What is your personal myth?

Our personal myths are the stories we tell ourselves of where we've come from and where we’re going, what we love and what we fear. Often, this story is full of reasons why we don't or can't have the life we dream of. In the late 90s, my personal myth was a story of feeling stuck in a job in the city that was comfortable but not satisfying.

Luckily, no matter what the story is, it turns out we are always in the perfect place to start a hero's journey to a new life that's closer to our dreams. It starts with a call to adventure and requires us to leave the comfort of our ordinary world.

For me, this happened in the early 2000s when I had an opportunity to buy a barn on ten acres in the country. I knew it was time to finally take the leap, leave the city and find a way to live my childhood dream of a life surrounded by nature. I was determined to turn that barn into the home I had always wanted.

I didn't know exactly how it would happen, but with the help of my family, friends and community, it all ended up coming together at the intersection of intention and surrender. I learned to let go of my ideas about how things should be and accept what life put in front of me. I worked hard but also took time to heal and enjoy the journey.

That barn didn't end up being the place I would ultimately call home, but I let that failure change me for the better. At the time, I could have never known that ten years later I would be living a completely different life of my dreams on a mountain far away from there, or that this new life would also give me the inspiration and freedom to create Listen To Sleep. It's been such a strange and wonderful trip, and I wouldn't change a thing.

Awakening Your Myth

One of the great things about following your dreams is that you never know exactly where they will take you, but if you just keep going, they usually wind up leading you to new dreams.

Now my path has led me to supporting others in realizing their dreams, so I'm setting out on a new journey to build an online course and community called Awaken Your Myth. It will be a place where I can mentor seekers and dreamers who will also be supporting each other in transforming life into a hero's journey of untold riches.

I'm pouring everything I've learned over the last 40 years into building Awaken Your Myth using the MYTHS method, the five-pillared approach I created for rewriting our personal myths to create the life that's closer to our dreams.

The MYTHS Method

• Mindfulness: Responding to life in the present
• Yielding: Surrendering to our wisdom, not our doubts
• Transformation: Allowing and accepting change
• Healing: Integrating body, mind and spirit
• Storytelling: Sharing our stories to inspire ourselves and others

With a foundation of mindfulness, we’ll build the attitudes and practices we need to loosen the grip of the doubting mind and live in the present while planning for the future. Learning to yield, we will cultivate a willingness to surrender to the moment to find answers and actions that are authentic and make progress toward our goals. As we embrace change as a natural part of life, we will integrate this transformation through taking time to heal the body, mind and spirit. Finally, by telling the story of our personal hero's journey, we will inspire and uplift both ourselves and others.