You Never Can Tell: What Bruce Springsteen Teaches Us About Trust

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ: One of the great gifts of martial arts training is learning to trust people.

One of my black belts, who also happens to be an accomplished musician, likens the higher-level expression of martial arts to music.

The reason is simple: musicians need to trust one another's skills in order to play off each other's notes, especially when jamming.

You Never Can Tell What People Can Accomplish Together

In this video, Bruce Springsteen is in front of 45,000 people preparing to play a song his band has never played before.

It's great to watch a group of professionals who trust each other implicitly take just a short time to create a novel experience for everyone to enjoy, right before our eyes.

That kind of spontaneity doesn't happen without years of practice, experience, and mutual trust.

Each musician must have confidence in their own abilities while remaining aware of, and responsive to, everyone else.

How Trust Makes Us Better Martial Artists

Achieving this level of trust takes time.

But the more I learn to trust my fellow practitioner, the higher I know we can collectively take the art.

To me, this video is the ultimate expression of joy when a group of people establish collective trust.

And I'm guessing none of them could ever have known who those trusting bandmates would eventually be if they hadn't first learned to trust themselves.

Watch Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band demonstrate the power of trust and improvisation.