journey is not Campbell’s Monomyth During the 150 years of so that scholars have studied the Hero’s Journey, perhaps […]

We don’t “take” journeys. We “unfold” them, organically, as a dialogue with our world. Read More A symbol is like a mirror swinging out from the mind, allowing the mind to look… Read More Mythic thought touches the meaning and significance of our lives. Read More Zen Buddhists have a saying: “The finger that points […]

This fun project has everything you need to create a meaningful personal mandala. Although designed for use with our Hero’s Journey materials, this FREE activity can help students explore a character’s growth and challenges in any piece of fiction or film. Everything you need to teach the basic Hero’s Journey in just one week. The […]

Don’t demean your dreams by relegating them to a “bucket list.” Read More We usually see the Call as the beginning of a new life, but it also signals… Read More We don’t “take” journeys. We “unfold” them, organically, as a dialogue with our world. Read More Mythic thought touches the meaning and significance of […]

On our journeys we use many “rafts” to carry us from one point in life to the next. Buddha tells us carrying these “rafts” after they have served their purpose ties us to our past rather than transporting us into our future. Buddha once told his disciples the story of a man who is trapped […]

NOTE: You are welcome to link to this article, but do not copy or repost it. If you would like a PDF copy to use in your class or work, please contact me. One of the most important learning models to emerge in recent decades is schema theory. Schema theory proposes that humans process experience […]

Story shapes our lives and our world, and the Hero’s Journey is at the heart of story. It is both the process by which we build our stories and the form of the stories themselves. In Celtic mythology, a fallow deer leads the great Irish hero Oisin into the forest and to the edge of […]

NOTE: I adapted this article from a chapter in The Path of Transformation. While it is a bit dated, the concepts it explores and the points it makes are, perhaps, more relevant today than they were when it was written. To make meaning in life is to create dynamic narratives that render sensible and coherent […]

In this 2014 interview with Oprah Winfrey, author Elizabeth Gilbert offers interesting insights into threshold resistance,… Read More Zen Buddhists have a saying: “The finger that points at the moon is not the moon.”… Read More