Some people, we say, have ‘passion’. They love what they do, they have a deep sense of their story, their meaning in life. Perhaps most important, they know who they are in their own story.

Other people seem to have lost their story. They may have material possessions – the right job, the right look, the right clothes, the right partners. But inside themselves, they feel empty. Even when they go through La Dolce Vita, it is movement without purpose.

We find a model for learning how to live in stories about heroism. The Hero’s Journey is about saying yes to yourself and, in doing so, becoming more fully alive and more effective in the world. For The Hero’s Journey is first about taking a journey to find the treasure of your true self, and then returning home to give your story to transform your world – and in the process, your own life. The Hero’s Journey itself is replete with dangers and pitfalls, but it offers great rewards: the capacity to be successful in the world, knowledge of the power of the stories we tell ourselves, the opportunity to find and express your unique story in the world and to live in loving community with other people.