2018 - The Year of Story Telling : The Heroes Journey

Along with a few others, during November  I was on a video conference call enjoying month 3 of Metanoia; a personal development programme written and delivered by good friend Viktoria Duda.

During this session we looked at the Hero's Journey [diagram to the left / above].

This model was hammered out by Jospeh Cambell who observed that throughout history stories repeatedly consisted of similar components (acts) and archetypes (actors or players). These two elements combining within this flexible model to provide an almost limitless variety of adaptations for the storyteller that serve to amplify the transitional journey of the Hero; the central character.

What has drawn me too this "Hero's Journey" is not only my own love for recounting stories that resonate with others, but that we all love a good story. It is built into the human psyche. Humans have been recording their stories with wall carvings, paintings, objects, tapestries, words, books and movies for thousands of years.

The things is, we remember stories much better than facts and figures. We love to see the underdog win against all the odds... to come through after anything and everything is stacked up against him or her (sadly mostly him). Even when the finer details of the story are long since forgotten the key components of the story remain... the triumph of good over evil, the hard and difficult road to the final battle and then... Restoration of balance and fairness. The right thing being done, even if it comes at a huge price for the Hero... sacrifice for the greater good.

Every story has a hero... even if the hero doesn't want to be a hero, he or she is there... it really can't make it as a story if there isn't someone doing battle with something or someone. It doesn't even need to be in the physical... the 'evil' or 'enemy' can be (and often is) an internal battle that is going on... that little voice plugging away in our heads, keeping us small, quiet, out of the way, hoping no one will notice our passing...

Recently I have been challenging the idea that life is a journey... if our life were a journey we'd want to get to the end of the journey so we could chill a bit... but actually rushing to the end we would have missed out on all the things that went on along the way.

I think a much better analogy is that "Life is a Story" and we are the main character. Our canvas is our life... and we "Play out our life". We don't "journey the piano", or "journey the violin"... we play them. The point of the piece being played isn't to get to the end, but to enjoy the whole piece. It's purpose is "to be" and create enjoyment to the listener. And our lives?

So what of your story?

We all have a story... a living, breathing story... sadly most of us don't get to tell our story that often, where could we do that? ... but do you know what is even sadder to me? ... most of us don't think we have a story 'worth' telling... and we certainly don't consider ourselves any kind of hero!!

All I hear in my many interactions with others is people putting themselves down... it was nothing really... Anyone could have done that... I've never done anything great or significant in my life... who would want to listen to me droning on about my life... I'm just not interesting... I'm not a hero...

Every single one of us has had problems... every single one of us has overcome something in our lives... even if it was just surviving a turbulent time at school... WE ALL HAVE A STORY! ... which means we have all been, and continue to be, a hero in our living story!

2018 - The year of Story telling

So one of the missions for 2018 at IPSL - Innovation - People - Skills +Link4Growth SW Herts is to uncover your stories.

There are so many great stories going on out there in our communities that go unheard... That's going to change!!

We're going to help people (groups) in our community tell their stories!!

Have you ever looked back at your life and jotted down the significant points which were life changing? ... chances are something of real importance happened. It must of... as you changed direction. There's a story there... WHY did you change? ... we don't like change so it must have been pretty big to overcome that alone...

If you've ever heard the saying "People buy people first" ... here's another one... "People might buy people, but they fall in love with your story" ... Pretty much all charities, all community groups, and all businesses started because the pain of change became less than the pain of staying with the problem... that's a hero's journey... so let's tell them!!

Revamping the community Hub and on a mission

Over Xmas 2018 we will be reworking the SWHerts Community Hub, ready to 'House' all your lovely stories. We will be interacting with everyone that wants to get their stories out into the public eye... using written stories / articles, Video interviews, sharing your own content, and using our own SWHerts Community TV.

This is a huge project for 2018 and everyone can play a part... 

1. Are you part of a community group that would like more people to know what you are doing and perhaps leading on to others participating
2. Do you know of a community group that needs a bit more exposure and is struggling to grow
3. Are you someone wanting to give back to the community and would like to get involved
4. Do you like writing, meeting people and potentially would like to help get stories told
5. Are you good with technology, video, pictures and happy to get along and help produce imagery / video to complement stories
6. Are you good at organising and happy to help manage the communications and interaction to help make the whole story telling project go smoothly
7. Would you enjoy interviewing people 'online' or developing your skills in this arena

There are so many ways to get involved... at the end of 2018... how many stories do you think we could tell? 

Maybe a little competition to guess... with a prize for the closest answer... let's do this! 

[More on the Hero's Journey can be found here...]