Behold Underlying Truth The word “but”, (Behold Underlying Truth), can be used to translate one’s true motivations. It is a key to why a person has linked more pain than pleasure to a possible action. It can also be used to translate the actor to himself. The use of the word “but” is more than a set up for an excuse. I read in a self-help book that "but" means “behold underlying truth”. “But” becomes more than an excuse, it becomes your ability to translate truth. What a person is really saying can be found in the "but." What’s more important, it says what you are really saying to other people. Make yourself keenly aware of people using this word “but." Learn to translate what it means. The use of “but” lets you translate what you are saying to yourself as well. There is a true answer behind every “but”." "I would love to but... " the truth is you would not love to. “I wanted to go to that audition but…” you did not want to go to the audition. The use of the word “but” is more than a set up for an excuse. People always do what they really want to do. Discipline can only work if you truly want the results that you are disciplining yourself for. You can never force yourself to do anything that, in truth, you don’t want to do. You may fight this but… behold the underlying truth… it will not change it. After you have begun to listen to others use the word “but”, then analyze the hidden message. Understand how the word is used for emotional translation. Notate each time you hear someone use “but” to justify their position. Write it down in your traveling notebook and then translate the true meaning of their statement. Also, hear when you use the word. Use your Traveling Notebook to write down each time you use “but”. Translate what you really want. You may discover that many of your underlying (unconscious) true beliefs are counter productive to your desired (conscious) beliefs. They may make no sense to your goals and might need to be changed. It would be better if every time you start to make an excuse with “but”, to make the effort to just do whatever it is. Or, perhaps you could qualify your response by not using “but”. Instead, just tell the complete truth. “I didn’t go to the audition because the odds of me getting the job were slim to none so I chose not to.” “I’m not coming to your party because your friends make me feel unimportant”. You can begin to state the truth of your reasons. You can begin to translate your own patterns of excuse. This is the way you can stop fooling yourself about the truth of your efforts. I believe that it is in the “buts” you use that hold the answers to your negative associations. Exploring them can be a guide to your true beliefs. You need to search these beliefs out so that they can be turned from negative to positive influences in your life. The “buts” reinforce negative associations from actual events in your life. They set the parameters of fear for a particular type of experience. The "but" negates truth. It keeps you from letting your power of communicantion to be undermined. Think about the "white lie" you are perhaps telling with the "but." Vibrations Vibrations are the energies of life which are used for communication through variation in intensity. The actor’s thoughts are the reflection of those vibrations that the actor is sending out. The actor’s thoughts are his personal justification of belief that his energy is vibrating. Each level of vibration will attract the same level of vibration. Therefore, a low energy vibration will transmit and attract the same. It is the law of the universe. In order to discover why things are not going your way you must become aware of the energy “vibrations” you are transmitting. Your thoughts are only the reflection of the energy vibration that you are sending out. Your thoughts are your personal justification that your “energy is vibrating." Your vibrations then attract like vibrations. You want to understand your use of life energy at different intensities. You can change your energy vibrations so you can begin to attract those whose energies are “vibrating” on a frequency that brings desired results. You can control your health, happiness and security by understanding that the law of the universe is the Law of Attraction. Law of Attraction The law of attraction is the universal law by which similar energies attract each other just as the frequencies of radio wave receivers. The control of the law of attraction is known as the secret to a successful life. The control of the law of attraction for health, happiness and wealth is achieved by three steps. The three steps that hold the key to secret of success are: • Ask • Believe • Receive The first step is to become consciously aware of what you really want and then asking the universe for what you want. You are “asking" the universe through every thought, word, and deed. It is by imagining that the specifics of those desires are manifest. The second step is to believe that all things are possible and that you, as does everyone, have a birthright to the universal flow of all that is. If the actor does not truly believe that he can be guided, through effort and action, to his desires then they will not happen. Belief is based on creating actions so the universe can guide the actor to his desired destiny. In order for this step to work you must communicate to your subconcious by use of imagery, imagination and clarity of the physical truth of your expectation. It is then that your subconcious is structed to communicate to the universe so that the invisible can manifest into the visible. The third step is to receive that which the actor has asked for and believes will come. The understanding of receiving is based on a willingness to accept that the universe is endless in its bounty. One must receive with gratitude and expectation of worth. Often someone might become “beholden” for what he receives as a mistaken understanding of being grateful. This makes receiving qualified with limitations of value and thus can cut off the universal flow of your literal desires. Receiving should be done with gratitude. Gratitude Gratitude is the state of mind in which one receives those things the he/she has asked for and believes will bring health, happiness and wealth. It is the birthright of all those the gift of imagination and action. Like Attracts Like “Like attracts like” is one of the explanations of how human energies operate. Physical vibrations of energy vibrate at different frequencies. Similar frequencies are attract to each other exactly like radio frequencies transmit and receive only to radio frequencies and not TV frequencies. To feel good or to feel bad is an interpretation of a physical feeling or frequency that the actor’s life energy is vibrating on. That frequency is determined by the thoughts, experiences, perception of life and will attract to it other similar frequencies.. A low frequency that is due to negative or self defeating internal dialogue will attract misery. To change what you are attracting one must change the frequency. The actor changes the frequency by changing the placement of energy in his body. It is important to know the attraction is with energy, not thoughts. Your thoughts are only the way you lock a frequency level into place. Your thoughts are an indication of what frequency your life energy is transmitting. Therefore, monitoring your use of the word “but” will help you become aware of the power it has previously held over your destiny. Your awareness of your true beliefs based on your use of "but" allows you to change the power of your body’s control over you. Your thoughts are your personal indicator of the frequency of your life energy. Make sure that those thoughts do not support beliefs that locke you into a non supportive frequency level. Awareness Awareness is the key to knowing what life energy frequencies you use on a daily basis. If you want to attract powerful energy and positive results you must transmit power and positive energy. In order to do that you must be aware of how you use your energy now. You must be aware of its vibration and how those vibrations are being translated in your mind. Your frequency vibration will attract the same frequency vibration. Negative begets negative. Positive begets positive. Unless you remain consciously aware of the frequency of your life energy transmission, you may attract the kind of energy that you do not want. It may, in fact, be the kind of energy that you now find yourself receiving. Remember, your thoughts indicate the frequency level of your energy. You can change your thoughts by repositioning your energy to a higher level. You can change your beliefs so they support your efforts. You must first acknowledge the beliefs that you may be unconsciously holding that are working against you. And, you do this by listening to your own “but” excuses. Have a great week and listen to how others around you use the word but as an excuse. Then become aware of your on use of the word. You may find yourself surprised at the number of times you make excuses each day. You may also find that when used as a "white lie" (not wanting to hurt someone's feelings), you may really be letting yourself move further and further away from the power of truth. I wish you well, Russ

