ever left the country, I traveled. I traveled to India and I kind went through this whole process...

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Hero - VIP AudioHello VIP members and welcome to this month’s lesson. Now, this topic is I think very interesting. It’s interesting for me, hopefully interesting for you. I was thinking about topics to talk about and I remembered one of my favorite books. It’s by a guy named Joseph Campbell. Joseph Campbell wrote about mythology and he has a book called The Hero with a Thousand Faces. It’s a great book and I highly recommend it. If you find this topic interesting go get that book. Maybe you can find it on Amazon or something. Try it in English maybe. It might be a challenge, I don’t know, but you could try reading it in English if you feel your reading ability is high enough. If not, you might be able to find a translation in your own language.

So, anyway, The Hero with a Thousand Faces talks about this idea of the hero and the hero’s journey and the archetype of the hero and the hero’s journey. That may be a new word ‘archetype’. It’s an interesting word. An archetype is kind of a standard character or a standard symbol and by standard I mean it’s something that we find in like all of humanity in different cultures. So every culture in the world that we know of, for example, has an idea of a hero, right? Maybe it’s a religious hero. Maybe it’s some kind of god or something from the past, a historical hero, but we can find heroes in many, many, many different cultures, in fact, all human cultures that we know of.

The reason this is an archetype, a standard symbol, is that, in fact, there are many characteristics. There are many similarities that are shared between heroes in almost all cultures. This is what Joseph Campbell studied and why I find this book very interesting is that he looked at the hero stories from ancient Greece, the hero stories from ancient India, the hero stories of Native Americans, the hero stories from the Middle East, from Europe, from South America. He looked at all of them and he compared them and he found certain themes, certain ideas, certain similarities that you see again and again and again and again.

This is what an archetype is. It’s something that’s kind of very basic to humanity that we find in people everywhere or cultures everywhere. So the hero is an archetype. It’s a kind of symbolic character that you can find everywhere. It’s true for all humans. So let me tell you about Joseph Campbell’s description of this archetype. What he found is in all these cultures that there’s a similarity between the stories that describe heroes. He calls it the hero’s journey and it has standard parts. It doesn’t matter, every culture. So let’s talk about that and then we can talk about in the commentary maybe how we might use this in our own life.

So what are the steps in the hero journey that we find in all these stories and all these cultures? Step one is that the story usually starts with the hero at home. The hero is at home, meaning in his home country or in her home village or whatever, in their normal environment, and the story starts when they have some kind of disturbance, something


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disturbs them mentally or emotionally. Maybe it’s a problem that happens in their country. Maybe they have a dream. Maybe a vision from God or from something, but something disturbs them mentally. It changes them. Something new comes in and gets them to having worries or doubts or to thinking differently. That’s always the first step.

The next step is that they start to have doubts or fears. Maybe they have a vision, an idea for something they must do, something difficult they must do, but then they doubt. They’re afraid. They’re like I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t want to leave home. I don’t want to face this problem. The enemy is too big. They have all these doubts and fears. That almost always happens in these stories.

Then, finally, they decide to leave home. Sometimes they decide to do it. Sometimes they are forced to leave home, but for whatever reason they leave. They go on their journey, on this hero’s quest -- the journey -- and then they leave all their comfort. They leave their old life behind. They leave their old identity. They leave everything they know and they go to some place different, strange, new, something like that.

When they go there they face difficulties and challenges. They fight monsters or they face some psychological or spiritual challenge and it’s tough and it’s difficult and it’s a big struggle. It’s adversity. Remember that word? They have to face adversity. Then what happens in these stories all the time? Well, they grow. They learn from their challenges. They overcome the monster. They get the treasure. They rescue the princess, whatever, and in the process something about them changes. They become maybe better human beings. Maybe they become more kind or they become more strong. They become more brave, but they transform and this is the point.

The whole story leads up to kind of the top where the hero transforms. They change, but that’s not the end usually. Sometimes that’s the end, but usually in these stories what Joseph Campbell found and what you can probably see if you think about it in your own culture or other cultures or even movies, we see this in movies all the time, is that they return home. Usually after they’ve conquered the monster or fought the war or done whatever they’re transformed. They’re different and then they come home.

They return back to that old environment again and usually when they return home there’s something wrong at home. Now there’s some problem at home and so then the final step of the hero’s journey is they use the strength or the knowledge or the wisdom or whatever they learned on their trip. They use it to help the people at home. So they kind of share their transformation. A transformation is a big change. It usually has a positive idea. It means you change or you grow in a big way. So usually the hero transforms then comes home and then shares that with others.

