“In-tuition literally means being taught from within.” - J. Allen Boone, The Language of Silence

Can you believe that you’re a Heroine – on your very own epic Heroine’s Journey? 

No, well, it’s OK.  I couldn’t either. 

“Who me?” I’d scoff. “ I don’t stand out in any way. I haven’t discovered something, done something awesome. I’m not a heroine!”

Well, turns out I am – and so are you. My job in this blog is to prove to you that you ARE a Heroine. Do me a favor, please suspend your disbelief (you’ll need to!) – and just read on.

The Heroine's Journey - My Story

I think it will help you if I tell you my story and how I went on The Heroine's Journey- if I tell you about my struggle to believe in myself. (Yes, me who wrote the book You Are a Heroine; the person who teaches this stuff!) Belief in yourself, the significance of you, is the first seed to plant…it can be a tiny seed, but it’s necessary in order to grow your heroine-ism. Believe in yourself!

So, dear Heroine, please come with me as I unwind my tale. I think you’ll see a lot of similarities between me and you. I’ll tell you about me walking my talk and what a scary, irrational, non-business savvy, faith-filled, challenging, full of surprises and joy that walk was.  It has led me to an entirely different place in my life.  That’s another part of my message to you. You have to leave the “norm” to go on your “Heroine’s Journey. I’ll explain more what that means, but, it probably will be all those things for you, too: scary, irrational, etc.etc. That’s why it’s epic. That’s why it will transform you. 

And the best thing is we’ll do it together! 

Now, here’s my Heroine’s Journey…one of them, that is. Take my hand and let’s go. The road is up ahead. Thanks for coming along.

It All Started With My First Business

I had a business for women which I called Ruby Slippers.  The name “dropped in” to my head (one way I experience intuition) one day as I was driving to work and I immediately knew it was right.  

The ruby slippers, I would explain to the women in my workshops, are the symbol of what we all have inside of us, an inner knowing or intuition that will get us where we want to go if we but acknowledge it and pay attention.  I’d tell them we all have to learn to use our intuition, that we, too, can “click our heels” as Glinda, the good witch, taught Dorothy (in Frank Baum’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) and find “home,” whatever that might be for them.

This “turn” around the Heroine’s Journey  - what I’m writing to you about -  was all about increasing my self-awareness.  It was about learning to believe in myself and in an unseen world that, if we ask, helps and guides us.  I had to do some excavating and in the process uncovered some hidden gems that led me to a better understanding of why I am the way I am.  

After teaching many women how to click their ruby slippers, I had to click my own ruby slippers. I had to walk my talk.  After developing programs that I taught and coached with for years — Attracting the Life You Want, Circle Power, The Business of You, The Heroine’s Journey — I realized it was time to take my own Heroine’s Journey to find my one true self.  

This is my story of how I came to believe in myself, realizing that I, too, am a heroine.

And that, dear heroines, was quite a leap. 

Taking The Leap

One can certainly get by with a surface awareness of how you’re living your life.  (If you stay distracted and busy, you may never get to assess just what you’re doing here.  I’m a champ at distracted and busy.)  This time I was asked to go deeper and going there got me here, sharing my story with you.  

I hope my story will help you appreciate your own “ruby slippers” and how they take you every day on your very own Heroine’s Journey.  It’s not really something anyone can teach you.  You have to trust your intuition, listen to it and respond — sometimes by leaping. And it’s something you have to do all by yourself.  

The Wizard of Oz

It’s what Glinda tells the Tin Man and Scarecrow at the end of the movie, The Wizard of Oz: 

Tin Man:  What have you learned, Dorothy?

Dorothy: Well, I-I think that it, that it wasn't enough just to want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em, and it's that if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard because, if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with. Is that right?

Glinda: That's all it is!

Scarecrow: But that's so easy! I should've thought of it for you —

Tin Man: I should have felt it in my heart —

Glinda: No, she had to find it out for herself…

You need to search no further than your own “backyard.”  You find your way to your “heart’s desire” by traveling within yourself.  Your intuition, your higher power, spirit, all-encompassing love, (whatever you want to call it!) dwells there and its guidance is far better than what a limited mind can offer.   

And you can’t lose it – that ever-present inner voice. 

But you can… 

stifle it, 

mistrust it, 

discredit it

even worse – shame it

shove it on a way-back burner

forget about it.

I hope my sharing my story with you will help you embrace your intuition, your “heart’s desire” and give you a leg up on your journey.

Do you know the Greek myth of Ariadne and her red thread?  Minos’ daughter, Ariadne, gives Theseus, (because she has fallen in love with him) a red thread to follow out of the labyrinth and thus, saves him from the monster, the Minotaur. The red thread leads Theseus out of a dark and dangerous place.  

Red Threads

We all come across red threads, the means by which we find our way.  Our red thread isn’t always just for guiding us out of a life-threatening situation, as in Theseus’ case.  It can help us find our way from: 

• confusion to clarity, 

• stagnation to a new direction, 

• alienation to feeling at home.

Dorothy and her slippers have been a “red thread” for me.  I picked up this “red thread” twenty years ago when I began my workshops for women and I have used it as a strong metaphor for women finding their way in the world, for their heroine’s journey.  Dorothy’s story speaks to me and helps me speak to others.

Life Lessons Of The Heroine's Journey

These are some of life’s lessons I draw from it:

• Dorothy had everything she needed to get home, throughout the story, and so did her friends.  She was complete.   She just had to understand the power of what she already possessed.  For her it was on her feet, for us it’s our intuition.  

• The perceived danger of the witch, of whom we’re all so frightened, is an illusion.  She is easily vanquished, like many fears.  Dorothy ultimately overcomes the challenge of the witch with a bucket of water.  The witch — and the fears — melt.  Moving through our fears doesn’t have to be as difficult as we anticipate.

• As for the yellow brick road that the good witch, Glinda, counsels Dorothy to take...

 “And so, with Toto trotting along soberly behind her, she started on her journey.  There were several roads nearby, but it did not take her long to find the one paved with yellow brick.” Frank L. Baum 

• ...it’s there for the finding and following.  We each have one, our own unique way of walking the heroine’s journey. If we but trust it, it will lead us to where we want to go.  It’s there, waiting for your first step.  Most likely, you’re already on it.