Seamanship or Seemanship?

(Author's Note: This is the Preface to a book about Mentoring; the first in a series that will be a course in Mentoring.)

You wouldn't sail in a ship through a hole in a rock canyon,

please don't Mentor with a hole in your heart.

 

One of my favorite features in Microsoft Word is: "Add to dictionary." I love making up words! There never seems to be enough metaphorically appropriate, descriptive words for the mental picture that I see. If a picture's worth a thousand words, then a descriptive metaphor should paint a thousand mental pictures! A description of what Mentoring is would fill the depth of the oceans and the width of the universe.

A Mentoring program does need boundaries or structure. I will outline programmatic guidelines for Mentoring in our next book. This volume is a primer for creating a strategic road map for your personal life journey. 

• What do you see when you look at yourself? 
• What do you see when you look at another human being? 
• What do you see when you look at a broken child? 
• What do you see when a child rejects you?

 Seamanship is a profession marked by knowledge and demonstrated by skill as it relates to the navigation, safety and maintenance of a ship; both at land and on the sea.  

Seemanship is a person's attitude marked by empathy and understanding as demonstrated by unconditional caring as they relate to other people; both at peace and in times of turmoil.

(Do you SEE THE BEST in everyone you meet?)

Would you take a cruise on the ocean with a drunken skipper? Would you trust a Mentor with a vengeful and negative attitude? "Physician heal thyself." is an ancient Proverb written by a Doctor named Luke. An emotionally wounded person who desires to Mentor somebody, should be at least be in the process of being healed. People with open emotional wounds do not make good mentors. If you want to be a Mentor, take charge of your heart and exercise control over your psychological well being.

Navigation is charting a course with a particular destination in mind; possibly with many way-points on the journey. Can you point yourself in the right direction? Safety is about discerning which risks are acceptable. Do you have healthy boundaries in your life? Maintenance is the discipline of performing preventive duties combined with routine intervention when the need arises. Do you maintain a healthy balance mentally and physically? Can you recognize the need for intervention in a young person's life?

You are about to set sail on a Relation-Ship. This simple boat may seem like a little dinghy on the Sea of Life. However, if you take a good look around, you'll see that it's more like an Ark of many people; folks who are watching how you steer your life. You're a Role Model whether you like it or not. Many eyes are upon your efforts; especially young ones. 

Read this book s-l-o-w-l-y, 

sink in it d--e--e--p--l--y and 

sow it h---e---a---v---i---l--y.

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.