So we could think about this in terms of mythology. For example, like Greek mythology. If you think of like Achilles and Ulysses, these stories, what do they do? They go. They




go off to a war or they fight the Trojans. They win the war. In Achilles’ case he actually starts to become more kind and more human. He dies, unfortunately, but Ulysses ends up returning home again.

Or, think of the movie ‘Star Wars’. It’s a much more recent modern version of this, right? Luke Skywalker the hero, he’s on his little farm at home. Everything is fine and then what happens? He starts hearing about this war against the evil empire and then what happens? He’s disturbed, right? People come and attack and they kill his family and they burn his farm. Then he meets the wise old man and he has to leave home and then he has to face a lot of difficulties and challenges. He fights against all the bad guys and in the process he becomes stronger and wiser and he becomes you know this great hero. And then, eventually, there is a scene – I think it’s in the third movie – he comes back to his home planet again and he fights this bad guy and rescues his friends.

So you can see this archetype and, if you look, a lot of movies about heroes you’ll see the same. It’s called an arch. An arch is like a curve, right? In storytelling they’ll call this a story arch. It means you start here and then it kind of curves and there’s even sometimes the idea of it circling around again. It’s coming around. It starts at home, leaves and comes back.

Think of ‘Lord of the Rings’, another popular movie. ‘Lord of the Rings’ what? Little Frodo, the little small guy, he’s at home. He just wants to stay at home and be comfortable, but then what? He’s disturbed. This wizard comes with this evil ring and his whole life, his normal life is disturbed. He’s forced to leave. He’s afraid. He has doubts. He has to travel and face all these difficulties and challenges and adversities and what happens? He grows stronger. He grows wiser. He ends up saving the world and then, just like this normal arch, at the end of the book he comes back to his home and then he has to rescue his people at home.

This is the same story arch again and again and again and again and, if you look, you may be able to see this in your own life. If I look at it in this way, this kind of mythological way, like as an archetype, as something basic to humanity, for example, my first time I ever left the country, I traveled. I traveled to India and I kind went through this whole process myself. I was in graduate school just doing normal life and then I met a guy who had been to India before. He described the trip and it just sounded so amazing and incredible and different than my normal life.

It disturbed my normal life. It got me thinking and imagining these adventures and this incredible culture and all this stuff. I started thinking maybe I should go to India. That would be interesting. I’ve never left the country, but maybe I should do it. Then I had all these fears and doubts. Oh, I don’t know. I’ve never left the country. Maybe I should go to Europe first, some place more like America. I got scared and worried. What if I get sick? I had all these fears and then, finally, I decided to leave home, leave the comfort,




and I flew there and then guess what? I had a lot of difficulties. I faced a lot of difficulties.

Some kids, little kids, robbed me like my second day there. I did get sick. I was in the hospital for like a week. I got bothered by a lot of people trying to cheat me. There were all kinds of struggles and difficulties and challenges. Then what happened? It transformed me. It definitely changed me. That first trip is the reason now that I have traveled so much and that I’ve lived in other countries. That probably is the reason that I now teach English to people in other countries because that started my love of travel and connecting with people in other countries.

So it transformed me and then, guess what? Yes, I came home again. I finished school, but I was different and then I started influencing some of my friends. You know a couple of them. You know Kristen and Joe from Learn Real English. Well, Kristen was my best friend and still is. I influenced her and encouraged her to travel and we ended up traveling together. I influenced other friends to try traveling. So it really made a big difference.

So this whole kind of arch, I followed it myself in my own life and this is kind of the standard way that we grow is by going through these steps and if we learn about this and think about it, it becomes less scary because we realize this is the same process people have been doing for thousands and thousands of years. I mean the ancient Greeks went through this same process. They recognized that these are the stages, the steps for growing. Maybe you’re not going to fight monsters or fight a war, but you can transform. You can change for the better. You can become a stronger, kinder, gentler person, whatever it is that you want to do or however you want to change.

There is kind of an arch, a cycle, a process that is standard for humanity that we find in culture after culture after culture. So maybe if we know this and learn about it, number one, we won’t be scared of it and, number two, we’ll be more comfortable about starting this process, about seeking it out. So in the commentary I’ll talk about that. I’ll talk about how we can use this in our own life maybe to improve our life in some way.

