POSITIVITY
  • Workshops
    • 3 Pillars of Positivity >
      • Mindset
      • Purpose
      • Relationships
    • Grow with the Flow
    • Calendar
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Books
    • Shop
  • Connect
Magic Words

MENTOR

5/9/2022

0 Comments

 
"Mentors have been where we are today, and are today where we hope to be." — Jonas Cain
Read the full story ⬇︎
“I've taken you as far as I can, Jeremy. There is nothing more I can teach you.”

It was a bittersweet moment.

Bitter, because I knew we had reached the end of the road. And sweet, because that had been the goal all the while.

After working with Jeremy for five years, I had taken him from knowing nothing about the saxophone to being able to create his own music.

It was our last music lesson and by far the most memorable, for it marked Jeremy’s arrival at a new shore—the threshold of a journey previously unavailable to him—empowered to set sail from that shore to forge his own path forward.

But none of this was on my mind when I found myself on a literal shore many years later.

It was early in the morning and I had just jumped into the cool Wisconsin lake, when I quickly abandoned the swim to instead sit on the shore. I chose the safety of the shore because I was alone, and should I have had an accident, there would have been no one there to help. 

It wasn’t so much a concern for my own safety. After all, just a week earlier I had jumped out of an airplane—and anyone who fears for their safety wouldn’t dare exit a perfectly good plane from 14,000 feet up in the air.

Rather, my concern was for the owners of the property. Canoe Bay is a beautiful place, and a dead body can be bad for business. So since no one else was around, I contented myself sitting on the shore. 

And it was on that Wisconsin shore that a powerful reflection question presented itself:

“What else am I sitting on the shore of?”

If someone was there with me, I would have happily swum in the lake—just as I had happily jumped out of the airplane strapped to Chris Dunbar, who had made that same jump thousands of times. 

“What else in life am I sitting on the shore of because I don’t have someone with me to show me the way?”

Sitting on that shore, within that context, became a valued mirror to help me see what I had been overlooking, and everything became suddenly clear—because I already knew the answer.

No matter the sport, no team takes the field alone. Rather, they have a coach with prior knowledge and experience that empowers them to offer timely advice and welcomed encouragement for the journey ahead. After all, the players on the field are too close to the field to see the bigger picture, which is where the true value of a coach is found—providing a mirror to reflect back what they are not able to see themselves. 

Just as a sports team doesn’t have to take the field alone, so too can we benefit from worthy coaches, guides, and mentors who know the way, go the way, and show the way—just as I had done for Jeremy all those years before to help bring him to his own new shore.

“What else am I sitting on the shore of?” I already knew the answer, and today that shore is miles and years passed me because I sought the guidance of mentors to help guide the journey to become an educator, facilitator, and keynote speaker. Sitting alone on that shore, I didn’t know how to do this, but I did know the first step: find someone who did.

And it turned out that the mentor I sought was someone I already knew, John Brady, founder of Protem Partners—a reminder that sometimes we needn’t look far for the guidance we seek.

In the years since, I’ve had many more mentors—including John Maxwell, Rick Forgay, Dr. Larry Hass, Jeff McBride, and the faculty of Purdue University’s Learning Design and Technology Department, just to name a few. Each person opened up their unique reservoir of wisdom to help further guide my growth and development, bringing me to new shores available only to those willing to leave the safety of the known for a chance at the opportunity of the yet-to-be-discovered.

Sitting on the shore that day in Wisconsin put up a mirror to reflect what I was holding back on—empowering me to set sail on a new journey of discovery.

It was a bittersweet moment.

Bitter, because it meant taking a risk. And sweet, because in the words of T.S. Eliot: “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

Reflection
What are you sitting on the shore of? What are you not doing today because you don’t have someone to show you the way?

Want More?
Hashtag Positivity helps individuals, teams, and communities experience abiding joy by mindfully transitioning through change. Get started today with a free strategy session to discuss your challenges, goals, and obstacles.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    JONAS CAIN, M.Ed.

    Facilitator

    Jonas Cain, M.Ed. is a storyteller, magician, musician, and facilitator of fascination, helping people experience abiding joy through fascination, curiosity, and wonder.
    ​
    ​
    Connect with Jonas to discover more.

    Picture

    Magic Words

    All
    Acceptance
    Action
    Adapt
    Adventure
    Affirmation
    Ally
    April Fools
    Atonement
    Attention
    Authenticity
    Balance
    Banner
    Beautiful
    Behavior
    Belief
    Birthday
    Boat
    Books
    Boundaries
    Breathe
    Care
    Celebration
    Challenge
    Change
    Character
    Cheese
    Choice
    Clarity
    Climb
    Commitment
    Communication
    Compassion
    Compliant
    Confidence
    Connection
    Courage
    Creativity
    Discernment
    Discovery
    Disruption
    Dominant
    Doubt
    Dream
    Education
    Empower
    Encourage
    Engage
    Enjoy
    Enjoyment
    Enthusiasm
    Excel
    Excellence
    Explore
    Facilitate
    Fascination
    Fear
    Focus
    Forgiveness
    Friendship
    Gap
    Generosity
    Gentle
    Grand
    Gratitude
    Growth
    Happiness
    Health
    Hermit
    Honor
    Hope
    Humility
    Humor
    Independence
    Influence
    Influencing
    Initiative
    Inspiration
    Integrity
    Interest
    Invention
    Invest
    Journey
    Joy
    Kindness
    Lane
    Laughter
    Leadership
    Legacy
    Listen
    Live
    Love
    Magic
    Mentor
    Mindfulness
    Mindset
    Momentum
    Motion
    Motivation
    Necessity
    Opportunity
    Passion
    Pathway
    Patience
    Perseverance
    Persistence
    Perspective
    Play
    Positivity
    Possibility
    Preparation
    Presence
    Prize
    Process
    Purpose
    Quantify
    Recognition
    Reflection
    Relationships
    Relax
    Remembrance
    Repentance
    Resilience
    Resolution
    Resources
    Respect
    Responsibility
    Reward
    Sacrifice
    Sail
    Smile
    Stasis
    Steady
    Storm
    Summit
    Support
    Surprise
    Talent
    Teamwork
    Thanksgiving
    Ticket
    Time
    Today
    Tools
    Transformation
    Trust
    Understand
    Value
    Vision
    Wind
    Wonder

    Picture

    Archives

    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

Picture

​JONAS CAIN, M.Ed. | ​Facilitator of Fascination
​[email protected]

#POSITIVITY

WORKSHOPS | RESOURCES |  SHOP  | CONNECT

© 2025
  • Workshops
    • 3 Pillars of Positivity >
      • Mindset
      • Purpose
      • Relationships
    • Grow with the Flow
    • Calendar
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Books
    • Shop
  • Connect