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Do I have to be a certain age for Mythic Lives™? Although Mythic Lives™ appeals to anyone who wants to become more self-aware or is grappling with life's bigger questions, it appeals especially to those 40 or older, primarily because they have reached a time in their lives when they face major life transitions such as retirement, an empty nest, health issues, a parent's death, etc. Granted, people do face these "calls to adventure," as Joseph Campbell calls them, at any age, but the impetus to respond occurs most loudly at mid-life. Is Mythic Lives™ a women's program? The Mythic Lives™ program and tools are non-gender-specific; however, because the program creator believes you cannot lead someone where you have not been, she has not yet introduced the material in other circles, such as men’s groups, couples’ work, etc. That is changing, however. Other applications are currently being tested and/or piloted. (And if you have a specific application you’d like to test, and a group to test it with, please contact Mythic Lives™. ) Do I have to be a writer to take Mythic Lives™? No. In fact, sometimes it's better not to be, because professional writers often worry about the end product. In Mythic Lives™, it's all about process and what that unearths. When you sit down to write, you will be surprised how easy it is. In fact, some participants have compared it to "downloading." If nothing comes, that isn't a problem either. Whether you write in a journal, or on the computer, or only in your head, you are in the process. Trust that. Do I have to share what I write? Sharing is a personal decision. But often, participants can't wait to share their stories so others can offer insight or bear witness to the secrets we often hold too long in ourselves. Writing and telling your stories, especially the hard ones, reduce the power those stories have over you, and the unhealthy outcomes they often perpetuate. I don't remember much of my childhood. What if nothing comes forward? Something will, in one way or another. The creator of this program didn't remember a lot of her childhood either but was able to piece her life together thanks to the tools and processes she created that are part of this program. You will also learn how to work with the memories you have and unearth their deeper stories. And even if you don't recall the exact memory, its essence will often surface. Is Mythic Lives™ therapy? Mythic Lives™ is not therapy. Literally, however, it could be construed as that since psychotherapy, translated from its Greek origins, is "the work of the soul." In our current culture, however, therapy has a pathological connotation. Not so in Mythic Lives™. Rather, it invites you to see your life story as a grand adventure (a mythology), with many small adventures (or stories) rolled into it, each offering clues and invitations to go deeper into self-understanding. It is, in fact, Mytherapy, a term coined by Robert Atkinson in The Gift of Stories. How can you do personal work in a group setting? The "Cadillac" workshop series was designed so deeper personal work occurs between sessions. The workshops themselves are a time for coming together in community, sharing stories and experiences about what you are going through personally, garnering support and playing with the tools. Is the workshop process group therapy? No. It's based on a peer mentoring model, where both facilitator and participants come to the circle with equal, but different, amounts of wisdom. In the circle, a participant will share her story and/or experiences and others will offer insights that allow her to view her story, and its underlying meaning, more fully. How does Mythic Lives™ differ from other personal growth programs? Other personal growth programs offer personal insights in bits and pieces. Mythic Lives™ offers you a total picture. It acts as a blueprint into which you can insert the bits and pieces you've learned about yourself to-date to create your current picture of how you see yourself. It then challenges that picture by showing you what in it is false (or created by others) and what in it is true to who you are intrinsically. The goal? To unearth that authentic core and use it as an inner compass for making decisions about your life. How much mythology is explored in Mythic Lives™? Not much. In fact, the course barely touches on cultural mythology. Instead, it works with the concept of a personal mythology, that is, the collection of stories - personal, ancestral and social - that act as a backdrop for your own life story. Mythic Lives™ introduces that terrain to you and shows you where "you" are in the picture (often buried under others' stories!) and how to unearth that authentic self. Why is Mythic Lives™ called what it is? Because every life story contains the essential elements of myth: archetypes and motifs, symbols and metaphors, and repetitions and patterns. The work of Mythic Lives™ is to help you see these elements in your own personal story and understand their meanings. In this way, you begin to see that no life, including your own, is "ordinary." Will I be "cured" once I complete Mythic Lives™? Life is about process, not outcome and the same is true for Mythic Lives™. Will you have new skills and insights about your life? Yes. Will there be shifts in how you perceive your life and yourself that impact your attitudes and behaviors? Hopefully. But living consciously is the work of a lifetime. Mythic Lives™ is a catalyst for that. It also shares processes and tools you can use long after the workshop series is done. Can you explain the tools a little more? The creator of Mythic Lives™ had a desperate need to map the psychic terrain she found herself in at mid-life. She also needed ways to understand and assimilate the intellectual information that allowed her to examine her personal life from different angles. The tools were born. Physically, they are large pieces of paper with various grids and graphics that direct you on where to insert different life story information so you can get new perspectives and insights. One tool, for example, walks you through a process to show you where your current issues come from. Another charts the lineage of your personal belief system. (You can't know where you're going until you understand where you've been!) Participants love the tools because they enable them to see how their current lives were created, and can be re-created too. I'm concerned about the make-up of the group. Do I need to be? No, because the issues we all face, as humans, are universal. The stay-at-home mom who deals with an abusive husband is no different than the vice president who has had to pay homage to an overpowering boss. Additionally, Mythic Lives™ was designed for normally high-functioning people who face a transition or want to gain more self-awareness and have the time, energy and interest for personal growth work. It is not a program for those dealing with volatile or life-threatening issues. To that end, every participant is screened prior to registration to insure a "good fit" for all concerned. How much homework is there? Again, that depends on you. Some participants have been known to set aside several days between sessions for the homework. Others do the writing assignment the night before. It's up to you, and the commitment level you have to the work and your own personal goals. Where did Mythic Lives™ come from? Mythic Lives™ was a result of the creator's graduate work and own personal journey to recreate her life after facing multiple losses. It is grounded in narrative therapy, Jungian psychology, transpersonal psychology, feminist theory, mythology and creative writing.
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