Expressing your truth aloud to someone begins to hold you accountable for that truth. It’s the beginning of a new pathway, one that leads to your soul’s Voice. This is the gemstone of what mentorship offers.
You must feel deeply seen and heard in order to do this. And once you begin to speak the truth that you haven’t ever articulated before, there is a deep sense of inner peace and authenticity that rises up within you and begins to grow.
A good mentor knows the emotional and spiritual terrain because she has experienced it herself. A great mentor shares from a place of deep knowing and compassion.
Recently, I had a wonderful spiritual mentor for about six years. He taught me much about forgiveness and how to incorporate Buddhist teachings into my work with students and clients. I learned and grew from our work. But eventually, I realized that because he wasn’t a woman, he couldn’t understand my experience as fully as I needed. I started to catch things that felt ‘off’ when I expressed my truth about being female in our society. In other words, I wasn’t totally heard. And he is a very enlightened man. But still a man. The things I needed to be heard had changed. After much reflection, I told him it was time for me to go. We will always be bonded from the deep work we did together. I named my truth.
To name is to define and shape reality. For a woman to do this in her life is radical and life-changing.
But, if the mentor (or therapist or coach) who listens to you can’t understand what you are naming or trying to name, and I don’t mean just intellectually understand, then you yourself won’t be able to name your truth and thus shape your reality. At least not right then with that person, which is the whole point of investing your time and money into your growth.
We need to be listened into existence.
This is my personal brand of mentoring.
My heart’s desire is that when I am gone, this is what I’m known for:
“Because she heard me, I was able to hear myself. I became the voice I am.”
CLICK HERE to read about the powerful 5-month Find Your Voice Mentorship with Nancy.