All right, I’ll see you in the commentary. Have a great day, bye-bye.




Hero - VIP Mini StoryHi, this is AJ. Welcome to the mini story lesson for this month’s VIP set. Let’s get started. Once again we’re gonna talk about Heva and Chim-chim, our favorite dog and monkey.

* * * * *

All right, Heva and Chim-chim got sick, poor Heva, poor Chim-chim. Heva had heartburn and diarrhea, heartburn and acute diarrhea.

Heartburn, what is heartburn? This is something you might have when you travel. ‘Heartburn’ is a feeling of burning. It’s really in your throat and kind of in your chest. So it’s not really your heart that’s burning. It’s when maybe you eat too much or you eat something very, very spicy and then you have this kind of burning uncomfortable feeling. Really it’s in your stomach and sometimes it can even come up your throat a little bit. We call that heartburn.

Diarrhea, not a pleasant word, but if you’re traveling this might happen to you. You need to tell the doctor I have diarrhea. ‘Diarrhea’ means you’re shitting a lot, basically. You’re going to the bathroom a lot. You’re pooping a lot and it’s just coming out like water, coming out constantly --what a great topic this month -- so diarrhea and acute diarrhea.

‘Acute’ means something that does not happen all the time. So sometimes doctors in hospitals they use the words ‘chronic’ and ‘acute’. ‘Chronic’ means something that happens again. It’s an ongoing problem. It’s a constant problem. ‘Acute’ means it happens, but it’s more short term.

Did Heva have acute diarrhea or did he have chronic diarrhea?

He had acute diarrhea. It means he had diarrhea, but a short time. It was not constantly, not over many months, just maybe one week, two weeks.

So did he have acute or chronic diarrhea?

Acute. He had acute diarrhea and he had to run to the bathroom all the time, constantly running to the bathroom. Oh, no and he would run away. Oh, no! He had acute diarrhea and it was terrible. He had to go to the bathroom all the time.

Who had acute diarrhea?

Heva. Heva had acute diarrhea.




Did he have diarrhea or did he have a fever?

He had diarrhea. He had to go to the bathroom constantly. He did not have a fever.

‘Fever’ means you’re hot, right? Your temperature it gets really hot. Your head usually hurts when you have a fever.

So did Heva have a fever?

No, Heva did not have a fever. His temperature was normal.

What did Heva have?

He had diarrhea.

What else did he have?

Heartburn. He had that burning feeling in his throat and his stomach.

Did Chim-chim have heartburn?

No, no, no, Chim-chim did not have heartburn. His stomach was not burning.

So who had heartburn?

Heva.

Who had diarrhea?

Heva.

So what was Chim-chim’s problem?

Chim-chim’s problem was chronic barfing.

‘Barfing’ is kind of slang. The more common word is vomiting or we also say to throw up. I think throw up is maybe the most common way to say it. It’s not really slang. It’s just a common use, to throw up and to vomit. We say that too. A doctor might say vomit, a nurse might use the word vomit, but normally people we just usually say throw up, throw up. Oh, I’m throwing up all the time. I’m throwing up all the time. So that’s when you eat something bad and then it comes back up and out.




Now, a quick note. I’ve said this in a past lesson I did a long time ago, but I want to teach it again because it’s a common mistake. A lot of students say ‘throwing out’. Oh, I was throwing out last night. We don’t say out. It’s not throw out. Throw out is like you do that with a ball or something, to throw out. When you’re sick we say we throw up. Because the idea is that food is in your stomach and it’s coming up and, yes, it does come out. It’s logical to say throw out, but it’s not the normal English. What we actually say is to throw up. So Chim-chim had chronic vomiting.

So was he constantly vomiting, all the time for a long time or just for a short time?

Well, constantly, over a long time. Chim-chim had constant vomiting. He had chronic vomiting. So it was a long-term problem. Not a short-term problem, a long-term problem.

What kind of chronic problem did he have?

Chim-chim had chronic vomiting.

We could say chronic barfing. That’s kind of a slang way to say it, ‘to barf’, but to vomit is a more medical way to say it. He was throwing up all the time. Throwing up or to throw up is just the common way to say it.

So who was always throwing up?

Chim-chim.

And who had heartburn?

Heva.

And who had diarrhea?

Heva. Oh, these poor guys. Ah, terrible.

