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Embarking on YOUR Hero's Journey · The Spiritual Shitshow Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Being able to embrace the healing journey truly is about allowing yourself to place a loving hand over your heart, to compassionately recognize, witness who you have been, the experiences that life has offered you, an ability to lovingly be in your life, where you are now, and to courageously continue to allow yourself to evolve and grow.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: The healing journey is about self-growth, self-awareness and self-love.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Spiritual Shit Show.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: My name is Julie Nguyen and today we're talking about what this actually really means.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: To embrace the healing journey and I want to offer some insight into my own spiritual journey and awakening, because I feel like when we are vulnerable enough to share the real, authentic, raw, human aspects of life, it allows others to really take a deep breath into wow, okay, this is just life.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: And I think that is so important now, too, because we are constantly bombarded on Instagram and TikTok and social media platforms of how to live a good life.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: And I think that is so important now, too, because we are constantly bombarded on Instagram and TikTok and social media platforms of how to live a good life.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: And then we see everybody else like really living incredible lives, and there can be shame or guilt or discontentment that arises from that, but the truth is everybody, everybody, even the most spiritually enlightened people, move through life, and life is messy and life is magical.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: That's why I named this the spiritual shit show.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: I never trust a spiritual guru Not one, not ever because the truth of it is that we are all human and we are not escaping the human experience.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: The human experience is here for us to learn, it's for us to know how to move through challenges.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: For us to learn.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: It's for us to know how to move through challenges.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: It's here for us to look at the journey of our soul, to reconnect with the truth that lies within and constantly cleaning up our own internal house, loving all parts of this messy, sometimes very traumatic human experience.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: One story that has been really helpful for me and I touch upon it quite frequently in my life as a reminder like life is a journey, julie, life is a journey is the Hero's Journey, which is a story by Joseph Campbell that he wrote about in the Hero with a Thousand Faces.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: It outlines the path that many of us take.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: I think if we are truly alive, we are experiencing our hero's journey.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Being able to come back to the story of the hero's journey allows me to take deep comfort in knowing that I am just in this stage of my journey, that if I continue to put one foot in front of the other I'm going to get into the next stage, and it's a beautiful testament for what each one of us is doing here and a beautiful reminder of our own magic and the power of our own story.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: So I want to go through the stages of the hero's journey with you.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Number one, the first stage is there's the ordinary world, and this is where the hero begins in their familiar everyday life, often feeling, though, discontent and questioning, longing for something more.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: So the life is good, but still there's, like this question of you know what else is there?
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Am I really serving my purpose?
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Am I doing you know the work of there?
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Am I really serving my purpose?
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Am I doing you know the work of the divine?
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Does it matter?
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Stage two is the call to adventure, and this is when the hero encounters an event, a life changing event, that forces them to step out of their comfort zone.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: It rattles their world.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Number three is refusal of the call, and this is when the hero hesitates or resists this call for adventure because there's fear and self doubt, or pain or anger or you know, limitations.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: No one says yes to getting uncomfortable, so there's a refusal.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: That happens.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: I always say that every spiritual task that I am embarking on, I go kicking and screaming.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: And then there's the meeting of the mentor.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: This is stage four.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: It's a guide or a mentor or a teacher appears and provides wisdom, a little golden nugget that offers breath, encouragement, a safe space to continue forward.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Stage five is the crossing of the threshold, and this is where the hero commits to the adventure and steps into the unknown, leaving the ordinary world behind.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Fucking, scary as heck.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Stage six is tests and enemies, and it's where shit hits the fans.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: It's where the hero faces obstacles, confronts enemies and challenges that test their resolve.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: It makes them question am I doing the right thing?
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Do I have the courage, do I have the strength to move on?
