Living the Hero's Journey

by Will Craig

  Life is a collection of moments. The special moments in our lives make everything that went into manifesting them worthwhile. Live for the moment.

  Self-Discovery

  Do you have an accountability partner—someone who keeps you motived and committed to results?

  In the past, how have you transformed tragedy into triumph, misfortune into fortune?

  If dealing with fate is going to be a regular thing (and it is), how does acknowledging this change things?

  Which “moments” in your life have been the most meaningful and memorable?

  CHAPTER 12

  Endowment

  The greatest talents often lie buried out of sight. ~ Plautus, Roman playwright

  W ill Hunting is a janitor and construction worker from a blue-collar neighborhood in South Boston. His favorite pastimes are baseball, bars, and his buddies. Will has a gift for math and chemistry but suppresses his potential in favor of fitting in with his working-class friends. He wants Skylar, a Harvard med student who’s taken a liking to him, to finish her organic-chemistry homework so they can hang out at the batting cages. Skylar doesn’t understand how Will’s mind works. Even the smartest people she knows have to study—a lot. To Will, it comes so easily. He attempts an explanation.

  Will: Did you play the piano?

  Skylar: I want to talk about this.

  Will: No, I’m trying to explain it to you. You play the piano?

  Skylar: Yeah, a bit.

  Will: So when you look at a piano you see Mozart.

  Skylar: I see “Chop Sticks.”

  Will: Alright, well, Beethoven. He looked at a piano and it just made sense to him. He could just play.

  Skylar: So, what are you saying. You play the piano?

  Will: No, not a lick. I mean, I look at a piano and see a bunch of keys, three pedals and a box of wood. But Beethoven, Mozart, they saw it and they could just play. I couldn’t paint you a picture, I probably can't hit the ball out of Fenway, and I can't play the piano.

  Skylar: But you can do my O-chem paper in under an hour.

  Will: Right, well, when it came to stuff like that, I could always just play.

  What do you “just play?” Sometimes we forget or neglect our talents, and they drift off into the ether. Other times, in an effort to please, we try making a talent out of something somebody else wishes they had. You spend more time with yourself than anyone else, by a long shot. You know what’s best. Trust yourself and nurture your best nature. Now is the time to really tune in to what you “just play” and share it with the world.

  Destination – Knowledge and Wisdom

  It may not be accurate to declare knowledge and wisdom to be your destination. You’ve been accumulating an understanding of who you are and where you’re going for some time now. The application of this knowledge and wisdom comes in the form of boon and bounty.

  Fellow Traveler – Mentor

  Mentor is back with you for this segment of the journey but in more of a train-the-trainer capacity. You are about to take on the mentoring responsibilities inherent in life mastery. Consider it a passing of the baton, as it is now your turn to mentor.

  Personal Guide – Generosity

  The guide of generosity empowers you while you empower others through your kindness, caring, and sharing. The spirit of generosity manifests abundance and goodness in exchange for your gifts and talents—a fair trade your guide joyfully administers.

  Generosity is a spiritual value, as well as a spiritual practice throughout the world. It is taught as a core value by all major religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism. Generosity is one of the five pillars of Islam. Generosity is also a central pillar of Buddhism. Dana (pronounced “dah-na”) is the Pali word for generosity and is considered one of the Seven Treasures of Noble Ones. Dating back to the time of the Buddha, it affirms that in the act of giving, we develop an ability to let go, cultivate a spirit of caring, and acknowledge the interconnectedness we all share.

  While being generous is noble, there is also genius in it. It’s no accident that both words share the same root of gen, meaning birth, as in “to generate.” Generosity involves generating prosperity and abundance through attitude and actions. It is a transformational cycle of positive energy enlarging the lives of others while magnifying the life of the hero in the process.

  “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”~ Pablo Picasso

  Gifts, Talents, and Strengths

  You were born to flourish. As you enthusiastically set off collecting meaningful moments, don’t miss this one. Your heightened sense of awareness and engagement is illuminating a new you that’s open to life as it comes—life as it is meant to be. New insights into your destiny find you willfully embracing the unknown. Or, as The Motivation Manifesto author Brendon Burchard puts it, “joyfully unwrapping the gifts that fate has chosen to bring.”

  Endowments are many and varied. These are just a few: creativity, intuition, empathy, social skills, problem-solving, self-discipline, and artistic endeavors.

  Your gifts, virtues, and life skills are temporarily in your care. As they say, you can’t take it with you. You may generously pass them on to others, especially those having just received the call. You will soon be the mentor helping shape others with what you have learned.

  Knowledge and wisdom are another one of those word pairings that can be confusing. The easiest way to grasp a distinction is to dissect the elements of learning.

  Data: ways of expressing things, facts

  Information: arrangement of data into meaningful patterns

  Experience: application and productive use of information

  Knowledge: practical understanding through experience

  Wisdom: the discerning use of knowledge

  The process of data becoming information and information becoming knowledge is at the heart of thinking, communicating, and learning. Wisdom speaks from the soul.