So, of course, they were suffering. They felt terrible, so they went to the hospital together. They went to a doctor and the first doctor they say said “Oh, yeah. Hum, I know what to do” and he gave Heva prescription for antacids.

So a ‘prescription’ is an order. It’s a doctor’s order. Basically, that’s what it is. So if a doctor gives you a prescription he’s giving you his official order for some kind of medicine. So we have two kinds of medicine. We have what’s called ‘over the counter’, ‘over the counter’. It means you do not need a doctor’s order. You can just buy it any time you want over the counter, but then we also have ‘prescription medicine’.




Prescription medicine, you can only get it if the doctor gives you the order and the doctor’s order is called a prescription. So we can use it as an adjective, prescription medicine, it’s the kind of medicine, or we use it as a noun. A prescription is a doctor’s order.

So what kind of antacids did Heva get?

Prescription antacids.

Were they just normal antacids, he bought them at the store himself?

No, they were super strong antacids. He could only get it with a doctor’s prescription, with a doctor’s order.

So who got prescription antacids?

Heva.

What kind of antacids did he get?

Prescription antacids, antacids with a doctor’s order.

What is an antacid anyway? Well, an ‘antacid’, you hear the word ‘acid’ first of all in that word, acid. You probably know the word acid, right? For example, your stomach has acid. It burns. It burns up your food, basically. It digests your food. It breaks up your food. ‘Ant’ is like the word anti, against. So it means against acid is what that word means, against acid.

So an antacid is a medicine you take that stops the acid in your stomach. The burning of heartburn is caused by the acid. It’s in your stomach acid and it gets too much and then it starts to burn your stomach or burn your throat so you take an antacid to fight it, to cancel it. So an antacid is a kind of medicine, it cancels acid. Medical story today. okay.

So what did Chim-chim get? What kind of medicine did Chim-chim get?

Well, he got anti-nausea medication, anti-nausea medication.

Who gave him anti-nausea medication?

Well, the doctor at the hospital. The doctor at the hospital gave him anti-nausea medication.




What kind of medication did Chim-chim get?

Anti-nausea. He got anti-nausea medication.

What does ‘nausea’ mean? That’s another great word, nausea. Nausea is a nice word. It’s the feeling of wanting to throw up, right? To throw up, to vomit, that’s the action, that’s what happens, but the feeling you have before that. Your stomach feels really bad and you don’t want to eat and you know it’s coming. You know you probably will throw up. It’s that horrible feeling, right? That feeling is called nausea, nausea.

So what kind of medication did Chim-chim get?

Anti-nausea medication. Chim-chim got anti-nausea medication, so medication to cancel the feeling of nausea. Ah, all right.

So Chim-chim got anti-nausea medication and what did Heva get?

Heva got antacids, prescription antacids, from a doctor only.

Well, they went home and they took all their medication, but it did not help. They continued to be sick. Heva continued to have heartburn and diarrhea. Chim-chim continued to throw up all the time. Oh, terrible. So, next, they went to a Chinese doctor. They went to a Chinese doctor, a Chinese medicine doctor. The Chinese medicine doctor looked at their tongue, took their pulse, look at them and said “Ah, I can help you. No problem.”

So with Heva he said “Heva, here” and he gave him charcoal. He said “Heva, you must eat charcoal every day, lots of charcoal every day.” So Heva ate charcoal, ate charcoal, ate charcoal, bags of charcoal every day and with Chim-chim he took a needle and stuck it in his ear and he said “You must keep this needle in your ear every day.”

So what did Heva eat every day?

He ate charcoal every day.

Who gave him charcoal to eat every day?

The Chinese doctor. The Chinese medicine doctor gave him charcoal to eat every day.

What did he do to Chim-chim?

He stuck a needle in his ear. He stuck a needle in Chim-chim’s ear.




Did they get better?

No, they didn’t. They still did not get better. They still felt sick. Heva continued to have diarrhea and heartburn. Chim-chim continued to throw up, to barf.

Well, finally, they decided to take matters into their own hands, which is a common little phrase, little idiom that we use a lot.

‘To take matters into your own hands’ means to take responsibility, it means that you’re going to solve the problem. It means you take responsibility for the problem. You stop trying to get other people to do it and you just decide to do it yourself.

So who decides to take matters into their own hands?

Heva and Chim-chim. They decide to take matters into their own hands. They decide to solve the problem themselves.

