The Element

Very few schools and even fewer school systems in the world teach dance every day as a formal part of their curricula, as they do with math.

The Element has two main features, and there are two conditions for being in it. The features are aptitude and passion. The conditions are attitude and opportunity. The sequence goes something like this: I get it; I love it; I want it; Where is it?

“I understood the series of stages I was supposed to go through—you go to high school, you go to college, you get a credential, and then you go out and get a good job. I knew it wasn’t gonna work for me. I knew I was gonna be drawing cartoons forever.

The third role of a mentor is facilitating.

“epiphany stories” because they tend to involve some level of revelation, a way of dividing the world into before and after. These epiphanies utterly changed their lives, giving them direction and purpose and sweeping them up in a way that nothing else had.

Element—the place where the things you love to do and the things that you are good at come together.

They had him committed repeatedly to a psychiatric institution and subjected to electroshock therapy because they loved him.

The fourth role of a mentor is stretching.

When people are in their Element, they connect with something fundamental to their sense of identity, purpose, and well-being. Being there provides a sense of self-revelation, of defining who they really are and what they’re really meant to be doing with their lives.