offered audiences an inspirational tale of one man’s journey through heartbreak and joy to overcome great odds. The movie’s iconic inspirational quote, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get,” explores the benefits of the unknown. Uncertainty is eating a mystery treat covered in a dark brown substance that produces discovery and openness.
Conflict Resolution Toolkit
This can be a difficult concept for the eager problem-solving conflict resolution specialist to embrace, even though holding onto such a perspective has been shown to create an impasse between parties in conflict.
Many of the first-year skills from the Conflict and Dispute Resolution (CRES) program at the University of Oregon provide a helpful foundation for work in other fields. For instance, internship experiences with Baladna and the Center for Democracy and Community Development (CDCD) taught me about the consequences of adopting a rigid frame. My internship with Baladna provided lessons on working in competing environments. 
When I began my work with Baladna, I felt a sense of overconfidence. I probably came across to colleagues as a rigid, know-it-all North American. My confidence stemmed in part from educational training and experience working with prior NGOs that offered a depth of personal and professional knowledge that I felt equipped me to excel at Baladna.
For example, over the course of my internship with CDCD, I attended regular meetings with high-ranking Israeli and Palestinian officials, developed succinct writing summaries, and organized media publications for diverging groups.
Still, as valuable as these experiences were in East Jerusalem, each new experience is unique. And trying to force the next experience into another’s frame is like assuming every ADR specialist will adopt mediation, negotiation, or facilitation skills in the same way.
Closed off to change
In the field of conflict resolution, one of the surest ways to achieve an impasse between parties is to remain inflexible and closed off to change.
Even if I repeated my experiences with the CDCD again, rehashing the same challenges related to working with civil society in East Jerusalem, it would not be the same outcome because I am not the same person.
We all hold biases that impact the way we work with parties and approach change. The surest way to achieve an impasse in conflict is by failing to see the other party’s perspective or realize our own.
Remaining open and flexible to change in conflict (and in life) helps promote dialogue and discovery because Forrest was right, “You never know what you’re gonna get,” and that just may mean a piece of chocolaty goodness.
