Storytelling and the Hero’s Journey

Jim has a brother  who has a lot of funny things happen to him.  Whenever he is around, the conversation veers towards a retelling of humorous moments in his life.  This brother has a self deprecating sense of humor, so he often tells these stories about himself with a lot of wit ( and with a very loud voice which seems to be part of being a Sheehan man).

There is the story of his college friends pushing him into the middle of the runners at the Boston Marathon. Much as he tried to get back to the sidelines, police kept moving him back into the mix of runners. When he faltered, fellow runners encouraged him on.  And so he ran the final miles of the marathon in loafers before being crossing the finish line to be draped in a blanket by race officials.  As he likes to say, “I’m the only one in the family to finish the Boston Marathon.”

Another much repeated tale took place back in the days when he and Jim worked the night shift at an ice cream factory. Co-workers    (sadly on this fateful night this did not include a sensible Jim) challenged his brother to put a five gallon bucket of fudge sauce on his head. After the bucket was in place, Jim’s brother realized a suction had formed, and he couldn’t get the bucket off.  Covered in fudge from his neck up and unable to breath, he contemplated his imminent death by fudge. Fortunately he decided to try and break the seal by forcing his fingers up the side of the bucket into the gooey mass of fudge. Soon he had a cavity in which to breath, and eventually his co-workers realized they needed to help him remove the deadly bucket of fudge.

Well, you get the picture.  We like to sit around and tell stories as a family, and there are some good ones we never tire of hearing.

Yesterday I heard someone say that the time period we are heading into will be a time of great stories.  Generations from now,  people will still be telling stories about us.  I liked this idea.  It felt true to me.

The stories are not going to be lame chit chat. They may not be as funny as the fudge bucket story either ( though who knows for sure).  However, they will be BIG stories of us awakening to our oneness.

Unity Consciousness.

I suspect it will be hard to go back to anything less after we experience this.  As babies we don’t forget those fingers are ours once we realize their connection to our bodies.  I doubt we’ll forget our oneness once we know it with every fiber of our beings.

And this time of realizing we are all one is going to be epic and make for epic stories.

This is our collective heroes journey unfolding. Every hero has a limitation or flaw when the story begins, and we have that.  We think we are separate.

Every hero gets a call to action and a job only that person can do.  The quest may feel like a bad idea and one that the hero would rather not do.  After all, Bilbo Baggins didn’t want to leave the ‘Shire, nor did Frodo want to be the ring bearer, but these were their quests and each of us has ours.

The call has gone out to humanity. Now we are deep into the the quest with all its challenges. There are adversaries that would like to keep us in the dark, passive and feeling powerless.  There are mentors there to help us. LOTS.  No doubt there will be moments of song and feast when we can celebrate a victory along the way before we have to begin again on our journey.

And no doubt we will make it. And when we do, we will know ourselves so very differently, and everything we know we will have earned. The journey will be our making.

I know I keep yammering on about Greta Thunberg, but she is an example of someone who knows she is the hero of the tale.  Not because she wanted that role, but because she heeded the call and accepted that much as she might have wanted to just be an ordinary teenager playing with her dog, she had to rise to the challenge.  She accepted that she is the only person who can do what she is doing.

And talk about epic! She is on her way across the Atlantic right now in a sailboat. She no longer flies because of the carbon footprint of flying.  And this boat she is on is no cruise ship.  This morning she described it as like “camping on a rollercoaster.”  Regardless of her fears, she is on the high seas coming towards us in America to see who has a role in her adventure.

What are each of our quests? Are our quests shifting with these times or are we in alignment with purpose?  In these late summer days, as I sit out under the lilacs, knitting for the babies in my life, I keep asking myself this.  I am trying to go deep, deep, deep into listening. What is my mission and what is not?  Are there course corrections I need to make?  Sometimes I make errors and get involved in missions that are not mine.  I am grateful for all the beings and my own oneness in Divinity that swings me back to my course.

Of one thing I am sure.  Flowers and sharing their gifts that help take us towards knowing our Divinity and oneness remains my mission.  As I move around the gardens making late summer Flower Essences, I am so grateful that there are so many people in this oneness rising to the call of the other quests taking us to unity consciousness. I salute all of you. I thank all of you.

Many years from now, I look forward to sitting around the campfire and hearing the tales of your heroic journeys that took us to a New Earth.  In the meantime. I am so glad for the mail and email.  Each day, I get to read about your heroic journeys in process. Yes, there are no campfires or ‘smores, but there is heart to heart sharing and that is bliss!

PS A shout out to Taylor Sheehan ( the daughter of Fudge Bucket Sheehan) Thank you for giving us yet another reason why we are grateful Jim’s brother survived the Fudge Bucket experience.  Thank you for spending your summer with the women of Green Hope Farm.  We deeply appreciate your humor ( especially about your dad), your zest for life (and all things computer) and your indomitable spirit. We will miss your wardrobe weather predictions.  Have a wonderful sophomore year in college!