So they do lots and lots and lots of research on diarrhea and heartburn and vomiting. They totally change their diet and they start to exercise every day, they get massages and finally after a couple of months they feel much better and they’ve solved their problems.

* * * * *

And that’s the end of our mini story. It’s kind of a gross topic. ‘Gross’ means…ah, what does gross mean? ‘Gross’ means kind of yucky, disgusting, but maybe useful. If you get sick you can use these words.

All right, I will see you again. Have a great day, bye-bye.




Hero - VIP POVHi, this is AJ. Welcome to the point-of-view stories for this month’s lesson. As always with the point-of-view stories, I’ll tell the story again. Same story in different verb tenses, different points of view. You don’t need to think about the grammar, just listen. Here we go.

All right, the first time we’re gonna just start in the present as if it’s happening now. So we’re there with Heva and Chim-chim as they are sick, as they try to get help.

* * * * *

So Heva has heartburn and diarrhea. In fact, Heva has acute diarrhea and heartburn and Chim-chim has nausea -- a feeling of wanting to throw up -- and he has chronic vomiting. He is constantly throwing up all the time. Well, they first go to a hospital. First they go to a hospital and they see a doctor there and the doctor gives Heva a prescription for antacids, for extra strong antacids and the doctor gives Chim-chim an anti-nausea medication.

They go home and they try this medication and it doesn’t work. It does not help them. So, of course, they feel terrible so next they go to a Chinese medicine doctor. The Chinese medicine doctor prescribes – ‘prescribes’ means orders – charcoal for Heva and a needle in the ear for Chim-chim. Well, they try this and, unfortunately, these treatments also do not help them. So finally they decide to take matters into their own hands.

They do research and they decide to solve the problem themselves and they focus on changing the way they eat, changing their lifestyle. They eat healthy food. They exercise all the time. They get massages. They relax. They eliminate stress and they both get better.

* * * * *

And that’s the end of version one of the story. Version two, as usual, we’re gonna go into the future. Maybe it’s a dream, maybe we’re just imagining it, but it’s gonna give you practice with the future. Here we go.

* * * * *

So in the future there will be a dog named Heva and in the future there will be a monkey named Chim-chim and they’ll be good friends, but they’ll also be miserable. They’ll be sick.




Again, sometimes it’s hard to hear it, but listen for that ‘ll’ sound. When speaking quickly sometimes it’s almost impossible to hear it, but I’ll say they’ll be sick. They’ll feel bad. ‘ll’, there’s a little ‘ll’ sound there that means will. Also, sometimes I’ll say gonna. ‘Gonna’ is casual English, it means going to. If you’re writing a formal paper do not use gonna, but when you speak use it all you want. Here we go.

So in the future they’ll be sick. They’ll be miserable. Heva will have heartburn and he’ll have diarrhea, chronic diarrhea. It’s terrible, poor Heva. And Chim-chim, he’s gonna be barfing all the time. He’s going to be throwing up all the time. He’ll have nausea. Terrible, poor guys. So first they go to a hospital, a doctor and the doctor is gonna give them a prescription.

Now, you’ll notice I said first they go to a doctor. I used the present tense, oh, my God! Is that possible? Can you do that? Did I make a mistake? No! We can mix tenses. If the general story is about the future sometimes we use the present because it just sounds more immediate. It makes you feel like you’re there with them, even though we’re telling a story about the future. Don’t get panicked about this. This is the problem with school. It makes you think too much. Don’t think too much, just listen.

So, anyway, they go to a doctor. They go to a hospital and the doctor he’ll give them a prescription. He’ll give Heva a prescription for antacids and he’ll prescribe anti-nausea medication for Chim-chim. So they’ll go home and, of course, they’re gonna be good patients. They’re gonna take all the medicines, as much as they can, they feel terrible, but still they feel bad. It does not solve their problem.

So, next they’re gonna go (going to go) to a Chinese medicine doctor and he’ll prescribe charcoal for Heva and he’ll prescribe acupuncture for Chim-chim. ‘Acupuncture’ that’s where the Chinese use needles to make you feel better and cure problems. In the story it doesn’t work, but it’s actually quite good. I use it myself.

So, anyway, he puts a needle in Chim-chim’s ear. Unfortunately, this is not gonna help them either. So then they’ll both (‘ll’ ‘vll’ they’ll) then they’ll both feel bad and they’ll decide to take matters into their own hands. They’ll decide to solve this problem themselves. They do research and they decide to eat healthy, exercise, get massages, reduce their stress and they totally change the way they live and because of this they’re going to live happy healthy lives and they’ll feel much better and they will indeed solve their problem.

