The Hero’s Journey

The Hero’s Journey
As I write this, we have just passed the mid-way point in our quest to cross the Atlantic. At this relative waypoint, any issues that arise will result in us continuing to the destination (Horta, the Azores) rather than turning back to Bermuda. It is the same in the airplane. Every flight calculates a “GO” “NO GO” way point referred to as V1. The point at which the take off will NOT be aborted, the pilots will continue to fly and make a plan to return to the airport if necessary to deal with whatever came up on the take off roll. Spending the past 5 days working toward this way point in the sea has gotten me thinking about dreams and the tenacity and “stickiness” of inertia.

Everyone is familiar with the “Hero’s Journey”. The Hero’s Journey has been well chronicled in book after book and story after story over the millennia whereby the hero has the dream yet has many obstacles to overcome in order to bring the dream to fruition. I recently heard an interview (If I had the internet in the mid-Atlantic I would do the research necessary to give the subject credit but I don’t recall who wrote about it) with an author who wrote a book referring to the “stickiness” of essentially breaking the inertia away from the comfortable. Every epic journey includes this stickiness. And everyone who has ever held a dream and worked toward it’s manifestation can attest to it. I have often called this phenomena breaking the inertia. This particular author posits that the greater the evolution of the spirit the “stickier” or more resistance one will encounter.

Writing this blog, was, for me a great example of this. Each time I began a posting, I would meet with resistance in the form of eating, working out, talking, reading, cooking, vacuuming, doing laundry… etc etc. You get the picture. Yet simply getting my butt in front of the computer and the inertia away from progress is broken.

Dreams are especially sticky. How many times have you had the seed of a dream planted only to permit distractions to move you off the target. Excuses. So many excuses. “It could be dangerous”. What if something happens to me? What if the boat breaks? What if the weather is terrible? What if we run out of water, food, movies entertainment, chocolate… etc.. My cousins uncle’s sister said she knew of someone who did this and their child was never the same again. Again, you get the picture.

But here is the funny thing – while there is sticky resistance to the dream, there is at least as much serendipitous support for our dreams. I have seen evidence of this in too many dreams of mine to count or to be random coincidence. For me, and for my empirical evidence, there is hard concrete proof that once I set my intention and begin working toward it with dogged persistence, I merely have to step aside and let God do all of the heavy lifting. Doors open to me, people come into my life at seemingly random moments all arriving to support my intentions. That is not to say that there aren’t challenges to the dream. Thats the sticky part. But that is to say that the challenges are all part of the deliciousness of the achieving.

So, the first time I can remember having a conversation with Alec about crossing the ocean it really sounded something like this… “Could you imagine….” “What do you think that would feel like!!!???” From those early musings came the occasional watering of the seedling by Alec or Me finding an article or a blog talking about just that thing. Then the mystical starts to happen for me. The blogs and the talks all seem to touch something inside of me… deep deep inside of me but it nearly always manifests in some physical tangible thing like goosebumps or a strange feeling welling up inside of me – oddly enough sometimes the reaction is strong and visceral – crying during the thought for absolutely no reason but feeling like the joy inside caused by the thought must find release. In those moments, I know Im onto something. When I feel this – I know that this is MY path and Im on my way. Then I start “trying things on”. Imagining this path or that path to what I feel like the ultimate goal would be. Often times this “trying on” will give me the direction for pursuing the dream. Nothing happens overnight in this phase, God needs time to line up his soldiers and nothing will happen for me at the expense of someone else. The only way obstacles will be cleared from my path is if they are simultaneously being cleared for someone else as well. This is another clue for me reaffirming that Im where Im supposed to be. When my dreams and goals don’t cost anyone anything – they are part of the human collective gaining benefit Im where I belong.

So… here we are… in the middle Atlantic having just crossed the point of being closer to the Azores than to Bermuda. A little later today we will cross the point of being closer to Ireland than we are to Stuart, FL. The decision to GO made – and if the beautiful weather we have encountered since we left Bermuda wasn’t enough, this day has been characterized by more dolphin encounters than we have had combined since the beginning. As I write this there is a pod of dolphins about 200 meters to port containing more dolphins than I have ever seen in my life. They are jumping out of the water it seems almost like they are performing just for us. Another earlier encounter was captured on video and while a smaller pod, these hung right in our bow wake and swam along with us for several minutes. I hope to inset a youtube video here but you know how I struggle with technology:

We are supported so incredibly by God on this day. The seas have never been calmer, the peace aboard Gratitude has never been more palpable. Its not just me though, I must say, I am in such a peaceful state I don’t remember when I have enjoyed a more restorative vacation. Everyone aboard seems to be infused with peace and wellness. Being absent technology, and internet and noise is such a huge blessing! Being nearly 1,000 miles from land at the closest point is amazing and exhilarating. The night sky has been speckled with more stars than my wildest imaginings and last night on my 0001-0300 watch the water around the Gratitude flashed with bioluminescence. It was like little fire flies dancing in the sea below us as the stars and milky way soared above.

Back when we were in the dreaming and planning phase we watched the NAR youtube video (probably 100 times) and laughed as several of the participants jumped in the ocean. I wondered if we would do this and boy was I nervous. You see, making a trip like this consists of many protocols and plans for keeping the humans INSIDE the boat, not watching as they jump OUT of the boat. Still, there is something amazing about the idea of swimming in 18,000 feet of water. Today, we did it. We all jumped in and frolicked around laughing and giggling like a bunch of 5 year olds. I tried to dive down so that I could look back up through the crystal clear (cold 69 degree) water but I was nearly hyperventilating and couldn’t even sink more than 6 inches below that water. Still, it was an amazing day and a memory that will stay with us forever.

By the time you read this, we will have arrived in the Azores. Thanks for sharing this experience with us. We feel as though we are loved and supported beyond words by all of the beautiful souls who are rooting for us back home. Each of us aboard the Gratitude has a full support community cheering us on and we can feel the prayers buoying us along. We pray for each of you every night before our dinner time meal and we are so grateful for you in our lives.