The (S)Hero’s Journey
INTRA²
Personal-Development Correspondent T. M. Wiggins-Clark aka TC/Coach MaddHatter
(per The No.1 INTRA² Detective Agency) | July 13, 2018 | Sankofa
Journey Briefing
Key-Note References:
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing by
Dr. Joy DeGruy, 2005
Holism and Evolution by J.C. Smuts, 1936
Becoming the Obvious Choice: The Guide to Your Next Opportunity by B. Dodge/D.
Cottrell, 2001
As a Man Thinketh by James Allen, 1903
The Red Tent by Anita Diamont, 1997
Living a Charmed Life by Veronica Moran, 2009
Grit to Great by L.K. Thaler/R. Koval, 2015
Start with Why by Simon Sinek, 2009
Daring Greatly by Brene Brown, 2012
Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems by B. Johnson, 1989
Polarity Coaching by Kathy Anderson, 2010
Self-Coaching101 by Brooke Castillo, 2009
You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living Your Awesome Life by J. Sincero, 2013
DISCLAIMER: To all my kill-joys, character-assassins, in-boxed-engineers,
duality-tinkerers – this commentary is NOT for you…TTFN!
“The most beautiful melody of this (3rd)
dimension (as it regards the unfolding of one’s life) will become a
monstrosity if its instrument (the hu-man’s mind/body/soul) has to continue
to exist with its aura out of rhythmic-harmony.”
Coach
TC ‘MaddHatter’
TC’s Life-Path: No.7 ~ The
Seeker
Behold!
The Land of Betwixt-&-Between. It’s
been nearly ten-years since I took the first steps upon this ten-thousand-mile
Journey – and yes, I’ve finally benchmarked my 10,000 hours!
Within the last 90days, I’ve been
to-hell-and-back, and shall be designing the t-shirt real soon. With-this-said;
I’ve gotten the chance to sit with my thoughts/feelings and analyze my stride –
presently I move upon Step #10: The Road
Back. Of my own unique and sacred monomyth
(according to The Hero’s Journey, fashioned by Joseph Campbell, Professor of
Literature and comparative mythology) my wheels of newness began shifting back 2009.
Back then, and I had absolutely no idea
of the fundamental-course of narratology, nor was I keenly aware of life’s cyclical-nature
of traveling. It’s taken me a good while
to simply accumulate an understanding of my own intricate-details and backdrops
to such an Experience. In the beginning
years I was very busy tussling with enormous emotional turbulence that eventually
arrested my development and my entire sense of (sustainable) Self. Plummeting me
into a habitual sense of helplessness and vacant-esteem. I truly became afraid
of the world, “It’s a jungle out there!”, I’d protest in my defense. I’d undoubtably entered the place many
creativity-coaches refer to as the realms of liminality» the place where orderly routine is suspended
but graciously offers one a regenerative supply of the nectar-of-the-gods, as
well as low-hanging promises of extraordinary-transformation - especially to
those willing to patiently, courageously dwell amidst raw reflections, masterfully
interpret the golden-compass of their own inner-workings, and eventually move
toward the ownership of their unique reality – win, lose or draw.
When this all began, I wasn’t
patient nor courageous. I arrogantly figured I’d bounce back like I’d always. Shucks
…I swear I had no-clue as to the incredible suppression of fears I had unwittingly
bound-up inside. Some were so old and ruddy; they linked way back to my wobbly
childhood. Who knew my (infamous) emotional-avalanche
of 2010 would slide my ass into an eight-year excavation of QueenSolomon’s tomb! And the more I tried to hastily dig myself
out – the more my fears piled on. Until
the better part of 2012 I was mentally/emotionally stuck in a severe hermit
mode as if truly buried under layers of ice.
The woes-of-my-world (personal, plus professional) rendered me such
agony that I sincerely became among the-living-dead: full of absent-mindedness,
wretched qualities of decisions making, misaligned timing and synchronicity,
and serious social awkwardness.
