The Invisible Mentor

Archive for the ‘Poem’ Category

My mind wandered back to several years ago when I was feeling down, and as if all my efforts were in vain. During that period, one day I was in a Hallmark store and was led to the poem Don’t Quit. It was the first time that I had seen that poem. The poem gave me the answer I needed, and I felt comforted. I felt like the universe was telling me that I needed to continue what I was doing, and to keep the faith. Have you ever felt that way? If yes, what do you do to keep going? What do you do when things are taking much longer that expected? What do you do when nothing seems to be going right?

I am not sure why this popped into my mind because I have no intention of quitting, neither do I feel the urge to quit. I know that I am on the right path, yes I have taken detours at times, but it has made for a more colorful life.

The image to the right gives a great perspective with the graying out of the words so that the focus is on DO IT, instead of Don’t Quit. Maybe I am led to write this post because this is a message that you need to hear today. Perhaps you need comforting. So, take a break, read the poem below and listen to the Bob Marley song Three Little Birds (Don’t worry about a thing, cause every little thing is going to be alright.) More importantly is that I have learned to trust my instincts, so I am writing this post because it needs writing.

Don’t Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow–
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out–
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit–
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

- Author unknown

If you cannot view the You Tube video of Bob Marley please click here.

Let’s keep the conversation flowing, click on the comment link below and leave a note for me. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

Photo Credit: Yahoo via Apture

Video Credit: You Tube

Next week I will have two interviews. I am experimenting with something new, so stay tuned!

I know that you must be wondering,”What an odd name for a post.” I do not think that I have ever related the story behind the name Mentor.

In Homer’s Odyssey, when Odysseus also known as Ulysses, the Greek King of Ithaca, left to fight in the 10-year Trojan War, he left his old friend Mentor in charge of his household and his young son Telemachus. Mentor as himself is not mentioned that much in the Odyssey, which I have read. However, it is interesting that in this epic poem, the immortal Goddess Athena, disguises herself as Mentor, and encourages Telemachus to stand up to the men who are courting his mother Penelope. The goddess also encourages the youth  to go abroad to seek word about what has happened to his father, who at the time had now been away for almost 20 years.

Athena also acts as a “mentor” to Odyssey as he goes through the many trials during a very saga-filled return to Ithaca after the war. The modern usage of mentor – trusted friend, counsellor, guide, or teacher – first appeared in François Fénelon’s Les Aventures de Telemaque in 1699 Wikipedia  (2009).

Have you ever read Homer’s Odyssey? What are your thoughts? Who was more of a mentor to Telemachus, Mentor or Athena? In the modern sense of the word, who could you mentor, who could you take under your wings? Though this isn’t a book review, I do recommend that you read Homer’s Odyssey, it’s quite a tale. This book teaches a great lesson in perseverance. Many obstacles were placed in front of Odyssey, which delayed his return home and it makes you wonder how much is enough. How persistent and resilient are you?

What are your thoughts on Greek Gods and Goddesses? Overall, do you think that they were fair in the way they dealt with others? If you haven’t read any Greek Mythology, it would be worth it if you checked them out on Wikipedia. I recently saw Clash of the Titans, which involved some Greek characters as well, have you seen that movie?

Please keep the conversation flowing, click on the comment link below and leave a note for me. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia via Zemanta

Today the Desiderata popped into my head so I thought that I’d present it here and see what lessons we can learn. I’m not sure if you have heard of the Desiderata before, but it’s a poem written by Max Ehrmann, who was a poet and lawyer who lived from 1872 to 1945. The poem, written in the 1920s is a lesson in life and it’s very hopeful. When I read the Desiderata, I wondered why Ehrmann wrote this poem? What was going on in his life at that time? What did he hope to achieve from writing it? What questions do you have? What I have read suggests that Ehrmann wrote The Desiderata because “I should like, if I could, to leave a humble gift — a bit of chaste prose that had caught up some noble moods.” Though this poem was written decades ago, after you’ve read it, you’ll agree that it is still applicable today.

Desiderata by Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

Source: Poetry Animations

Source: MsVerparacreer

How does this poem make you feel? What lessons can you glean from it? Here are a few of the lessons that I gleaned from this timeless classic:

1. Silence can be golden
2. Learn to get along with others
3. Listen
4. Enjoy your achievements
5. Conduct due diligence
6. Be gentle with yourself
7. Let go of cynicism
8. Be fearless
9. Be at peace
10. Be at peace
11. There is beauty everywhere
12. Strive to be happy

Which of the lessons do you need to learn? For me I need to learn to be gentler on myself as well as to enjoy my accomplishments. Which versions of the YouTube videos do you prefer? Both are great but as I was reading the poem, the song was playing in my head, so I would choose the second. Please keep the conversation flowing, click on the comment link below and leave a note for me. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed.

Related articles

• Desiderata (oftasteanddiscernment.wordpress.com)

A few years ago while I was conducting interviews for my book Tales of People Who Get It, I asked a CEO what his favourite quotation was and why? His response:

“I like ‘If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you’ from the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling because it teaches you not to panic and to stay in control when bad things happen. Don’t be impulsive and think that you have to do something. Sit in a room for a while and be quiet and let the world go by while you think about things.”

Reading the poem below is more poignant now than it was a few years ago. I have been taking Raja yoga classes, and the first three lessons are on The Art of Self Mastery, and the final five on The Ancient Study of Raja Yoga Meditation. I have taken two of the three classes on self mastery and I can feel a big difference. I am feeling calmer and more peaceful. The classes are to help me get peace of mind and much more. The big thing for me for taking the classes was to learn how to let go.

After the first class we were given a handout, Our Mighty Powers: The Most Effective Powers in our Lives for us to study the nine powers: Tolerance, Truth/Honesty, Co-operation, Humility, Accommodation, Discrimination, Love, Judgement and Withdraw. And the words and their meanings in Raja Meditation are different from their traditional English meanings. Each day I read the handout, which includes the meanings of the nine powers, and I see something that I did not see before. I feel a sense of calm wrap itself around me like a well used blanket. I am slowly letting go (Withdraw) of the things that hold me back, and the interesting thing is that I now truly understand what the other powers mean because I can feel them in my soul.

Now I truly understand what the CEO meant when he quoted an excerpt from “If.” Read the poem and just BE.

If by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!

What do you feel right now? What does this poem mean to you? How easy is it for you to sit still for a while? What techniques do you use when you want to experience a sense of peace? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Source for the poem If

Photo credit: Avil Beckford (Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada)

“Work is love made visible,” says Kahlil Gibran. Reflect on that quote again for a minute. Now read the poem Work below and reflect on it. What does the poem mean to you? What emotions do you feel? How do you feel about Gibran’s quote?

Work by Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933)

Let me but do my work from day to day,
In field or forest, at the desk or loom,
In roaring market-place or tranquil room;
Let me but find it in heart to say,
When vagrant wishes beckon me astray,
“This is my work; my blessing, not my doom;
Of all who live, I am the one by whom
This work can best be done in the right way.”

Then shall I see it not too great, nor small,
To suit my spirit and to prove my powers;
Then shall I cheerful greet the labouring hours,
And cheerful turn, when the long shadows fall
At eventide, to play and love and rest,
Because I know for me my work is best.

Now read and reflect on this quote by Henry Van Dyke ” Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.”

How can you relate the  two quotes to the poem? Are you doing what you love? Are you using your talents to the fullest? Is work “love made visible?” If you loved what you did for a living, would your life be more fulfilled? I am also asking myself  these questions. Think on these things!

Photo credit: Wikipedia, image of Gibran