Yesterday, I met a fantastic person. Warm, witty, and infinitely capable.

We shared some ideas. I managed to pass on a few things that have worked in the past for others, whilst she taught me a great deal on a couple of subjects I know little about.

But most impressively of all, she managed to avoid a mistake that I’ve made often myself in the past-and have seen others make, not only in the personal development field, but any other area, in which, for whatever reaason, they feel underconfident.

This person talked about how she wanted to, “share the information,” I’d given her, with others. In other words, she distinguished between the powerful information itself, and me, as the mere messenger, or mouthpiece, for that information.

Why is this such a wise distinction? Primarily because it’s the information itself (coupled with a person’s own willingness to make changes) that causes change to be made. A particular person acting as mouthpiece, or scribe, for that information might well put it in a particular way that sparks a certain response, on occasion. They might be warm, sympathetic, or in some other way appealing on any given day. But they themselves are not the factor that creates the change. The change only happens during the magical interplay between the info itself, and yours or my willingness to be open to it.

Confusing the power of the information with the much more limited power of the mouthpiece, leads some to make gurus out of others, in an exact reversal of the way in which they might want to, “shoot the messenger” if the info they hear is not to their taste.

And whilst it may upset some to hear me say this, however well-intentioned a guru might be, making any other human being into a guru risks diminishing the person who’s eagerly erecting that pedestal. Why? Because by elevating someone above your own level, you’re suggesting that they are in some way more powerful, or “better”, than you are. Different , yes. More experienced in a certain field? Quite possibly. But “better”? Absolutely not, and believing in a “guruising ” myth can only, in the end, make the believer feel unfairly robbed of his or her own personal power, and until they correct this perception of inequality,  less confident of their own unique abilities and position.

So, if making gurus of others isn’t a great way forward, what’s the alternative? Being aware of what helps you to feel open to change, powerful, and all you can be. Noticing when information itself helps you to empower yourself. And being alive to the fact that each of us, though unique and diverse, is as innately powerful, resourceful and talented as the next person, whether or not we’re exhibiting that to the world at any particular moment.