  Accumulated wisdom is the discerning use of knowledge over time. This is often accomplished through feelings, instincts, and intuition—the tools of wisdom.

  While we’re at it, we should make one more distinction—the difference between gifts and talents. “Your talent allows you to have a wonderful career,” says comedian Steve Harvey, “Your talent is what you’re paid for. Your gift is what you’re made for.” Purpose and passion emanate from your gift. The deeper reason for your being goes way beyond your talents, but it will take everything you have to achieve your destiny.

  Our gifts and talents are inside us just waiting to sing. They get a shout-out every once in a while, but not nearly enough time to belt out the whole song. Ridding ourselves of the doubts and limitations that incapacitate us enables us to embrace the endowments with which we have been entrusted.

  Gathering Your Gifts

  If you’ve been looking for a gift and can’t seem to locate it, or if you think you know what it is but you’re not quite sure, try looking here: Your gift is in your pain.

  When I was young, education was my nemesis. School was the bane of my existence. I was terrible at memorization and didn’t test well. For book reports, I would find a book in the library with dust-cover flaps summarizing the story. To expand upon that, I would flip through the book, find a paragraph here, add a caption there, and call it a book report.

  In high school, I received special permission to enter a work-study program where I attended only three classes and then went to work at a full-time job. I loved it. I was doing, and it felt great. Much better than being a student—a poor one, at that.

  The educational philosophy I embraced at the time came from Mark Twain, who said, “Some people get an education without going to college; the rest get it after they get out.”

  It’s little more than ironic that a guy who barely makes it out of high school finds his passion in education. The motivation? A growing awareness of learning styles. My style is primarily kinesthetic—I learn by doing. I f
ound myself seeking out experiential learning opportunities and couldn’t get enough. I was gifted with a love of learning and pursued it with a passion. There was no way I was going to let schooling interfere with my education. Thank you, Mr. Twain.

  It was 20 years before I set foot in my first college classroom. Once I graduated (at the age of 43), it was a breakthrough—not because I had earned a master’s degree at a major university but because it wasn’t that big of a deal. I had already encountered most of the curriculum in the School of Hard Knocks. I knew from experience what the professors were teaching in theory.

  Right then, I dedicated myself to learning and teaching. The experience was transformative. At the time, I didn’t realize educating was my gift; I just knew that no one needs to wander around for decades thinking they aren’t very smart.

  The pain I felt in not being smart revealed my gift. The pain you feel may be just the 2x4 smacking you upside your head letting you know your gift is RIGHT HERE. Don’t wait for the better part of your life to pass by before you dig at the source of your pain. The gift you uncover might just surprise you.

  Returning With the Elixir

  The noblest goal in all of Western alchemy is discovering the “elixir of life.” If a person were to drink the elixir from a specific cup, at a particular time, at regular intervals, they would be granted eternal youth, and quite possibly, immortality. This is the final reward on the Hero’s Journey—the boon, the benefit, the bounty.

  The hero has endured much pain, faced countless injustices, braved certain danger, and bested impossible odds. To the victor go the spoils.

  The final reward on the Hero’s Journey is a personalized elixir for which you provide the ingredients and customized chemistry. The prize may come in the form of a magic potion but could just as easily be a great treasure, skills acquired, or newfound wisdom.

  These endowments enable you to return to your conscious world and share valuable insights, perspective, and awareness. This is why you are here. This is why you were born. No one else brings your gifts to this world.

  Returning with the elixir means you can now heal the wounds of the community, the collective, just as you have healed your own. The life lessons, the hands-on experience, the practical knowledge, all position you to do the most good for the most people in the most amazing way.

  Grace, Goodness, and Gratitude

  In creating the magic elixir, our inner alchemist mixes healthy portions of awareness, change, and renewal with equal quantities of grace, goodness, and gratitude. In a proprietary methodology, this artful amalgamation also receives a squirt of oxytocin and—voila—our own customized elixir of life.

  Oxytocin is the chemical in our brain responsible for empathy, or simply put, our ability to appreciate what it must be like to be in the same situation as someone else. When we identify with someone in need, our brains generate a flow of oxytocin. This chemical creation is much like when our brains synthesize endorphins or push adrenaline through our systems to avert danger. With heightened levels of oxytocin, we are more trustworthy, generous, charitable, and compassionate.

  So, if the endowment period is all about the giving of your gifts and talents, what’s in it for you? That’s the “grace, goodness, and gratitude” part.

  Oh gee, thanks, right? Don’t these sound more like consolation prizes? Think about what you get, though.

  Grace is found in the beauty of form, the fluidity of motion, and the elegance of aesthetics. Poise, finesse, and etiquette are graceful endowments, as are dignity, decency, and decorum. We can be graced by someone’s presence, and we express joy when exhibiting our own gracefulness.

  Goodness is marked by the qualities of moral excellence and virtuous conduct. It is also an inherent trait in many of your personal guides on this journey: truth, integrity, character, and generosity. Goodness is the endowment that promotes living well by doing well.

