Facilitation

 Mentoring

 Coaching

 Training

 Customer  Service

 Sales

 Presentations

 Communication

 Emotional       Intelligence

 Culture  Sensitivity

Dream A Little Dream
Smita Chowdhury, Instructional Designer, The Business Workshop

Has something or someone ever really, really inspired you? Have you ever felt so touched by some thoughts, words or actions, that you feel that if you had to 'feel' anymore, you'd burst or something? Quite like, if you had to put the feelings in words, you couldn't?! (So, its quite ironical that I find myself attempting to write about it now!!)

Well, its certainly happened to me ever so many times...while hearing someone speak, while listening to music, while reading a book...over and over again. True inspiration at its very best. And that is precisely what mentoring is all about - to see some sort of a road, or atleast a garden path, where you'd like to walk on in the course of your life. To emulate the inspirational aspects and imbibe them such that you attempt to scale those giddying heights for yourself.

Is it really that easy? No way! for starters, instead of 'Alice in Wonderland' (as all of this must sound like..) everything will probably seem more like 'Alice in Blunderland'! But, I feel, and I am sure if you have identified any bit with what I have written so far, it is the actual walking-down-the-path and not what you will find at the end of it that really matters. The sheer thrill of just being there! I once read a book where one of the more 'insignificant' characters opines about 'dreams'...he said, "I think that dreams are more fun when you are dreaming, rather than when you actually set foot to try and achieve them..."

Coming back to the mentoring process, I have known myself to be 'mentored' by all kinds of things...sometimes, it was the music I was listening to at that point of time...only to be replaced by the music-makers!! The constant in all these variables being the awe that they inspired each time.

Which brings me to a series of question that keep occurring to me. Does proximity play any role in this? But, of course! Not neccesarily physical proximity, but more in terms of the bond that you feel. So, does one rate mentors viz their influence on you? This would be like getting an artiste to rate his work and judge which is the best! It is all relative to different times, situations and circumstances in your life. That which strikes you at a particular point in time as relevant, is what remains with you. Do our mentors have mentors too? Whoever we choose to mentor us have their inspirations too! Even celebrities and distinguished achievers have mentors to guide and inspire them...after all, they're human too!

So, what do we take away with us? That we can find a mentor in everything that we see or do...that it is entirely upto us to decide the extent to which these affect us, and in what way they do. And that, at the end of the day, it is you walking along a path that you yourself have chosen to tread. Penultimate question - so, whats stopping you?

Graphic Done By Himani