Non Working Behavior
There are many types of therapies in the world, but the purpose behind all of them is to help people discover what is not working in their life. Most are designed to begin to reprogram associations and beliefs so that new associations and beliefs are made that empower and support a person’s goals. Most people seek out professional help because their patterns of behavior are not supporting their goals toward health, happiness and security. Since all questions have answers, the question must first be acknowledged before any change can take place.

Common Denominators of Therapy
People go to therapy in order to discover why things are not working in their lives. There are many types but they have a common denominator. Therapy is designed to acknowledge and change beliefs in order to eradicate specific fears. The bottom line of all therapies is the recognition of the individual fear that has manifested itself in thought.

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say you have a problem with agents. You don’t have one. Without an agent you have very little hope for a career. Yet, you don’t pursue an agent because of the experiences you had in your past efforts. You may have associated agents with the bullies of your past. If you associate getting an agent with increased pain because you unconsciously associate it with the bullies in your past you are going to avoid that effort.

So how might a therapist go about this? One therapist might suggest you become aware of that association and change it. You can change it by substituting the negative association of seeking an agent with the positive association you also have when you realize that bullies are powerless if they have no effect over you.

Another therapist might suggest you place a chair in the middle of a room and envision an agent sitting there. You then tell the agent how frightened you are of the power you gave him by associating him to the bullies of your past. It this seems silly when you catch yourself in the mirror, enjoy the laugh. A negative association becomes positive.

