So much of our happiness and success in life is shaped by what intentions we bring to our interactions with others.

How Lincoln Learned to Make Friends and Influence People

Abraham Lincoln was a master influencer, operating at a pivotal hour in America’s history, seeking to rally people behind his tactics and vision to get American democracy to be protected, and slavery to be abolished. One of the instruments he actively used to win people’s hearts and minds and dissolve differences was storytelling. He was a masterful storyteller, always having just the right story in his pocket when he indeed to inspire, unify, befriend, or persuade.

We might wonder, how did he cultivate his storytelling craft?

Lincoln had a group of friends he would spend time with in the evenings during his days as a lawyer in Illinois. When they went to the bar after work, they did not just engage in everyday banter; they developed a practice where each of them would share a story, and then they all would vote which story that night they had liked best.

How consummate an influencer could you and I become if we created a circle of growth partners with whom to engage in games like this?

How to Deal with a Tuff Situation

Antoinette Tuff was a bookkeeper who found herself thrust into a tragedy-in-the-making, a mass school shooting in America. A man called Michael Hill entered her school, armed with an AK-47 and five hundred rounds of ammunition. He encountered her at the front desk, substituting for the receptionist that day.

In our founder Hitendra Wadhwa’s book, Inner Mastery, Outer Impact, he has shared Antoinette Tuff’s remarkable story. It is one of the most moving proof-points he has encountered of the capacity we all have to achieve breakthroughs. In thirty minutes, she disarmed Michael and turned him over to the police. No bullet had been fired, and she did not wrestle him to the ground. All she used was tact, poise, and a scoop of love.

Where did she learn to defuse a situation in this remarkable way?

In a subsequent interview, Antoinette shared that she learned this way of communicating as part of her group at Church, with her pastor. “We’ve had classes and he sits down and teaches us, you know, how to deal with people…and how to pray…and we practice that at church. So really, in all reality, all I was doing was carrying out what I’m taught every Sunday and Wednesday.”

What breakthroughs might you and I generate if we too deeply invest with a community of like-minded seekers in mastering the science of relationships, resolving difficult situations, and connecting with our core?

Why Okinawans Live to a Hundred

In Okinawa, Japan, more than half the citizens are part of a Moai group. Moai means “meeting for a common purpose.” Each group consists of around 5 people who first get together very early in their life, and then stay connected, meet frequently, and support one another all through their lives. An Okinawan who is experiencing a certain challenge or need knows they can turn to their Moai group for strength, understanding, and guidance. Researchers consider Moais to be one of the leading drivers of the long lifespan of the Okinawan people, making the region among the highest concentration of centenarians in the world.

Mentora Life will provide us something like our own Moai group, meeting month upon month, year upon year for a common, inspiring purpose — to have us all learn to activate our inner core and to express our five core energies of Purpose, Wisdom, Growth, Love, and Self-Realization in everything we pursue in life and at work.