With broad, inspirational brush strokes underscored by real-life examples, The Mentor's Spirit teaches us we should no longer consider a "mentor" as a singular person who possesses exclusive wisdom.
In fact, author Marsha Sinetar teaches us how to use our own intuitive, spiritual intelligence to seek out the mentor's spirit in almost anything, from a book to a song to a movie.
Sinetar has been called an artist of encouragement, and the description is an apt one. She weaves a tapestry of wisdom based on universal, intuitive "knowing" which is illustrated by autobiographical vignettes.
The Mentor's Spirit,
by Marsha Sinetar
Published by St. Martin's Press
July 1998
The information is presented in three easy-to-understand segments: Being: The Key to Mentoring; Silence Invites the Mentor's Spirit; and The Leadership Links to Mentoring. In each of these sections, Sinetar dispenses four individual lessons.
In part one, Sinetar discusses how "being calls into being." What is "being?" It is, quite simply, the pure power to be ourselves, to let our essential life force shine through.
The word mentor, explains Sinetar, means guide. By learning to become mentors, she explains, we rise to higher levels of being. Mentoring is described as a timeless function, one whose elements reside in our heart.
Sinetar proclaims virtue as the most powerful of a mentor's tools. When we set free our virtue, we engage in our most pure state of true being.
Cultivating self-trust and relaxing into who we are, says Sinetar, allows us to move into a healthy, productive existence. She calls productive mentors "spontaneously gifted life artists" who connect with others in a genuine way.
We learn that the mentor's spirit doesn't exclusively reside in a human being. If a particular piece of art, novel, or even a music composition speaks to us, then the mentor's spirit is just as alive in that experience as it is in another human being.
In part two, we learn how to focus our minds and lift ourselves above anxieties or constraints that bind us. Sinetar calls this transcendent learning. She says our minds "look up, out and over circumstances. Never back."
We also learn to engage in authentic dialog where we connect with the intimate guidance within ourselves. We learn to define true success as not merely worldly attainments, but as the success we excavate from within ourselves.
In part three, Sinetar shows us how to connect with kindred spirits and develop our own spiritual intelligence. We develop this brand of intelligence by listening to our own small voices from within.
Finally, Sinetar instructs us on how to become good, productive stewards, and how to master an intuitive, creative fluency. She reminds us that productive mentors exhibit certain signs, including the embodiment of values or virtues. They do so by setting clear boundaries for themselves and others, among other things.
When taken separately, each of these lessons is powerful and life-affirming on its own. When taken together, they act in concert to give us an integrated portrait of what a mentor is and how the mentor's spirit is defined.
Educators and career professionals should make The Mentor's Spirit a permanent fixture in their offices and homes. The lessons brought so clearly into focus by Sinetar are applicable in both our working lives and our personal lives.
The book was awarded the Publisher's Choice for the 1998 Athena Award for Mentoring Excellence. It's not only intended to be shared with significant others and close friends, its inherent truths should also be introduced to casual friends and acquaintances. Sinetar's precise, intelligent wording counsels to readers in the gentlest of ways.
For teachers and career counselors, The Mentor's Spirit can prove a valuable resource for both children and teenagers who are searching for their identities and battling peer pressure.
The concept of mentors and mentoring is not a new one, but Sinetar's explanation and analysis of the underlying fire within all that embodies the mentor's spirit offers a fresh approach which awakens our true being and realigns us with our perhaps-forgotten life's purpose.
The Mentor's Spirit should be read more than once. It is appropriate reading for all people, both young and old alike. It is one book which will fit on both your personal and professional reference shelves, appropriately indexed under 'E' for encouragement.
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