  Gratitude activates the essence of life. Being thankful, showing appreciation, and returning kindness super-charges everything and everyone in its path. Being grateful promotes love and compassion while improving self-esteem, mental vitality, and psychological health.

  These sound like the ultimate wish list for a life well lived. Grace, goodness, and gratitude are like the additives you put in the gas tank to make your car perform better, or the vitamins and supplements you take at breakfast to boost your body. Immersing yourself in the elixir of life is as close as one gets to eternal youth and immortality.

  Exploring Your Role

  Joyfully unwrap the gifts fate has brought you (don’t mind the paper cuts). You are the temporary guardian of the talents and strengths you have been afforded. Your endowments enable you to “save the world” to which you return.

  Don’t forget what you have learned here. Assist in the labor of the mind and birth knowledge and wisdom into your world.

  • Purpose and passion emanate from your gifts.

  • Nobody else brings your gifts to the world but you.

  • Accumulated wisdom is the discerning use of knowledge over time.

  • Grace, goodness, and gratitude are the heartbeat of a life well lived.

  • Live well by doing well.

  At this point, it hardly seems enough to heed the words of our personal guide: “Give more than you take.” We benefit so much from the generosity we demonstrate, it almost seems selfish.

  Going forward, know that it is impossible to give more than you receive. This becomes all the more evident when you embrace the role of the mentor. We’ll delve into this topic next.

  Self-Discovery

  What do you “just play?” Start a list of your gifts, talents, and strengths.

  Which of these endowments are you able to generously pass on to others?

  Of all your gifts, virtues, and life skills, which is your best? What makes you stand tall and stand out?

  Considering everything that has happened in your life, for what are you most grateful?

  Return with the Elixir

  Unlock your gifts and talents.

  willcraig.com/gifts

  CHAPTER 13

  Life Mastery

  Do not go where the path may lead you, go where there is no path and leave a trail. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

  O ne of the greatest action-adventure stories ever filmed is Raiders of the Lost Ark. The U.S. government hires Dr. Indiana Jones, an eminent archaeologist and antiquities expert, to find the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark is believed to hold the Ten Commandments. Dr. Jones’ transformation from a half-dorky college professor to whip-cracking, fedora-wearing action hero is an arc of the cinematic kind. The dual story lines make for great entertainment.

  Set in 1936, Indy and his ex-flame, Marion, set off on a quest that takes them from Nepal to Cairo. The fast-paced, comic-book, cliff-hanger, non-stop action-adventure film set a new standard for the genre and became an instant Hollywood classic.

  Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of those rare creative endeavors that produces layers of legends. It was the 1981 summer box-office smash and the year’s top-grossing film. Harrison Ford, who had already locked in fame with the Star Wars films, went on to do three more Indiana Jones movies, with a fifth on the way.

  Raiders was the first collaboration between the two legendary filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. They both happened to be in Hawaii as Star Wars was making history of its own. Lucas shared his concept for a movie about a globe-trotting archaeologist and academic named Indiana Smith. Indiana was the name of Lucas’ dog, who loved riding in the passenger seat of his car. The Alaskan Malamute was also the inspiration for Chewbacca in Star Wars. Spielberg liked the idea but didn’t think Smith was the right name for the character. Lucas said, “Okay, what about Jones?”

  All three—Ford, Lucas, and Spielberg—are legends in the entertainment industry. They created a legendary character in a legendary motion picture that was nominated for nine Academy Awards and remains one of the highest-grossing films of all time.

/>   Raiders was a win for everyone, especially audience members who joined Indy on his adventures. We were all the hero in that story, even if it was only for 155 minutes. The Indiana Jones film series leaves a lasting legacy for everyone involved: the creators, the studio, the cast, and crew. In essence, the storytellers—the mythmakers.

  Think about the possibilities for your storytelling. We are all the bona-fide heroes of our own action-adventure—minus the fedora and bullwhip. What do you want your legacy to be?

  Destination – Legend and Legacy

  Arriving at the final destination is an end and a new beginning. Identifying your legend and establishing your legacy are the rewards and renewal you earn. Heralds in the distance trumpet a new call to adventure for the hero with new awareness.

  Fellow Travelers – Heroes, Allies

  If there was any doubt before, as to who is the hero of this story, there is none now. A new you has evolved from the experience of a lifetime. Your friends, colleagues, and other hometown heroes welcome you back to where you began—familiar yet different as seen through fresh eyes.

  The hero’s inner journey is symbolic of the soul in transformation and represents our individual search for identity and wholeness. As the hero on this quest, we face our demons, dragons, and monsters. We enlist the support of our internal helpers, guides, and mentors. We look inside ourselves and find corruption and cruelty. We also find friends and allies who live within the boundaries of our heart and soul. Our task on this expedition is to assimilate all the seemingly disparate entities within ourselves into a single, congruent, and balanced being. No small task.