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: And the hero also meets allies that help them move through one step at a time.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Stage seven is the approach to the inmost cave.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: This is where the hero prepares for the central ordeal by facing fears and doubts and delving in to deeper self-discovery.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Stage eight is the ordeal where the hero confronts their greatest challenge.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: This often involves a symbolic death and a rebirth, and this is the climax of their transformation.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Stage nine is the reward.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: After surviving the ordeal, the hero receives a reward it's knowledge, power, gifts, treasures and that transforms them.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: They feel different, they feel empowered.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: And stage 10 is the road back.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: The hero begins their return journey, often facing one last challenge or push to bring the reward home.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: And then stage 11 is the resurrection.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: This is when the hero faces its final test, emerging fully transformed and integrating their new understanding or powers into their being.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: And stage 12 is return with the elixir.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: And this is where the hero brings their elixir, which is wisdom, insight, physical treasure, back to the ordinary world to share with others, completing their journey.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: And in this model, that's the completion.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: But I think then we just start again.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: We start again, but with now, with deeper wisdom and a deeper capacity to love.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: As I reconnect to the hero's journey, I am sensing the parallel of the hero's journey in those stages with what I have been going through for my entire life.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: But really, really, in the past seven years of my spiritual sabbatical, which has really been I'm going to rename it to now as my hero's journey, I think when things get really messy, we feel confused or we feel like we're outside of the world or we feel like it's us and there's something wrong with us and we have to medicate and we have to fix.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: But the hero's journey reminds us that you're just on the journey.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: You're on the journey and things are going to get messy and there's going to be an upheaval, and the human experience is the journey of growth, struggle and transformation.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: How can we embody all of it?
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: How can we embody the good, the uncomfortable, the challenging and the change?
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: This is really hard stuff and I always say it's easier to keep busy than to settle down and stop long enough to ask yourself where is it right now that I am in my life?
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: What can I embody?
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: What am I moving through?
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Is it challenging and can I accept these challenges?
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Is it peaceful and can I rest into the peace without fear?
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Are things changing and shifting and how do I feel about that?
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Is it uncomfortable for me?
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Is it unnerving?
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Do I feel out of control?
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Embracing the healing journey is really increasing your ability for self-awareness, self-compassion and, always, self-love.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: So self-awareness and being able to connect to the feelings, the energy, the frequencies, the stories that are held in the body requires skill and practice, and it is something that a lot of us are not taught how to do.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: So I want to talk you through a little bit of how I would use this hero's journey as a template for my own life.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: So number one the ordinary world.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: So it's me in my life and in this quote unquote ordinary life.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Actually, I am collecting experiences, traumas, stories, protective ways to move through the earth.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: I am developing my personality and because this personality is being developed by how I have experienced the world, especially in childhood, at some point it needs to break open so I can experience myself at the age that I am now, so I can continue to move forward in a way that feels expansive and loving and truthful.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: It allows me to really tap into my ability to choose my life, to manifest my life.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: But I can't do that without, a a sense of self-awareness and B allowing that shell to crack open and break so I can be.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: I always say it's the golden Buddha and this is another story.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: So welcome to Story Hour here with Julie Nguyen.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: But the story of the golden Buddha goes like this, and I love these two together I love the hero's journey and the story of the golden Buddha.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: I think these are two brilliant stories for anybody who is embarking on their healing journey.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: All right, so the Golden Buddha story goes like this In a small village in Thailand, centuries ago, there was a massive statue of a Buddha made entirely of gold.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: It was a priceless treasure revered by the villagers.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: And one day, word spread that an invading army was approaching.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: Fearing the statue would be stolen, the villagers decided to protect it.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Army was approaching.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Fearing the statue would be stolen, the villagers decided to protect it.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: They covered the golden Buddha in thick layers of clay, hiding its true nature.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: The invaders arrived, but they overlooked the clay-covered statue, assuming it was worthless, and left it untouched.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Years turned into centuries and over time, the villagers forgot the statue's true nature.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: The clay Buddha became a part of their lives and no one remembered the golden treasure hidden beneath.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: One day, as a monk was meditating near the statue, a small crack appeared in the clay.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Curious, he chipped away at it and discovered a glimmer of gold beneath.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: He called the other monks and together they removed the clay, revealing the magnificent golden Buddha in all its glory.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: And what this story truly symbolizes is the power of the authentic self and how we can start number one in the ordinary world.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: And as we move as ourselves in this ordinary world, this clay gets placed over the golden essence, the truth of who we are.