* * * * *And that’s the end of version two of the story. Now, version three we usually do it like a time period from the past. The reason I use these same time periods again and again is because they’re the most common in casual normal conversations. Well, not even




casual conversations, all conversations. Yes, we could try to practice the future perfect progressive. I will have been going to the store at 7:00 o’clock next year.

We could try that, but in normal conversations we almost never say that. Only in very, very, very specific, very, very rare and uncommon situations do we use those kinds of verb tenses or grammar. It’s much more important to master the common ones, the ones that are used constantly, all the time. So here we go.

* * * * *

So since he was a baby Heva has had problems. Heva has had heartburn and sometimes he’ll have diarrhea as well. Oh, poor Heva. So sometimes he has had heartburn and diarrhea, but he has always had heartburn. So from when he was a baby until recently he has always had heartburn, constantly that feeling of burning and then at some points he has also had diarrhea.

Now, Chim-chim, poor guy, since last year Chim-chim has had nausea and vomiting. He has been vomiting, chronic, so constantly, all the time, starting last year until quite recently.

Well, finally one day they decide they need help so they go to a doctor and the doctor gives them a prescription. He prescribes antacids for Heva and he prescribes anti-nausea medication for Chim-chim, but unfortunately it doesn’t work.

Well, next they go to a Chinese medicine doctor and the Chinese medicine doctor prescribes charcoal for Heva and prescribes acupuncture, a needle in the ear for Chim-chim. This also does not work. So, finally, they decide to take matters into their own hands and they change their lifestyle, change their eating, change their exercise, change their stress and they heal themselves.

* * * * *

Now, you notice in that one we started in the past, a little time period and then I just switched to the present. Sometimes I’ll switch to the past. It doesn’t matter. There’s not one right answer. We can mix these things. Just get used to hearing them, get used to the meaning, that’s all that’s important, okay?

So you’re just gonna listen to these versions, you know, seven, eight, 10 times during the month or more and month after month you’ll get more and more of a feeling for the common English grammar and you get some extra vocabulary too.

All right, I will see you again next time. Bye-bye.




Hero - VIP CommentaryHi, this is AJ. Welcome to the commentary for this month’s lesson. So in the commentary we usually talk about the practical use of our topic, so let’s talk about that. So this is a big topic. It’s kind of a very general topic. You know the hero’s journey, mythology. We can find these themes in religions. If you look at the great hero stories, let’s say of Hinduism, you know of Ramah. He has to go and he has to rescue Sita. We can see this in even like Buddhism. Buddha leaves his comfortable home, goes off to meditate with no food and face all this challenge and then comes back to teach people, you know. We see it in Islam. We see it in Christianity and Judaism.

We can find these stories everywhere, the mythology of Native Americans, different South American tribes. We’ve already mentioned ancient Greece and we see them again and again and again in modern movies even. You find them in books. Lord of the Rings, I mean about hobbits and elves and all this magic stuff and, yet, we see this same basic hero’s journey that we would find a story thousands and thousands and thousands of years old or a movie like ‘Star Wars’. In fact, the director and writer of ‘Star Wars’ was a fan of Joseph Campbell’s, the guy who wrote the book I mentioned, and he actually wrote that story with these ideas in mind.

So something this kind of deep and pervasive – ‘pervasive’ means something that is kind of everywhere. It penetrates everywhere or it spreads everywhere. So if we say this is a pervasive archetype, a pervasive story, it means that it’s not in just one little place. It’s everywhere, all over the world. In all cultures, in all societies we find this. ‘Pervasive’, good word.

All right, so if something is this pervasive, if we find this basic arch, this basic storyline again and again and again going back thousands and thousands of years all over the world in cultures that are very old and natural like hunter-gatherers living in a rainforest and then also very modern like modern Bollywood or Hollywood then, for me at least, it tells me maybe there’s something important about this. Maybe there’s something powerful about this.

I mean why is it that we find this again and again and again and again and still we’re telling stories in this way. To my mind it means that there’s something very deeply connected to human psychology for this. There’s a message there that is very powerful. There’s a reason that all of these cultures, all of these societies, all of these religions, use this story again and again and again, this basic storyline and so maybe we should look at this and consciously use it ourselves because we could actually look at these different parts and then think well, how could I use this in my own life or how have I used this in the past and how can I sort of move through each of these pieces of the journey in a more natural way, in a less stressful way, in a more positive way, in a more powerful way. So let’s think about that.




