I have
always found mentors; mainly because I really like to learn. Although I didn’t
know they were called mentors until recently. Linda really likes to learn the
science of things. I like to learn the behaviour of things. So when my Uncle
Ralph taught me about White Oaks and how he used their flowering time as an
indicator of other things happening in the vineyards, I was really interested.
About the behaviour of the white oak and the insect he was monitoring. Linda
would have been interested in the science of phenology, entomology, botany and
everything else. I’m just telling you that as a point of reference. Not a judgment
or anything.
When I
started reviewing my life (my behaviour) I came to realize I have been trying
to emulate the great people in my life. A short list would be my Dad, my
Grandpa and Uncle Ralph. There were many others, this is but a short list. All three were rivers. I have met many other
people who turned out to be reservoirs.
You see a
river has knowledge enter at its headwaters. The river then churns the
knowledge up and mixes it with other knowledge that enters the river through
the many tributaries. Those bits of knowledge adhere to each other,
oxygenating, purifying, and becoming more and more nutritious. Then as the
river flows, that knowledge can be taken out and used by whoever needs it. If
the person taking from the river is one of the 5% that knowledge enters their
river and mixes and the “circle of knowledge” continues.
Unfortunately,
most people, the 95% are reservoirs. Knowledge enters their reservoir and may
or may not mix with other knowledge, there is very little oxygenation, no
purification. There is no easy way to get at this knowledge, and when it is
accessed, it comes out in a container, flat, stale and perhaps not
understandable.
My mother in
law of all people once called me a generous person. She believes I just give my
knowledge and skills away without compensation. On one hand she is right. I
give freely of what I know and can do. I never heard of Emerson’s Universal Law
of Compensation until I was walking this earth for almost 50 years. “Do the
Thing and You shall have the Power. But he who does not the Thing shall not
have the Power.” My dad, grandpa and uncle knew this law and taught it to me
without revealing the name.
I believe
now and then and always will that payment comes back in any deed we do. Good or
bad. You can undo a bad by doing good but the bad gets re-paid.
I gave a
homeless guy a Twonie yesterday. He looked a little strung out. But he was well
spoken and polite. Now he said he was going to buy poutine and I have to
believe him on that. Now if his heart was good, and he wasn’t lying to me, the
universe will guide him to pay that townie back. I do not expect him to pay me
back – ever – not from him but somewhere. I may already have been paid and am
paying back….. BUT he will pay it forward. Let’s just say he gets the money
together to but that poutine. I picture him buying the poutine and leaving the
shop. He’ll sit on the edge of a wall and some other homeless guy comes along
and he shares it with him. THAT is how the Universal Law of Compensation works
in my mind.
Compensation
comes from everywhere and always will come from the unexpected. You never know
how one small act of kindness will ripple its way through the Universe in ways
you never may see. So be kind. Pay it forward through acts of tithing,
kindness, whatever you have to give – give.
Jim Rohn
said something about the key to success in life – as if there was only one –
and he said it in this phrase. “Study, practice, teach”.
Study your
life, your trade, everything. Learn every day about something new in your life.
“Good leaders are good readers.”
Practice
your life, your trade, everything. Be better today than you were yesterday,
plan on how to be better tomorrow. Always improve – in every area of your life.
Teach your
life, your trade, everything. Not everyone wants to be taught but you will know
the ones that want to be taught. Be a mentor. Be open.
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