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Just how far can the human eye really see?
Just how far can the eyes of our inner spirit see?
Just how far can we dare to dream about the unique future?
In our recent blog posts we have set the tone and direction for what the best of mentoring, anywhere, any time, with any person, is all about. It is intentional. It is purposeful, moving toward deep change. It is about one’s whole life in all 8 dimensions. It is, if creatively paid attention to, ultimately and continually transformational.
Stating the obvious, we can only mentor forward. We cannot mentor the past. The past is a serious teacher in any life. The best of mentoring informs and guides and helps a person, no matter their age, live into the future creatively, courageously, conquering more of life than one might have thought possible.
How young is too young to be mentored? Seriously…
Obviously, there needs to be some capacity for communication, learning, understanding. And, yes, a 15 year old is going be mentored in some ways that are different from a 45 year old. Currently I am mentoring developing leaders between the ages of 12 and 64.
How old is too old for mentoring?
No one is too old for mentoring. However, the more stuck or set in one’s ways (at any age, really…) the harder it may be to mentor someone, or be mentored.
No matter the age, one of the first places I look in a potential mentoree’s life is how curious are they? What is their willingness to be a life-long learner, no matter their age? What have they been reading, watching, humming? How wide, even wild, are their dreams for their immediate and long-term future?
People who are thriving, or who long to be thriving, can answer those questions. People who are just surviving will stumble around in answering those questions. Truth owned up to, we all live between the ‘thrive’ and ‘survive’ continuum as our lives unfold day by day.
At any age, with the people I mentor, the variety of answers signal to me some important facts about who they are and who they hope they can be, and will work to be in the future.
The best of mentoring brings creative clarity to anyone’s hopes, dreams, potentials, opportunities…no matter where in the world they live.
Within our Leadership Design Group mentoring model, we use a term called The Circle of Life, to begin to craft a framework of thinking about oneself and thinking about others. Obviously, an adolescent is not someone retiring from 40 years of work. Therefore, we talk about the Circle of Life in Three3rds.
In past generations I thoroughly understand that life was looked at in halves. First half. Second half. But as the population is living longer, what really is the halfway point. It’s certainly not what it used to be. No one knows when one will step into eternity, be it at 3 (extra hard to take…) or 103 (as my beloved mother-in-law did…).
The best of mentoring helps others be fully alive, no matter their age.
In the next few weeks this blog will be unpacking what it means to be fully alive in each 3rd of life. The hope for any of us is the far horizon, as with my mother-in-law. However, since no one knows the day or the hour when they will slip through that thin veil called eternity…from here…to there…I recall what one theologian from the last century asked:
How shall we then live?
Our active, life-giving, life-challenging look forward for any life is looked at through these three realistic grids (of course there is a give and take here, not hard edged time frames being expressed):
[/blox_text][blox_table animation=”none”][blox_table_row type=”default”][blox_table_cell type=”default”]First3rd: [/blox_table_cell][blox_table_cell type=”default”]0 – 30[/blox_table_cell][/blox_table_row][blox_table_row type=”default”][blox_table_cell type=”default”]Second3rd: [/blox_table_cell][blox_table_cell type=”default”]30 – 60[/blox_table_cell][/blox_table_row][blox_table_row type=”default”][blox_table_cell type=”default”]Third3rd: [/blox_table_cell][blox_table_cell type=”default”]60 to whenever…[/blox_table_cell][/blox_table_row][/blox_table][blox_text animation=”none”]
If you want a sneak peak at these Three3rds, you can look in our eBook here. However, we will be fleshing this out for you in future blog posts.
Whether you mentor others, or not, what is coming on this website will help you live your life to the max. I’m already excited about what I will be sharing with you in the next post.
Just how alive do you sincerely hope to be for the rest of your own life?
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