I think that it’s really good to think about each of these pieces. You know write them down, take notes and look at each phase and then think of something you need to change or want to change or even think of that topic adversity, challenge, difficulty and maybe instead of thinking about your problems as just problems, maybe think of them in terms of being on some kind of hero’s journey yourself. That maybe there’s a reason for it and maybe you’re just in one stage of this journey. So let’s think about that.

So what’s the first stage or step that Joseph Campbell described? Well, the first step was usually a disturbance. ‘Disturbance’ just means something that annoys you, frustrates you, scares you a little bit. It kind of just…it makes you uncomfortable is usually what it is. So like if I’m just standing like this, well I can just stand like this for a long time, but if someone pushes me a little bit I might fall a little bit. I’m unbalanced now. That’s a disturbance, right?

They have disturbed me a little and so that’s usually the first step. Life is normal. Everything is fine. Nothing is changing. You’re comfortable. We all like to just sort of enjoy that and then something disturbs us. It might be something external, some world problem, some family problem, whatever, or it could be something internal. Sometimes it’s internal. Sometimes, like for me, it’s usually internal. Maybe it’s a feeling of boredom. You know like ah, I’m bored. Everything is good, but man I’m kind of bored. Or, maybe it’s a feeling like I really need to do more. I need to be a better person.

There’s just something that just starts bothering you a little bit, external or internal. So a lot of people just try to push that away and ignore it like it’s an annoyance. Like ah, I don’t want to think about that. I’m comfortable. I don’t want to deal with that. Ah, push it away, but if we look at things in this way -- the hero’s journey -- then a better approach would be to actually think about it more. To see that as a signal, as a sign, that when you are disturbed, especially when you start having thoughts or doubts or desires for something or feelings like boredom or irritation or frustration, usually that’s a sign of hum…

It’s a sign that you maybe go on a journey. Maybe it’s a sign that you need to start a journey. It’s time to start some change in your life is maybe a general way to put it. So think about it. Maybe you can just write like in a diary or a journal. You know why am I frustrated? Why am I bored? Why do I keep thinking about traveling to South America? You know whatever it is and just start thinking about it, thinking about it. Why is this problem happening to me?

You know, say you got laid off from your job, you lose your job. That sucks. It’s bad, but instead of thinking about it just in terms of this is terrible, maybe you can think of it like this is the start of a hero’s journey. It’s like little Frodo in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ and the




evil guys are coming to get him, right? It’s just a different way to shift your way of thinking.

Next what happens, the second stage for the heroes? It’s always doubt and fear, doubt and fear. So when you have a doubt or a fear about your idea, your vision, your problem, instead of feeling bad about that, instead of wishing you didn’t, maybe you can just see it. Oh, yeah, this is normal. This is the second step. It always happens, right? All the great heroes feel this.

All those great wonderful guys and women that we hear all these amazing stories about that have done these incredible things, well in the beginning they always had doubts and fears, doubts and fears and so you can see these as just natural, normal. You can write about them, you can think about them, you can talk about them, but you don’t need to worry about them or be stressed about it. It’s normal to feel doubts.

On a smaller example when I was gonna go to India, I had lots of doubts about getting sick, about just being lonely. I had so many doubts and fears. Most of them were ridiculous and never happened, but now I realize it’s normal. So now if I’m going to do something new I know it’s normal.

Same thing when I started this company, I had all these doubts. I had this disturbance. I was sick of teaching in schools with textbooks and I had this ideal I’ll start my own company, but then doubts, doubts and fears, doubts and fears, tons of them. So, again, you recognize it, you think about it and then you just to let go of them. You let go of them by really thinking about them and writing about them and talking about them.

The next stage is what? It’s to leave home, to start the journey, to take an action. So if you’ve been worrying, doubts, doubts and worries and you’ve been doing that for a long time, maybe you need to realize saying okay, well, there’s a time when it’s time to leave. It’s time to buy the plane ticket. It’s time to start the company. It’s time to whatever it is, you know. It’s time to enroll in the class.

It’s time to take the big challenge. You’ve just gotta leave. Take that first step. You know that famous quote “the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step”? Well, it’s a famous quote for a reason because you have to start. If you don’t start nothing happens. You don’t have to push yourself too fast, but once you have your disturbance and once you’ve gone through your fears and doubts it’s just time to do it.

