Any journey, whether physical or one of inner transformation, can go better with a bit of preparation.

In the language of Cognitive Psychology, the Path of The Chief is the path toward strengthening the brain’s executive skills. These brain functions include things like planning, working memory, metacognition, response inhibition, task initiation, goal-directed persistence, and especially self-regulation of feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. See the Bear Clan Domain Compass for a fuller explanation.

In the language of Depth Psychology, the Path of The Chief is the path toward strengthening the archetype of The Chief. People are born with an innate, universal, and hereditary understanding of various concepts. Archetypes are like phone apps or computer subroutines or even sub-personalities.

These mental constructs are in charge of different aspects of our minds. It can be an unruly collection of different “voices” that we all, at times, have speaking in our head. It’s The Chief’s job to plan, organize, coordinate, and lead the parts of the brain that are in charge of emotions, cogntions, and behaviors.

In the language of Shamanism, the Path of the Chief begins in the East, the domain of Eagle (see the Shaman’s Compass). We begin with trying to give a client a vision of where the journey is headed. This vision needs to be inspiring enough to provide some sense of hope and motivation to walk the path, to do the work. We begin to tell the story of the heroic journey that is about to commence.