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: In the course of our life, we often cover the brilliance of who we are, and the layers of clay represent the fear, the limiting beliefs, the traumas, the stories, the societal conditioning and, just like the villagers forgot the Buddha's golden core, we forget our true nature.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Through self-awareness, introspection and courage, we can begin to chip away at these layers and uncover the gold within our inherent worth, authenticity and divine essence.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: And on an energetic note, here this really is from.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: It feels like October, november, december of 2024.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: We have been moving out, chipping away at the clay, and 2025 to 2027 is us being able to see that we are the golden Buddha, that we have this golden light, that we are allowing our authentic self to emerge, light that we are allowing our authentic self to emerge.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: So just know that if the last half of the year has felt or for me, all of 2024 has felt like this huge chipping away at this clay, it's depths of depression that I've never felt before, but I was never scared of.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: I kind of knew what was happening, so I wasn't afraid of the depression or these lower states of being in the world, because I think all of that needed to happen so I can again.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: It feels like, collectively, 2025 is a real call for us to be in our authentic light.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: All right, moving back to, though, the hero's journey.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: So we're living this life.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: We can't continue to live as this clay version of ourselves, because we are here to be the golden light, to see our true, authentic purpose.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: So, because we don't know, life tends to then throw us a curveball.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: This could be divorce or disease or losing our job or some other traumatic event, and it forces us to shift our lives completely.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: It forces us to get out of our comfort zone.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: It forces us to think about life ourselves, our values, differently, and because that is traumatic and completely uncomfortable and nobody really ever says yes to that kind of shit, then we refuse.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: We don't want to do it, we want to grovel in our pain and our suffering and we want to blame.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: It's hard work to look at our fears and what's holding us back, and I do think sometimes it feels safer to stay exactly where you are, because the unknown is so terrifying, but because there is always a held, more divinely loving presence in our lives.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: The universe offers the mentor, the guide, the teacher, the person that really comes in to hold you together when you feel like all pieces of you are just falling apart.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: And I will say about meeting the mentor, it's not just going to be one.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: When shit was really deep for me, it was anybody.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: It was the person who was checking me out at Target who offered me a little nugget of wisdom.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: It was the person who offered kindness or listened to my story.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: It was my therapist friends who held space for me and offered love.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: It was my family, who let me stay in their house for a month while I completely like, slept and was depressed, and they fed me and they listened to my stories and they brought their spiritual teachers to come teach me.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Like I had many, many, many many mentors, guides and teachers and very mystical and esoteric meetings with people as well that I'll share at another episode.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: But know that this meeting of the mentor, it's going to be life really showing up for you, which is beautiful because you'll feel so held by it all, even when you're so confused and you feel like your world is falling apart.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: But because then you have no other choice, you have to just freaking.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: Do it because you have to survive and you have to thrive and we have to move on.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Then you have to say yes and you commit to the adventure and it's completely scary.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: And another thing that people say is this is also like the journey of the dark night of the soul, but it's this like strange void that you're in and it just feels messy.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: It's dark, you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, but there's a deeper trust in knowing that something's happening like this is happening for a reason.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: And then you begin to notice these challenges that are also just offering you gifts so you can begin to find your voice again, so you can begin to unravel, so you can begin to unravel these belief systems and heal these traumas and lighten your load.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: And this is all what happens when we say yes to facing the fears and the doubts and we uncomfortably move into these deeper self-discoveries.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: And then there's the symbolic death and rebirth, which feels you guys fucking messy as fuck.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: It's grueling, it's gross.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: And the rebirth, for me, has felt equally disorienting.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: I always love hearing the stories of Eckhart Tolle, where he just falls asleep and then on a park bench and then he wake up enlightened.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: Or there's another teacher, katie Byron, and she just woke up one day and she was completely enlightened.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: I always pray just to wake up just enlightened.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: But for me my enlightenment has had to come through working continuously through these things that happened in my stage, one of ordinary living and ordinary life and the traumas of life.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Being that symbol of clay, and it's been years of chipping away at this clay so I can see and connect to my light.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: And when you connect again to your light and you begin to see the world differently and you're meeting yourself differently, you also have to release these old ways of doing things.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to segue, which is why I jumped on here to talk about this today, because this morning I had this morning I had this huge realization of, because of my step, one stage of my journey, I developed these incredible protective mechanisms to be a light, to be the performer of happiness all the time.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: So it's, yes, innately, it's important for me to be happy and loving, because that's who I am.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: But as a small child, because of what was happening in my home, I took on the responsibility to be the person who's bringing peace as best as I can.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: I developed really incredible people pleasing skills.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: Because of that, because I always just felt like I needed to be the person who's bringing peace into the home.