Ethiopia is a country that still fills my heart to this day. I took a memorable eight-day trip to Ethiopia with G-Adventures, the National Geographic tour operator that teaches what exploration with purpose means, in August 2019.
Amazing storytelling is crucial when fundraising: good stories inspire. Good stories coming from the heart, that is. Stories that have the power to change what is outdated and no longer works. Stories that live in and for today’s world, and not in the long-gone past. Stories that resonate with the collective consciousness. These are the tales of transformation and of love in action.
One day Doris’s doorbell rang, and she opened her door. That was her call to adventure. Can you imagine something so mundane changing a life? Lots of movies work this way. Especially romantic comedies. In movies, they talk about the “meet cute,” a mundane moment where the romantic leads meet. In The Holiday, the character played by Kate Winslet meets her romantic interest played by Jack Black when he rings her doorbell and she doesn’t know how the technology works to answer it.
The great philosopher, Joseph Campbell, has written about the hero’s journey. He studied ancient myths from all over the world and discovered that they all told the same stories, even though they were a world apart. They told stories about the origin of the world and stories about the stars and love. These stories all had the same structure. And I believe Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey is the story of HSPs (Highly Sensitive Person) and how we can own our power.
As an archeologist and philanthropist, world travel has been my lifeblood and has led serendipitously to the transformation of the lives of orphans and the welfare of abused animals in five countries over the last sixteen years. I met ordinary people who, like me, just wanted to make a difference in this world. In this time of the Coronavirus, the world has shuttered. Suddenly our passions, projects and even our connection with people have been put on hold. How do we keep transforming ourselves and the world from the confines of our four walls? How do any of us continue to do what we’ve always done with such dramatic life changes? How do we find a new normal?
Here, Doris faced the test of the honey cakes. Will the bats like them? Had she and the canary come up with a good idea? Or will it all fall apart? In this part of the story, Doris discovered her power. She realized that her ideas are worthy and that her cooking of honey cakes worked. The bats became allies, and so did the fairies. She stepped into her power as she confronted her fears and doubts and owned her identity as a peacemaker.
