“The more faithfully you listen to the voice within you, the better you hear what is sounding outside of you.” – Dag Hammarskjold
I never had a real mentor. I had three people who touched me along my journey. I wrote an article for a prestigious journal titled, “Friends Along The Journey.” These three people showed up at the right place, right moment, with the right push in the right direction.
I share a brief story about the first of the three “friends.” J was my supervisor early in my career. I’ve always been a free spirit and did things differently from many others viewed as the “correct” way to do them. Somehow, the style worked for me. I’m not sure I would recommend my free-wheeling ways to others. Colleagues grumbled about me. I wasn’t like them. They complained to J. It wasn’t long before J invited me into his office. I knew I was in trouble, or so I thought.
I walked in with the attitude, “take it like a man.” J was a former football player, large, muscular, an imposing figure by any stretch. He looked up from his work, pointed an index finger the size of nice-size dowel, and said, “Sit.”
“Yes, Mr. J,” I answered.
J pushed his glasses down to the edge of his nose, leaned forward, and said, “Ray, you have good instincts. Trust them. That’s it. You can leave.”
“Thank you. Mr. J.” He brushed me off with the wave of a hand.
How fortunate I was to have an authority figure I trusted to give me permission to trust my instincts. I followed his advice from that moment on and it made all the difference in my life.
Trust your instincts.
Trust your gut.
Trust your heart.
Give it whatever name you want to give it, but trust it. It is your inner guide pointing the way for you.