In hindsight: when I took on my
first professional-association position in 1997, in a two-person office in
Springfield, VA – it was the beginning of a twelve-year love-affair with many
nonprofit organizations. I’d finesse myself into their membership/marketing
services, chapter relations department, professional-development and
publication services, as well as supported an assortment of annual-conference
roles – my career-glide landed me very lucrative, engaging, and
marketplace-progressive positions; all full of fast-lanes and quick-resolve. I
was young, full of Capricorn energy and vitality. And, in conjunction to these full-time
placements, I blazed various part-time trails as a certified cosmetologist,
which I also achieved in 1997; following a ‘kitchen’ beautician’s stride I had started
in 1990 (my senior year in high-school).
My emotional agility didn’t truly begin to buckle until just before I
lost my position as a cosmetology instructor at the beauty-school I
adored. That entire time, I’d frequently
transitioned back and forth from permanent to freelance and part-time work modes
– all whilst getting married and rearing three children. I went full-throttle – eight years ON; then
divorce creeped in. I eventually
returned-to-romance, then slammed OFF due to his unexpected death. Then went
into a turbo thrust of work-and-no-play. And by the time the beauty-school
dissolved, there was already a clear path into my emotional-avalanche, my
identity was prominently bruised, and my emotionality mangled. Oh, how I miss
the faculties of my family-senses and my students and the daily-drum of my
classroom. Win, lose, or draw – each
experience has served as a major component to my successive professional (and
personal) maturity, emotional-resolve, and concierge-of-consciousness.
With-this-said, I’ll never deny that
the special-effects rendered by the raising of eyebrows regarding my divorce
and the quick rebound into romance, to have all shattered by the kiss-of-death,
and the vast fluxion in my employment spandex – had me perplexed to say the
least. My personal aspects I’d come to
grips with. But my professional trajectory and slope in income left me
embarrassed and feeling helpless. At
first, I was just as hard on critiquing the radical-rhythms of my employ(able) climb
– judging myself according to the ways of concrete-conventions instead of embracing
the flexibility of my own unique blends of ingenuity. Plus, I naturally
people-pleased. SIDEBAR: please note –
there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a person-of-concierge – but as with
anything, attempting to fill one’s voids with such pride and or overindulgence
can lead to severe burn-out and desolation. Being under the influence of OPJ – other people’s judgements – left my reflective
processing a bit peppery. It took me a long while to wrestle with the
dissonance that kept clashing with my actual ‘drunken-career/family-walk’ …hinged
to the assumptions of the so-called honorary, loyal thirty-year tenure to one
employer! – Thus an (honorably) retirement/nest-egg(s). But shucks, then what??
Honestly, the lofty nest-egg I
would’ve accumulated by now does leave my stomach in knots, otherwise, I’am
pleased with uniquely diverse-background.
I’ve learned a great deal being able to work amongst an array of
different organizational-cultures, meet some outstanding individuals and witness
remarkable team-spirits. The outlandish office-politics and challenges to social/pay-scaling
hierarchy was just a smidgen of my overall ‘cubical-nation’ experience. My sensitivities toward intra/inter-personal
creativity has heightened tremendously due to my smorgasbord of professional
footing. As well as my appreciation to
the firsthand encounters that has widened my unwittingly, but natural tendency
to find myself in such oddities as the unofficial ‘jailhouse lawyer’, the
latitudinarian; and the People’s Champion (win, lose, and or draw!)
…Now-a-days, my studies linger
within the realms of creativity-coaching, social/emotional-intelligence, and
INTRA-personal development. Because of my natural attraction to dwell within
these dimensions of intelligence, I’ve adopted the Life-Path theory, especially
as it correlates with (conventional) organizational-dynamics. My life-path calculates the No.7: The
Seeker. Thinking back: I was destined to
be attracted to all those stances, regardless of the outcome. And with sincere-reflection, much has been confirmed;
my being was drawn to advocate on-behalf-of the meek. It’s a part of my authentic Story. So,
there’s nothing I’d change – for those I defended (including mySelf) was
inevitable. And truly, because, some office-shenanigans;
especially those in conjunction with bully-bosses is uncanny and utterly
ridiculous! My biggest regret is all the time spent in sorrowful isolation. And
even though I’m grateful for my efforts to shield my seedlings from the core of
my raw madness (as their sense of belonging and laughter have not been
shattered) – my children have mostly grown-up without me.
