Stories are powerful creative tools. They are the way we organize, process, and integrate the events and experiences of our lives into coherent structures and memories which we can reflect on in our quiet moments, and share with others. The stories we create, tell, and believe become our individual and shared realities, and ultimately determine the way we relate to ourselves, to others, and to the world.
As a writer of short stories, I first became interested in the underlying structure of stories through the work of Joseph Campbell, a comparative mythologist, who studied the mythologies of many cultures. He found that there was a common underlying pattern found in myths and narratives from around the world. The pattern came to be known as the Hero's Journey, or Monomyth.
The Hero's Journey has been popularized by Chris Vogler, a writer and story consultant, through his book: The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. This pattern, which encapsulates clearly identifiable stages (the ordinary world, the call to adventure, refusal of the call, meeting with the mentor, crossing the first threshold, etc.) and archetypes (hero, mentor, herald, threshold guardian, shadow, etc.), has since been used by the Walt Disney Company, and is also the basis of many Hollywood blockbusters such as The Matrix, as illustrated in the following short video clip.
Our lives, careers, and organizations can be seen in terms of the stories that permeate them. These stories will germinate and thrive whether we like it or not, and they will determine the course and outcome of our endeavors. By bringing our creativity to bear, we can have a hand in writing our lives and careers as wholesome and nourishing stories rather than destructive ones that work against the fulfillment of our deep desires and aspirations.
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