Your emotional block that keeps you from getting an agent is not related to the agent at all. It is related to your belief about getting an agent. It is related to the unconscious mental associations you have attached to agents. The common denominator to most therapies are they each help you find out what are some of the unconscious beliefs impacting your life. Then you can explore why you associate those beliefs to certain areas in the past to the present.

Let’s look at another example of belief associations. How many people in the course of your adult lifetime have you asked out for a date? How many have turned you down? One, perhaps two, how about 50? Yet most people don’t let this stop them from asking someone out or pursuing a relationship. For most people the pleasure you anticipate from the date outweighs the pain of the possible rejection. If you have stopped asking because of the fear of rejection then you can change that association. Through therapy the beliefs attached to the fear are recognized unconscious associations and changed with knowledge and repetition. Therapy works when you recognize and change your beliefs. Therapy works when you don’t allow the fear of the anticipated and unrealistic pain continue to control your actions. For you to get a positive feeling of self worth and change your fear of agents, you need to change your perception of their value to you.

Therapy starts with you. You can become you own therapist if you acknowledge what it is that you want to change. And don't forget that an agent is someone who makes his living with a commission of what you are paid. That means you must have something to sell in the storytelling world.

The “We” Thinkers
It is the “we” thinking mentality that I believe is what keeps the 98% of actors in that unsuccessful category. To get into that 2% of successful actors, you must accept the “I” position.

Your desire to become a successful professional actor is dependent on your willingness to change the “we” mentality into the “I” mentality. The surest way to avoid success is to put yourself into the collective mindset. When you talk about yourself as an actor and use expressions like ‘actors aren’t given a chance’ or ‘actors are abused’, etc. you are in the collective mindset. Once you allow yourself to think as “we” you also are giving yourself permission to fail with a collective agreement.

The past is the past and the future is based on how you live the present. Regardless of what areas of the business you fear or avoid, nothing will change until you recognize the fears and you change the meaning they have for you. When that happens, you can avoid the 98% of “we” thinkers.

Your negative beliefs are real to you. They were created by what you perceived about an actual event resulting in physical and/or emotional pain. You must change these negative beliefs you have about the acting field and your place in it. Otherwise, your chances of success are limited.

Once you make these changes you can avoid leaving the career that your heart told you to pursue. You can stop your fears that overcome your ability to take actions. It’s best to find out what is at the heart of your career problems and take the power from them. It’s about transferring meaning. It is expected in any career field where success is accompanied with material rewards. Nothing less should be expected of an acting career.

You can transfer meaning by conditioning yourself to have a successful acting career. You can change the associations and beliefs you have about this career. Can you imagine that it is far more painful not to pursue this career than the pain that comes from pursuing it through possible rejection and confusion? Can you create reasons for going after this career, no matter what the personal cost? Can you create scenarios where not pursuing your career is unacceptable? Can you set yourself up for more pain by not achieving your goals? Can you change your perception of your results? I know you can change those beliefs and fears that you have used to keep you from success and growth.

The “we” thinking is powerful because we are not conscious of it. Once upon a time the middle class American citizen was strong and powerful because he used the term “I” in referring to his situation and his responsibilities. One of the things that has made America so strong has been the power of the middle class lifestyle and its personal dignity and self designed opportunity. A better lifestyle could be attainable in one generation! With that attainment would come the pride of personal accomplishment. There was no expectation of entitlement. There was only opportunity for accomplishment. The middle class had afforded future generations a certain degree of acceptance, as more and more moved up the ladder of financial and personal success. That was until the pride of the personal accomplishment became an expectation of entitlement. When that I, through fear, became “we”, the middle class lost its power and its position.

The same thinking errors hold true for the actor. When you allow yourself to be a “we” you forfeit your individual right to be the most that you can be. You forfeit the divine birthright of all people on the planet to achieve their highest possible level of success. You remove your individual responsibility. Ultimate success is the degree of affect your life has on other people in their efforts to learn the lessons of life while on this most incredible journey. Only you have the power to change you. You can change your behavioral patterns in relation to your beliefs about different areas of this career by using the “I” focus of responsibility.

