Hi N

I think you might find the book ‘Wild’ by Cheryl Strayed interesting.

To heal she needed to come to terms with her loss and learn a better way to nurture/mother herself.

As you mentioned in the ‘hero journey’ it is at the point when all seems loss that the moment of transformation is realized. This moment is not usually made conscious by forcing it but by a kind of calm assertiveness/intentional – doing by not doing (not attaching one sens of self as being what you do)

Cheryl Strayed needed to challenge herself physically in order ‘detach’ herself from her thoughts and experiences (she no longer labeled herself as being her thoughts and experience) and so gained a deeper perspective.  In that moment though everything was the same everything changed.

There are many methods of completing such journeys. I think the key is mindfulness, skillful detachment (you are not what you do, think or feel in the moment) and being open to possibilities.