Lissa Rankin - The Anatomy of a Calling: A Doctors Journey from the Head to the Heart and a Prescription for Finding Your Lifes Purpose

PR AISE FOR
ANATOMY OF A CALLING

Every once in awhile a book comes along that feels like that companion youve been longing for to hold your hand on the incredible journey of life. Lissa Rankin has beautifully written The Anatomy of a Calling for you to transform your desire to do and be more into knowing, once and for all, your sacred purpose for being here. Enjoy this heartfelt journey as you realize that you are the hero in the story she shares.

K RISTINE C ARLSON ,
coauthor to the Dont Sweat the Small Stuff books

I made the mistake of starting The Anatomy of a Calling near bedtime. Dont do this unless you are willing to lose a lot of sleep! Lissas story is absolutely riveting, moving, and so wise. Read this book and be awakened to all that life wants for you.

J ENNIFER L OUDEN ,
author of The Womans Comfort Book and A Year of Daily Joy

Lissa Rankin has the courage to confront the difficulties of life and the inadequacies of our medical training. I know that as a doctor receiving information but not a full healers education leads you to treat the result and not the cause. We do not learn to know ourselves or why we became doctors and chose a specific specialty. So we struggle to understand and know ourselves amidst all the pain and suffering we are exposed to. Lissas words offer us all a guidebook on how to choose the healing paths when life presents us with its various roadblocks.

B ERNIE S IEGEL , MD,
author of The Art of Healing and A Book of Miracles

This book will forever change the way you perceive your own physician and our current healthcare system. Lissas writing is so intimate and confessional, you feel as if youre walking alongside her in Big Sur as she regales you with her miraculous tale. Best of all, it will show you how to heed your own callingno matter what it is.

S ARAH B AMFORD S EIDELMANN , MD,
author of Born to FREAK and What the Walrus Knows

This book is intended as a reference volume only, not as a medical manual. The information given here is designed to help you make informed decisions about your health. It is not intended as a substitute for any treatment that may have been prescribed by your doctor. If you suspect that you have a medical problem, we urge you to seek competent medical help.

Mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book does not imply endorsement by the author or publisher, nor does mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities imply that they endorse this book, its author, or the publisher.

Internet addresses and telephone numbers given in this book were accurate at the time of publication.

2015 by Lissa Rankin, MD

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

Book design by Christina Gaugler

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the publisher.

ISBN 978-1-62336-574-5 hardcover

ISBN 978-1-62336-575-2 ebook

We inspire and enable people to improve their lives and the world around them.
rodalewellness.com

For Matt, who unfailingly said yes
when I asked for permission
to follow my heart.

CONTENTS

I NTRODUCTION

Y ou are a hero. I am a hero. We are all, every single one of us, on what mythologist Joseph Campbell calls a heros journey, carrying within us a Nelson Mandela or Joan of Arc or Luke Skywalker or Mother Teresa or Helen Keller. We are Bilbo Baggins and Erin Brockovich and Oprah and Harry Potter. Like these classic heroes, we are all little sparks of divinity on a mission to step into our true nature and fulfill the Divine assignment our souls chose here on earth.

But if youre like most of us, you may not yet realize what a hero you really are.

Navigating your own heros journey is one of the cornerstones of living a meaningful, rich, authentic, wholly healthy life. So what does it mean to be on a heros journey? Joseph Campbell described it best, first in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, originally published in 1949, and then in Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth, a famous interview with journalist Bill Moyers that aired on PBS. His teachings were translated into Hollywood gold via Christopher Voglers The Writers Journey, which uses Campbells work to teach writers how to create a great screenplay or a bestselling novel. And George Lucas credits Campbell with the inspiration for his character Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.

So what is the arc of a heros journey? Youre not necessarily writing a screenplay or a novel, but youre writing the movie of your life, and as the hero of your own journey, it can be helpful to view a map of what lies ahead as you wake up to your purpose.

The heros journey begins with someone who has no idea she has an inner hero. The hero is just Jane Schmoe in the Ordinary World, doing her Jane Schmoe-ish thing, when suddenly there is a call to adventure. The hero initially refuses the call: Hell no, I aint doing that! But then, with reluctance, the hero accepts the Divine assignment. Thats when a magical mentor shows up, someone who will guide the hero, offer protection and reassurance, and share wisdom intended to help the hero navigate what is sure to be a challenging journey ahead.

Next comes the crossing of the first threshold, when the hero steps into adventure, leaving the known world and leaping into the unknown, which signals the heros final separation from the Ordinary World and marks the heros willingness to undergo metamorphosis. Theres often a rupture of some sort, an unraveling, as the hero goes from caterpillar into cellular debris inside the cocoon. In other words, as Yusuf Islam sings, To be what you must, you must give up what you are.

Then the initiation begins. No hero gets it right on the first try. The Road of Trials consists of a series of tests and obstacles the hero must overcome, and along the way, the hero meets allies and enemies and begins to learn the rules of a world far different than the Ordinary World. Then the hero comes to the edge of a dangerous placethe headquarters of the enemy or the dark cave of the new world or a scary inner place where the reckoning must happen. And the Ordeal usually follows; it is a fight to the death with the forces of darkness, when the hero is at risk of losing it all. Surviving the Ordeal is a rite of passage, an initiation into the new world that graduates the hero into a wiser, more enlightened state of being.

Having survived the Ordeal, the hero is rewarded. The holy grail is found. Life-changing wisdom is earned. An elixir that will serve as the balm for a wounded culture is won. But the hero isnt out of the woods yet. Once the hero finds the holy grail that promises to change the Ordinary World into the new bliss, its tempting to hold that knowledge dear, to protect it close to the heart, where nobody can threaten it or challenge it or take it away. But thats not what heroes do. Heroes always find the courage to bring the holy grail back home to the Ordinary World so others can benefit, too.