Let me give an example. While teaching a class in Orlando a student told me, in front of the class, that the acting business in Orlando could never be a legitimate way to earn a living because there was not enough work for actors. She resented the fact that there was no work and she wanted me to agree with her. I commented on her selection of outfit and her personal style. I then readdressed the class on another topic. She interrupted me, saying that I had avoided her statement. She said that I should address it because I was taking money from her and the other class members when I knew that there was no work for actors there. I was taking advantage of them.

I looked at her for a moment and then asked her where she was from. “Atlanta”, she said, with a quizzical expression on her face. I then asked her if she would go topless in a movie for forty thousand dollars. She was appalled and claimed that I was completely out of line. I said that I didn’t intend to say anything inappropriate. I returned to my lecture. Just as she was about to interrupt again, I said to the class that I was told that there were no actors in Orlando whose sole income was derived from acting.

Many others in the class protested, saying that was not true. So, I asked the woman if they were lying. She said, “Well, no, there are….” I stopped her. “You told me that in essence, I was stealing money from this class because I knew there was no way an actor could make a living in this town.” She apologized.

I asked the class if they believed that a successful professional acting career was what they expected to achieve. Most responded that they were only looking at this business as an avocation and supplemental income. I asked the woman if she felt that way also. She said it would be nice to make acting a vocation, but it was impossible. I stopped her. “What about it is impossible? Are you going to tell me again that there is no one making a living by acting in this town? Or are you never going to make a living as an actor in this town?”

In less than five minutes after having publicly been embarrassed, having to apologize to me, she again repeated the same “we” failure belief to support her refusal to do the work. Her work consisted of having the skills necessary to act and to have the knowledge of the job possibilities afforded to those in the acting community. She needed to find out who the “I” members of the acting community were. Those people who are making a living as actors.

Only by changing the “we” beliefs of negative associations will she have the ability to make a living as an actor in Orlando. If not, she would bring even more pain associations toward acting in Orlando into her life.

In order to do this she will need to redirect her power and energy. By doing this she could interrupt her patterns of behavior. She could stop reinforcing the negative feelings and limiting thoughts which she supported with the “we” justification. And then, the final effort would be to attach her belief to a positive association that had already been empowered through recognition.

She could condition herself to a new association that created a feeling of pleasure, personal growth and empowerment. She could grab any positive related thought and use it as an actual pain eliminator. She could do this, rather than holding on to experiences of the past that caused pain.

Anytime you use a “we” to indicate your lack of opportunity you can be sure it will keep you with the 98% of actors avoiding the winners circle. Recognize what these “we” statements are and then associate them to real positive circumstances of possibility.

What positive associations could my Atlanta student link to her “acting cannot be a vocation” pain? First she can acknowledge her belief was wrong, that acting can be a vocation even in Orlando and she can change any belief connected to that association to one of growth and power! Second she can condition herself to accept a belief that empowers her; that she can be successful in acting in Orlando. Thirdly, she can associate the feeling of joy and happiness to the idea/belief that she can be successful. And, finally, she can learn from her past perceptions and explore why she held on to the negative belief about no one making a living in Orlando through acting.

I hope she did.

Have an exciting week and let the real reason you want to be an actor fill you with actions and direction.

I wish you well,
Russ

The French Scene

The French Scene is the basic building block of all storytelling. It is also the basic building block of who we are as an individuals. I want you to understand what the French scene is and the power it has for or over you. French scenes occur each time there is an entrance or exit of a life force within a scene or in your life.

I was first introduced to the term French scene in graduate school when it was used as a rehearsal scheduling technique. The rehearsals were set up in decending order of cast members. The scenes from the play were first broken into French scenes. The French scenes were then broken down as to the characters in each one. The largest number of cast members in the same French scenes were called first. Once those French scenes were rehearsed those not in any more of the French scenes were dismissed and the next series of French scenes were rehearsed.

This continued until those characters in each French scene were rehearsed. The last few French scenes to be rehearsed were usually the lead characters, as they had the longest French scenes. This process avoided wasted time for the actors who had specific responsibilities in the play. We, of course, were doing classic plays where there were usually many characters. That is a bit different today when most plays have as few characters as possible to tell the story. Budget don't you know.