Shucks – now that I’am a
coach-of-Storytellers and researcher of Story itself, I often associate my
moments-in-question to the scene of Harry Potter (Book3; Chapter 7) when
Professor Lupin challenged Harry and his classmates to face their Boggarts. A
boggart can be anything that seriously frightens you; to your core. And many of us know that the loss of one’s
chief-source-of-income/career-status can be a damned-frightening thing! Now, this isn’t to say I wasn’t afraid of
losing mine, and often I still get caught-up trying to explain WHY – the
closest ‘sense’ I’ve come to is – the moment things ensued; my Heart told my
Head to oblige, and Life unfolded accordingly.
Okay, so back to the boggart-challenge,
this exercise is more for the sake of one’s emotional-protection. The students were told that the
boggart-hiding-in-the-wardrobe could enormously take-on the sum of all the
individual’s fears. Which could jump out of nowhere, onto their path and seize
their joy at any time. They were all coached;
as they must face their own boggart and it would appear as whatever they
(individually) feared most – and to counteract the boggart’s form, all they had
to do was visualize it taking on a hilarious form instead of a frightening
one. So, they all gathered in a single
line, facing the wardrobe, and when Professor Lupin opened the door, they were
to look the boggart square in the eyes while concentrating on how they’d
prefer-it-to-be, and yell RIDDIKULUS! By
doing so, they would release a power from-within that would instantly change
their frightening circumstance (the boggart) into a hilarious one. Ah-ha!
I know…I know – but regardless of how
‘fairy’ this developmental-approach may seem; it’s truly ingenious when the
need arises to direct one’s attention upon its (self)leadership acumen; and
align with the INTRA-personal gestures strong enough to rhythmically groom
developments and effectively (re) build one’s esteem to go-forth-and-conquer. Because surely, if we continue benchmarking
our esteem(s) according to the likes of clad-iron extremes, unsavory policies,
stifling workplace tactics, and lopsided work-referencing; a great deal of
talent-deficiencies will surely swing into full-effect (and we may never be
able to swing it back). It’s taken me a long
while to release the mind-settings that say I can only benchmark my worth
according to the rules and references of conventional workspaces. Owning my own storylines is now allowing me
to ‘work’ how-ever I like – as I’am the HUMAN-resource…and surely, I have
market(able) skills that shall be authentically appreciated. #HavePen;
WillTravel #ThePowerOfDefinition
Your Story’s True North
O SON OF SPIRIT!
I created thee rich, why dost thou bring
thyself down to poverty? Noble I made
thee, wherewith dost thou abase thyself? Out of the essence of knowledge I gave
thee being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone beside Me? Out of the clay of love I molded thee, how
dost thou busy thyself with another? Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou
mayest find Me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting
~ The
Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah
(take
from Dr. Joy DeGruy’s Post Traumatic
Slave Syndrome; Chapter 6)
In closing, I’am also aware of the
steps the we (the Storytelling Community and its Constituents) have begun to
courageously exercise, in-favor unique approaches to decision-making is truly a
daring, avant-garde concept. But – it’s
truly doing-well with preserving the essence of one’s core-individuality, as
well as communal/tribal-beliefs, emotional-investments and continued
renewal of co-op initiatives.
KEYNOTE:
“The Genius of the ‘AND’” (Collins and Porras) – is considered the test of a
first-rate intelligence and the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind
at the same time, and still retain the ability to function (F. Scott
Fitzgerald). We-got-this! We really and truly do! A paramount-paradigm shift is not as
challenging as some of us are assuming it is…and at the very least, each
individual should just try-and-see-what-happens (FYI: assumption makes an ass
out of us all and our gumption…lol…trust me, I know!) …adhere to the calling. Indulge
in the art of telling your own Story. Sit-with-your-thoughts-and-feelings.
Go-forth-and-Journal! A-new-day-is-dawning. And patiently-pace-YOUR-process.
Story-ON!
QOTD {Quote-of-the-Day}
Keep-on-keeping-Story-ON!
Look closely at your surroundings –
Story-ON.
It’s never a-shame to learn from
others’ mistakes – Story-ON.
It is the most gratifying-goal that
must begin with a small achievement – Story-ON.
Diligence is the mother of
good-fortune – Story-ON.
