When you attend to your feelings, connect your feelings to your underlying needs and open yourself to the other person’s perspective, you are ready for what very well could be a challenging yet worthy conversation.

Cognitive scientists have discovered that people’s mental maps, their narratives, expectations and moods, play a central role in human perception. This has been well demonstrated by the placebo effect.

What made this team so special? Each of us had technical proficiency in some domain, whether mechanical or electrical engineering, lighting, plasma physics or even theater and theatrical dance. But proficiency in a broad mix of domains wasn’t the magic ingredient. There are many teams that are technically proficient but they don’t ignite that magical spark.

We learn some of our most useful lessons under turbulent conditions. These lessons can start when the predominant cultural narratives of our day interrupt our growth as people. In this extraordinary year of 2020, we must all decide which cultural narratives to defy and which to gracefully assimilate into our hearts, minds and bodies.