It was years later when I was directing that I discoverd the power of the French scene in relation to energy and genre. After an exhaustive search I discovered the history of the French scene and its importance to storytelling. I was deeply disappointed by not being given the true purpose of the French scene. If this information had been given to me over my many years of study I would have, with greater clarity, understood my responsibility as an actor to the creation of a character in make believe.

If an actor is lucky he/she may have been taught that a French scene is the entrance or exit of a character. You may even have been given French scene knowlege helping with rehearsal needs and home work needs for the actor in relation to the character he/she is playing. What is rarely learned is the real purpose of these entrances or exits.

The real purpose of the French scene is to change the energy level of the scene. The energy of the life force entering or exiting the scene will either make the energy level of that scene more intense or less intense. The use of the energy level of the entering or exiting life force, therefore guides and clarifies the genre of the story. A single scene could have many French scenes within it. However each French scene within that scene must have a different emotional level than the French scene before it or the French scene after it. This is how genre is defined and adhered to. I will discuss this in a later blog when I'm discussing the hidden truth of a French scene.

The French scene is how the writer guides the audience through a kaleidoscope of emotions. He does this with or without the understanding of the term. The French scene is how the director defines his vision of the writer’s story. This is done with or without his knowledge of the power of the French scene. The use of French scenes ensures that all stories are different. (That is one reason the director of a film is called the autour of the film. He has the power to change the French scenes of the film script. He can add or take away any he chooses. This ability based on understanding is what constitutes a master film director. Usually this ability ends up in the hands of the editor who would never get the title of autour.)

Directors, writers, and actors would all be better served if we collectively understood the importance of the French scene. The power of the industry would be much more effective if we understood the French scenes relationship to energy levels defined emotionally to protect the power of a genre.

The fact that most directors, writers, and actors do not understand the power of the French scene can become your major advantage. Many successful performers work on instinct of the French scene. They have been fortunate to date. But, instincts can be manipulated. Your understanding of the French scene and its power can drive your success and give you the upper hand from audition to closing night and beyond.

Once you understand the complete power of the French scene you will have been exposed to the energy levels of your body (instrument) as well. I will deal with this is much greater detail in future blogs. For now it is only important that you know those energy levels constitute emotional notes that you must play when being a character. Those emotional notes, 8 in all, reside in your body and are used as postions of defense by your body for survival.

As discussed in my last blog, those positions in your body are the instinctive postions of defense you physical body will use to retreat (locking your life energy into your muscle tissue) creating feelings (not thoughts). Your body does this as part of its responsibility to defend the vessel (the body). By doing this it will demand your mental focus. These physical feelings then demand internal dialogue and will make every effort to manipulated your thoughts to stay in defense. Your body will try to demand that you fight or run based on the level of intensity of the percieved threat and resulting feeling.

These physical positions of defense are sometime the response you might have to a random life force around you. Even though that life force around you may have nothing to do in relationship to your health and well being. However, the feeling that you may be having will still require your mental attention. You can usually change the feeling by realizing it is not about you.

In our personal lives the French scenes that effect us the most are those that happen within our own circle of life associations. French scenes that involve friends, family, acquantances or those we wish to be accepted by. Often our energy in those French scenes are reponding to pain or energy levels of those around us. Once our bodies have felt a need to defend by sensing "hostile" energy you are required to activate the five senses to do an immediate evaluation of possible danger. Once that has yielded no answer to your feeling you will revert to thoughts that come from the most recent memories recorded in your mind. These memories, dealing with the process of elimination, are recorded in the emotional level that is currently being activated.

Ro clarify: each emotional level of your body, from that sinking feeling in the stomach to Rage, has its own bank of memories. Our internal dialogue will searh in that emotional memory bank until it lands on a memory that justifies our feeling. Most often the memory that we grab is supported by negative beliefs. This works wonderfully for a character as the character lives in make believe. It does not work well for you as it only supports thoughts that disempower.

What is important to understand at this time is the term French scene and how the French scene relates to your life energy as well as the life energy of a character. You want to have the ability to differenciate between your body's perceived dangers and its awareness of negative energy levels that may be radiating in its receiving range. When you are creating a character you wish to indulge the character in its despair.

