{"id":666,"date":"2012-07-17T23:35:36","date_gmt":"2012-07-17T23:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/?p=666"},"modified":"2012-07-17T23:35:36","modified_gmt":"2012-07-17T23:35:36","slug":"what-is-your-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/2012\/07\/17\/what-is-your-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Your Journey?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\"\"<\/a>n his last blog, Juan said that writing and \u201creflecting on the different stages of your life, can dramatically improve your understanding of yourself and others.\u201d<\/p>\n

From earliest human history, throughout all world cultures, we have told our stories. Huddled around the campfire or sleeping under the stars, our ancestors passed down the stories that define us as human beings.<\/p>\n

Joseph Campbell (1968) traced the mythic pattern of the hero\u2019s journey\u2014the courageous individual who leaves the known world for the great unknown, returning with a treasure to share with the larger community. Although some scholars see this as a masculine model of self-definition, I see the hero\u2019s journey repeated in each of our lives. From the journeys of Odysseus to Dante\u2019s Divine Comedy, the vision quests of Native Americans, to Thoreau living \u201cdeliberately\u201d at Walden Pond to courageous individuals in recent times\u2014Jacques Cousteau\u2019s journeys to the ocean depths, Margaret Mead\u2019s research in Samoa, Jane Goodall\u2019s discoveries among the chimps in Africa\u2014these journeys give us all a greater understanding of ourselves and our world.<\/p>\n

The journey is ever present, yours and mine. Whenever we venture from the known to the great unknown\u2014whether facing a new challenge or reaching out to explore a new opportunity, we take the hero\u2019s journey, discovering valuable treasures along the way.<\/p>\n

Take a few moments now to reflect on your own journey.<\/p>\n