The next thing you have to realize is that you’re going to have problems. This is another thing that I think stops a lot of people, whether it’s something simple like going on a trip, like literally traveling somewhere, or it’s something more big like starting your own company, whatever it is, your big thing you want to do. Maybe you want to go on some spiritual retreat. It doesn’t matter.




People get all stressed out and weird because there might be problems. There might be a challenge. Well, of course there will be, right? If we look at it this way, this process is something that’s been around for thousands of years in all these cultures. We can just know of course there’re going to be difficulties. Of course there will be problems. We should expect them.

In fact, that’s part of the point. If there are no challenges or problems or difficulties then you won’t get stronger or grow. It doesn’t mean it’s gonna be awful and terrible all the time. When I went to India, like I said, I ended up in the hospital. I had several problems, challenges, but I also had lots of great things and met great people so it was amazing as well. So it’s mixed. The point of this is just to realize there’re gonna be problems and difficulties so don’t too scared about that. Don’t, we say, freak out. ‘Freak out’, means to panic. Don’t freak out about it, just relax and accept it and know it’s gonna happen.

The next step, what do we say, is to learn, grow, transform. This usually happens naturally by itself just by facing the problems and just by leaving home. A big part of that leaving home part is to get away from what’s normal and comfortable. It’s very important in this hero’s journey and we see it again and again and again in all these cultures that the hero leaves home. If you try to just stay in your own comfortable situation then nothing happens, so you get out. Just by leaving home, just by accepting the difficulties and going forward you’re going to grow. You don’t really need to worry about it too much. You don’t have to force it.

Then the next step, we know, is to return home. We see that again and again. So, again, you come home from your trip or you change your life in some way and now what does that mean, that returning home. It’s kind of a symbol for helping other people, sharing it. So let’s say you start a company and it’s successful and you become quite rich and successful. Well, if you stop there you haven’t really quite finished that journey because now it’s just you. You benefited, but maybe nobody else has.

So by returning home you might actually come home and maybe help your family or your friends in some way or it might be more symbolic. You might return home and help others by starting a nonprofit or a charity or hiring people and offering employment to other people and a great place to work. There are many ways that you can return home, meaning help other people. It means really just helping other people, sharing your growth with other people. Or, if you’ve gone off and you’ve become a wiser gentler person, you can return home and be a better friend, husband, wife, mom, dad, whatever. So that’s another way. It just means sharing it with other people.

Finally, the final step is that you can teach others what you have done and help them go on their own journey and that’s kind of the last step. So if you’ve become successful in your career or your job or something then you can mentor somebody, meaning you




teach someone else and help them also become successful. You don’t just share your knowledge, you actually help them make their own journey and help guide them. This is true, whether it’s something emotional or spiritual or financial. It doesn’t matter what part of life.

So you can see this is the kind of circle, the cycle, and we do this again and again and again in different parts of our lives. So what I would like you to do this month is just to think of different parts of your life in this way. So maybe look at your job or finances or business as if it was a hero’s journey and try to identify right now which part of the journey are you in with your career.

Then I would like you to look at your relationships, your family relationships, your friends, whatever, and then try to think which part of the journey am I in right now. Are you facing lots of challenges and difficulties? Are you having just little disturbances, you’re comfortable, but there’s a disturbance? Are you trying to share something you’ve learned and try to be a better person? Which one is it?

As the final step I would like you to actually choose some kind of hero’s journey that you would like to start. There’s some part of your life maybe where you’ve had a little disturbance. You’ve had some thoughts. I really need to change this. I really need to change this. Maybe it’s your health. Maybe it’s English. I don’t know what it is, but you know and so instead of pushing it away and trying to forget about it I want you to think about it more and then get on our website and tell us what it is.

Tell us the part of your life where you want to start this hero’s journey, where you want to make a change, make a transformation. You could tell us about your doubts and your fears. You could tell us how you’re going to leave your comfort zone and how you’re going to make a journey. It’s up to you, but just share this with us. We want to hear about it and it really helps when we share these things together because we inspire each other. We help each other to grow and keep going.

All right, so I look forward to hearing about your hero’s journey or journeys on our site. Until next time, I’ll see you again. Bye-bye.




ever left the country, I traveled. I traveled to India and I kind went through this whole process...

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