Learn what the Hero’s Journey can teach us about the dying process and how to support someone on that journey.
In this solo episode I share some thoughts about the archetypal Hero’s Journey, conceived by Joseph Campbell as a template for the transformative experiences of our own lives and those who are facing the end of life. Each of us has the opportunity to be a mentor for someone who is going through the ordeal of their own hero’s journey and this model can help us understand how to offer support and what is needed from us. Download a one page handout at the link below:
This episode includes:
- Why the archetypal Hero’s Journey applies to people at the end of life
- Why things generally have to fall apart before transformation can occur
- How dissolution of life’s equilibrium can lead to either transformation or regression
- The importance of a mentor for people experiencing the sacred end-of-life journey
- The most important tasks of the end-of-life hero’s journey
- Reframing Suffering
- Strengthening Connections
- Finding Meaning
- Facing Fear of Death
- How unaddressed shadow issues can sabotage transformation at the end of life
- The benefits of stories as tools for a mentor
- How to utilize stories to assist with transformation
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Sign up for the 2021 online reading group A Year of Reading Dangerously at this link
- Support your local bookstore by buying my books on Bookshop and Indiebound: 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying and The Journey from Ego to Soul
- Subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Stitcher Radio
- Check out the Series I’ve recorded in the past here
- Join the team at Patreon.com/eolu and get access to the EOLU mug: “Mind if we talk about death?” (only Patrons can purchase it). PLUS get our new bonuses: the monthly EOL News Update, movie reviews from 2 Doctors and a Movie, and automatic access to A Year of Reading Dangerously!
If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes! Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu! Your contributions make all the difference!