One thing is clear, the French scenes of your life ensure that there has never been, and will never be, another human being like you.

Certain life energies that have come in and out of your life through French scenes are what make you different from any other person. These sequences of life energies (people) have created who you are. They have defined your true beliefs. Those who have created the French scenes of your life have created the conditions and rules for living that you have accepted for your own life. You may have accepted rules for living from others that make it far more difficult than necessary to have a happy and successful life.

Therefore, understanding of the French scene, conceptually and literally, becomes important for many reasons. The formost reason is its process in creating who you are and how you perceive yourself. Understanding the French scene as the sequence by which our beliefs and choices define our hope for the future gives us the power to create and define characters that we may be playing. Each French scene in a play, film script, teleplay or other storytelling format, indicates how the character is emotionally altered by energies from different people. This understanding is your power to translate the writer's clues and to find the subtleties of the character the writer has woven into the fabric of his story. The understanding of the French scene will help you meld your own uniqueness of personality with that of a character you are creating.

The term French scene was coined in the late 16th century. It evolved from an understanding of structure in the writings during the last part of the Elizabethan period. This was extented by the Jacobean period during the late 16th and early 17th century. The Jacobean writers included those writings attributed to William Shakespeare.

The period of history that followed the Dark Ages focused on the science of art. Music had been the main benefactor of this new focus. The language of music, its science, was developed during the 12th and 14th centuries. The result of this effort led to the understanding of the Science of Music. This effort led to the defining of notes, the creation of score sheets, the ability to read and write music. This new science became the knowledge base upon which the language could be used by musicians to study that knowledge and through repetition could convert that knowledge to muscle memory. This, being the process for talent, took music to an emotional communication level that is non-ending.

During these centuries the foundation was laid for the greatest music ever to be written. With this Science of Music musicians, composers, and conductors were able to create Art. They could map out the emotions created by the understanding of musical notes and the countless variations of their usage. They then build upon this ongoing knowledge. No one had to start from scratch any more. Music and the ability to write it, read it and play it were provable. This effort led to an enlightened period and the understanding of how genre, the style with which an art form effects us emotionally, could be repeated and enhanced.

The Jacobeans believed that Drama would also benefit from some form of science to enhance the power of the art. They believed it would be beneficial to understand how each genre (style of writing) formed a rhythm that could be understood and enhanced. They realized that for storytelling, as in life, it was the sequence of life energies and how they affected us that led to our personal view of life. They realized the sequence of those life energies created fear or comfort, pleasure or pain, which would form our beliefs, fears and emotional growth or stagnation.

These unrecorded visionaries, for whatever reason, gave the name of this life sequence the French scene. They understood that entrances and exits and the length of those entrances or exits as true French scenes (changing energy levels) would create an impact of emotional resolve or confusion for the characters. This also led them to realize the more French scenes used in a play would result in comedy. The fewer French scenes used in a play would lead to tragedy. There are, of course, some plays that are not comedy and yet do not result in tragedy. These plays tell stories of resolve often at an emotional price. They are usually referred to as drama rather than tragedy. They do not result in the everyman character dying or being disgraced beyond repair. This is the more agreed upon definition of tragedy.

What should be clear is that comedy and tragedy live in the world of drama. Drama simply means that what we are seeing, be it comic, dramatic or tragic, still resides in the world of believability. Other genres may be based on the audience's willingness to suspend believability in order to expand their imagination beyond that which is, as understood, real.

The sequence created by the new term, French scenes, became a process used to understand the rhythm of life. That rhythm of life that is shared by all humans. Understanding that rhythm became the basis for the science of any genre (style) within storytelling.

As stated a French scene is created with every entrance and exit of a life force. It is knowing how the energy of that life force effects the movement of the French scene that is crutial. It is translating that life force's intensity, supported by passion and emotional control, that guides the actor's charcter creation as the circumstance for the everyman in a story unfolds. The character and his/her choices are influenced, inspired, intimidated or destroyed based on true (actionable) beliefs. And, as you know, the character's beliefs are activated by the flow of life energies through specific sequences of French scenes defined as the character’s reality.