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: I need to be the person who is bringing peace to this person's life, or I have to support them, and I have to sacrifice all of myself, my desires, wants and needs, because those are less important than yours.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: And I have to.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: I want to help you, I have to help you.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: So this morning I was like, oh my goodness, I realized that my neutral state of being feels really uncomfortable, because this part of me that is always overperforming and always making sure everybody's happy and I always show up with a smile on my face and whatever that I don't ever allow myself.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Just to be neutral and not having to be the person who is responsible for the light and the happiness in a room, and that was really interesting.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: So the symbolic death and the symbolic rebirth if you think of a rebirth, you have your nine months in utero and then you have almost like this fourth trimester situation where you're still developing.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: So the point being a rebirth can be as messy as the death.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: It is more fulfilling, it's more clarifying, it needs a lot of support.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: But again, all of these things aren't something that happens overnight.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: It takes work, it takes patience, it takes curiosity, it takes a willingness to be like damn, that's where that part of me developed.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: And, wow, when I allow actually myself not to be the people pleaser, that feels really uncomfortable for myself, but it actually also kind of feels good.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: So, anyway, again, death, rebirth, messy, long.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Unless you're one of the lucky ones, it's more than likely not going to happen overnight.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: And make sure that you're getting support in it and ultimately remember that this is part of your hero's journey.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Then, after all of this, celebrate, acknowledge this knowledge, this new wisdom that you have your ability to take ownership for your life or to see yourself in a new light, without these old patterns of being, and all of this really is allowing yourself to continue to grow, continue to deepen into your authentic self.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: Another thing that came up as I am talking through the hero's journey and what I awakened to today of also like this damn, wow, I just gained so much self-clarity right now is when you're feeling stuck, though, when you're going through your hero's journey, there's a part of you in the rebirthing process that wants to go back and remember like but I used to be.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: This I used to be, and I think I did a podcast on this.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: I have to look it up and listen to what I said, because my opinions might have changed now that I'm going through this stage of my own personal evolution.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: But what I realized is my own feelings of dissatisfaction with self and or where I am in my life is because I keep going back and trying to recreate and touch and feel these old parts of myself that at one time felt alive, but being so attached to my old identity.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: So something has to die right, so something else can be rebirthed.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: So my old identity has taken a long time to die.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: I don't want to say die either.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: I want to say my old identity has taken a long time to take its final bow in the light and pass the sword forward for another version of me to arrive.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: I think that feels better when I say it that way.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and in that then there's this permission for this breath, for an excited quality to overcome Like wow, I don't know what's going to come my way, I don't know what my future holds, but I'm excited for it and I'm ready for it and I really can feel this new rebirth and this new energy here.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: It's here for me, it's here for me, but I keep myself stuck and I will continue to keep myself stuck and this old identity, this old pattern, if I don't look back at who I was and allow that version of me to take her final bow and hear all of the applause from the universes and take her final bow and then give me a sweet little wink to continue on into what is next.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: And then this is, you know, this return back where you can be in your life.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: You can be with your family, you can be with your friends, but you just are more you.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: You have more wisdom, you have more insight, you have more love, you have more boundaries, you have more presence.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: That's what I'm working on now.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: What does this feel like?
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: To be back in old spaces, but as a different version of myself and honoring the journey that I have taken.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: This has been a long podcast.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: I don't think I'm going to edit too much, because it did really feel like it all was coming more from my heart and less from the paper that I've written down these things from.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: So, anyway, I'm going to leave it as is and I'm thanking you so much for being here, and may you know that every day we're just chipping away at that clay that has been hiding your light all along and return back to these stages of the hero's journey and see, maybe, where you're at, like, wow, I am in the refusal of the call.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: I do not want to go through this at all.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Or maybe I am meeting mentors and teachers.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Maybe this podcast is that for you, where you feel like, wow, I can really take a deep breath into where I am right now and I do really want to shift and make positive shifts in my life and I really do want to heal these parts of myself that still feel like they're in pain.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Or you know that I just haven't really carved out enough time to acknowledge yet and I don't know how to.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: I don't know what to do.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Maybe I'll do a podcast on that next, on how to really touch these parts of your pain that you know, again, nobody teaches us how to heal.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: Really, we just kind of get wrapped up into this hustle, do productivity, following Instagram trends, but it feels like it could be a lonely journey if you really venture into the hero's journey.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: But it's not.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: It's not, and you'll be pleasantly surprised of the beautiful souls who come into your life to support you along the way, and they become new lifelong soul friends.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: So, anyway, I am wishing you luck on your hero's journey.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Remember that you have this incredible golden light inside.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being here.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Thank you for sharing in the journey with me.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: I am giving you so much love, and stay tuned for more spiritual shit, show you.