I don’t know about you, but I’ve submitted myself to be mentored by many different people in my past.
I only do that when someone truly inspires me, when someone is walking their talk, when I feel I’d like to model that person and in some way – become like them.
Many of those people have soon after “shown their real face” and the illusion of “that amazing person” was gone! That used to be a major disappointment, all the way to a somewhat devastating experience that would last for quite some time. I’d (choose to) feel disappointed, angry, cheated, tricked, hurt… and so on.
But not anymore. Nowadays, when such a character shows itself in a different light, I feel grateful.
You may wonder, quite rightfully, how in the world that happens now and how come?!
Well, in reality… we always only get to feel our own thinking, right?
Or should I say, we only get to feel our own perception of the event, or a circumstance, our own definitions and judgments?
So instead of choosing to feel sorry for myself and all that wasted time, money, energy… I get to feel grateful for the opportunities to learn fast and move on with my life sooner, rather than much later. Knowing full-well, that my intentions were genuinely positive and that I did my absolute best in the process.
So I naturally get to feel gratitude, which allows me to embrace the learning and move onward, even wiser, even stronger. Instead of victimizing myself with some negative definitions and emotions, I choose growth and further development.
After all, these same events, and this same attitude, have brought me to some of the best people that I still cherish and hold dear in my heart! So going through a bunch of “not so good ones for me” in order to get to the golden few… was super worth it!
So here’s my salutation to the “golden ones”… the rare few that have managed to stay on “the pedestal” I’ve built for them in my mind.
I salute their integrity, transparency, and more than anything else…
I salute them for working from their heart. For being deeply connected with who they are and what their intentions are. For being aligned, internally. For walking their talk, regardless of what the world thought of them at times.
In so many ways… because of them and these characteristics, I’ve become the man that I am today. And for that, my heart will forever be deeply thankful.
This was Robert “Modelling Big Hearts” Simic.
