The Humpty Dumpty Principle

Cycle Journey Story

The Humpty Dumpty Principle is based on what has for centuries been called a Dark Night, a universal, turmoil-filled, experience that is a personal low point for almost everyone. This upheaval provides the motivation to undertake a journey to find a new and deeper meaning for existence. That search for deep change becomes a circular trip through a series of growth stages which act as the center point for your Cycle Journey Story.

As authors our view of the need for a Cycle Journey Story is personal. We have gone through our own Dark Nights, challenging and difficult times we didn’t know how to get past. To discover who we are and who we were meant to be, we used our own stories as a means for Self-discovery and Self-inquiry.

First we revealed our stories to each other and journaled about what we heard. Then we used our journals to develop scenes that retold key incidents in our lives. Our purpose in the Humpty Dumpty Principle is to share our discovery of the Cycle Journey Story as a powerful pathway to change.

We want our stories to serve as proof you are not alone and we are fellow survivors who’ve lived through the great falls, our own terrible tumbles. Our narratives led us to see transformation involves letting go of the lives we’d planned and beginning quests for very different ones, which patiently waited for us to discover their existence. What we learned, along with the way we saw how a Cycle Journey Story could serve as a vehicle for profound change, became our inspiration and guide for this book.

Once our great falls, upheavals and resulting Dark Nights took hold, we thought the damage couldn’t be undone. In the language of the Humpty Dumpty Principle we believed not even all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could put us together again. Our stories tell of passing through troubled and chaotic times. There were betrayals, traumas, and multiple calamities that created earthquake-like instabilities. At the deepest level we suffered heartbreak, pain, and loss.

Like Humpty and possibly like you, we realized great falls left us cracked and fractured in so many places we couldn’t think clearly and were barely able to meet the demands of our daily lives. We saw life through the bleak eyes of deeply wounded victims. Our thoughts were scrambled. We felt our willpower would never be strong enough to escape our Dark Nights. Given the tumultuous nature of the time in our own wilderness, we understood our post-fall survival depended on discovering a new way to view our place in the world.

Out of a combination of determination, expanded awareness, and deeper insights, we told each other about our great falls.

To remember the repressed memories that came out of our unconscious, we kept journals. Then, when it seemed we had a firm grasp on our stories, we wrote about our falls. Those tales led to a new way to view our lives. Each time we revised and read aloud we gained a richer understanding of the forces behind our own journeys.

What astounded us is how telling, journaling, and writing our stories allowed us to see common patterns which led us to define an eight stage Cycle Journey. This circular evolution moved us past our great falls and Dark Nights, and plotted the course for a new direction for our lives. We recognized, backed by figurative language skills like metaphors and symbols that build a bridge into the unconscious, any person could have the same awakening.

You can Tell * Journal * Write your own personal story in a way that gives the same direction, depth, and focus to your life. Whether it’s as an oral storyteller, in a Cycle Journey Story Journal, through the combination of written scenes, or in a completed memoir form, you can bring new meaning and understanding to your life.

Our cycle is based on the theories of the Swiss psychologist C. G. Jung. Many of his conclusions lay a foundation for bringing feelings and emotions out of the unconscious, the part of life that does not ordinarily enter your awareness, but impacts your behavior and perception of the world.

A Dark Night brings with it challenges that may require outside help. Seek a qualified professional to discuss personal issues and life disruptions such as co-dependency, depression, prolonged grief and/or anger, mental health issues, addictions and substance abuse, and mental and/or physical abuse or destructive behavior.

The Humpty Dumpty Principle is a resource, not a substitute for therapeutic, medical, legal, financial, or other professional advice.