The Way of the Hero

From Alberto Villoldo’s book ‘The Four Insights’

To be a hero means being the author of your own myth. The first insight is the way of the hero because when you fol­low its four prac­tices, you turn your wounds into a source of power. You can accom­plish this by shed­ding the sto­ries of your past, just as snake shades her skin. In the process, you will cease being a vic­tim of what hap­pened to you and instead become empow­ered to write your own valiant tale of strength, heal­ing and beauty.

Your per­sonal sto­ries are yarns you’ve spun, they are not you. Suf­fer­ing occurs when you believe them to be true.

You’ll begin to rec­og­nize the events from your early life that shaped and molded you, as well as how your par­ents and cul­ture affected who you’ve become. And then when you out­live that story, you can craft a new one that’s bet­ter suited to a hero’s journey.

Who you are is a mys­tery that you uncover more clues to every day.

We need to walk away from all that we thought we were sup­posed to do or be in order to be loved and accepted by others.

The four prac­tices of the way of the hero are

The Prac­tice of Nonjudgement

When we prac­tice non­judge­ment, we no longer have ill­ness — we have oppor­tu­ni­ties for heal­ing and growth. We no longer have past trau­mas — we have events that sharp­ened our edges and shaped who we are today. We don’t reject the facts — we reject the neg­a­tive inter­pre­ta­tion of them and the trau­matic story we’re tempted to weave around them.

The Prac­tice of Nonsuffering

Suf­fer­ing hap­pens when you wrap a story around the facts. Non­su­fer­ring means not writ­ing sto­ries about our pain. Remem­ber, every story is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The Prac­tice of Nonattachment

To prac­tice nonat­tach­ment, we let go of the roles we’ve bought into and the labels we’ve stuck to our­selves. Our goal is to stop iden­ti­fy­ing with any story what­so­ever. When we shed all of our sto­ries, with their lim­it­ing roles and con­fin­ing iden­ti­ties, and become a mys­tery unto our­selves, we’re prac­tic­ing nonattachment.

The Prac­tice of Beauty

To prac­tice beauty is to per­ceive love­li­ness even when there is ugli­ness. When you see beauty all around you, beauty will seek and find you, even in the most unex­pected places.

Ama­zon Store: The Four Insights: Wis­dom, Power, and Grace of the Earthkeepers