Thursday, June 25, 2009

Mentoring, Friends & Sharing

Mentoring is one of the tools that people often neglect, perhaps because they are too busy to think about it. It is what happens informally when we bounce ideas off our friends or relatives. It is what happens when we are brainstorming with other people at work.

Having a mentor can be very beneficial because by definition, we choose someone who has our best interests at heart.

Choosing someone whose success you admire is a good criteria, and I mean that in the larger sense. Someone who is successful in life, not just in business. We may have more than one mentor and call on one person for business expertise, and another for sage advice in other areas of life. In a general way, one person who is a good listener can do it all, but if you need someone who has specific knowledge, then you should go to such a source.

It can be an excellent decision to call on someone who is neutral when you feel like you need a fresh perspective. That is why many people really stop and get a tarot reading at a festival or psychic fair. A reader who does not intimately know the details of your life can offer a fresh insight that is not attached to the results, and in that way will sometimes be more honest than friends or family.

Sometimes that relationship can develop into a warmer one. For example there are people who I taught creative writing to who came back to me at a later time and let me know how helpful the classes were and how they changed their life in a meaningful way.

Other times, I have taught a person how to use the tarot and then they continued on and asked me to teach them other things. After that starting point, they might decide that they want to know more about energy in its various forms. And they feel comfortable in sharing conversations that they might keep secret from others. Each relationship evolves in its own way, in its own time.

A person who senses that the reader is a caring, intuitive, multi-faceted person can decide that those are qualities that they would value in a mentor. Most times, a mentor will be honored to be asked to perform this service because it is an acknowledgment of them. At the same time, a sincere and dedicated seeker can inspire the mentor to give them their best teaching, their best efforts, their most useful tools and wisdom.

Mentors, coaches, teachers, guides. Many different names for the same thing. Rather than take one reading and digest it and move on, think about how useful it can be to extend that relationship once you have had a positive experience with that person. Now that one reading becomes one of many exchanges between the two of you.

Enlarge your view and consider how it could benefit you. A mentor can help you change your life.

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