The following is excerpted from Rick’s book, Alchemy of Abundance.
Mentorship and Tradition
When you pay attention to the messages that surround you and how they often mirror your own internal needs, you will become aware of the importance of being among the right people and situations. Therefore, a significant step in this process of identifying gateways to the temple of beauty is to find others who have been successful in what you desire to create. If you can find a lineage or tradition that you resonate with — one that has ideals, goals, and visions that are congruent with your own — you can find the nourishment and confidence that will help you accomplish your goals and see them in a larger context.
To begin this process of finding your place in a lineage, you need to ask yourself what traditions call out to you. In what situations do you feel most comfortable, interested, and valued? Who do you genuinely admire and understand as a possible model for your own life? Once you become aware of your answers to these basic questions, you often do not need to go out and find a particular person or tradition, but instead you can open up the antenna of your attention and become aware that you naturally resonate with certain people, teachings, and places. To find yourself in these situations is not a chore, but rather one of the greatest pleasures in life because you will experience your own desires and energies resonating with those around you and will be able to receive and understand their energy and guidance as part of your own authentic and creative way. It is often in situations such as these that we first understand how effortlessly everything happens when we are in the right place at the right time.
It is important to remember that this connection you feel with another person or particular way of life is something that is intended to bring out your uniqueness, and it never amounts to slavish imitation that reduces or restricts your genuine feelings and abilities. Just because you have found someone who can serve as a model for your own life path, and who speaks to you, does not mean that you necessarily agree with everything they say or do, or that you agree with how they behave in every situation. In fact, a very important part of apprenticeship is to recognize and honor how your own path differs from that of your mentors.
Draw a map of your own lineage of inspiration. Who inspired you when you were ten, fifteen, twenty, and so on? Who have you consciously or unconsciously chosen to model in your life? Who would you like to move closer to? Who do you know who has skills or the energy that you would like to possess on your path? In what ways might you bring those people more strongly into your sphere of attention?