In your real life this is also true. Your quest for the knowledge to become a successful story teller can lead you to a more successful life. This can be done if you acknowledge that many of the beliefs that constitute your rules for living may not be in your best interest. Like the characters you create, you too may be making choices that are based on insufficient knowledge.

It should be noted that each French scene is supported by its own reality. It must be able to stand alone for emotional integrity and purpose. Each French scene must be understood and analyzed, one French scene at a time. There will be a later lesson on how the French scene is used as the foundation for The actor’s work process. That includes understanding Actor's Script Analysis and its relation to script analysis as a process. It will show how powerful the French scene is to the actor’s script interpretation of the written word. It will explain how fundamental the French scene is to the actor's ability to translate the vision of any director. Even if the director doesn't know he has one. I will discuss in the actor's work process how to clarify the duality of the actor's instrument and how each part of his instrument's responsibility is defined by the French scene.

In storytelling the French scenes would be the span of time in which the story takes place. The number of French scenes and the length of the French scenes will determine genre (comedy/drama) through rhythm. It will support the comedy or tragedy of a story’s intent. In your life, a French scene constitutes the sequence of life moments up to this present moment. Your life is made up of the entrances and exits of life energies. Those life energies (people) have defined your beliefs of fear and hope. As stated, those life energies, through the French scenes of your life, have made you who you are. They have led you to your belief system, your rules for living, good or bad.

Some French scenes in your life have been supportive and powerful while others have caused scars and and left hidden fears. For the same reason the French scenes of your life makes you totally unique in the history of man, so every story is different by the sequence of life energies and accompanying knowledge that supports or negates the everyman of the story's hope for the future.

No one will ever have the same sequence of life events as you. You are defined by that unique sequence. You are defined by the beliefs you have accepted based on the sequence of your life French scenes. This is defined by those who have passed in and out of your life and the marks they have left behind. Therefore, you are what the life forces that have constituted the Frence scenes of your life have imprinted upon you. Many of those resulting beliefs unknowingly have become your true beliefs. Based on deep seated or imprinted fears these true beliefs (indicated by your actions) may be in conflict with your desired beliefs. Therein resides your journey.

Understanding the French scenes of your life will help you find those life-altering events, those life-altering choices and those life-altering people that have been the influencing (good or bad) characters in your life. They are the stories of your life. Understanding the power of the French scene is the way the writer, director and actor create characters that are emotionally famaliar and yet inherently different. Understanding the French scene and its purpose will help you understand the path that you are taking and how your fears are being used to support or undermine your efforts in your quest to be a successful actor.

Have a wonderful and productive week.

I wish you well,
Russ

Changing Negatives to Positives

Once you have acknowledged personal fear associations and accepted their existence, you can alter their power to affect you. First, evaluate the negative fear associations as lessons you need to learn. By acknowledging things you fear you can take their power away forever. You can alter your perceptions of fear patterns of negative thoughts that may have been with you for years.

The best way to disempower a negative belief is to link it, by repetition, to a positive belief. This technique is widely used by advertising agencies. Sometimes a negative can be empowered and changed to a positive by frequent repetitions of association with something positive. It is a technique used to redirect the focus of a negative to a positive. Wendy’s did it with its chili. Coca Cola did it with its Classic Coke®, and as we all know, many politicians do it with their personal lives. Once you realize that it is all perception and how you can control your own perception it gets much easier. Once you realize what you choose to believe or not believe is in your control you can begin to feel empowered.

Winning the game of life is about choosing to learn the rules you have set for yourself and adjust your own rules (perceptions in relation to beliefs true or desired) for you to win the game of life.
Clarifying your perceptions is not that difficult if you apply the knowledge of what it is you are doing. You know you hold the key to your destiny. If you accept this and take responsibility for it you can control the wind of your life sails.

You know all lives have storms that come to pass. They are not meant to come to stay. They only stay if you hold on to the fear of what has caused the storm and don’t recognize or anticipate the inevitable calm that comes from the knowledge of its source.

A True Story

Let this true story be a guide. A young man suffered the plight of many other people. He stuttered. He could not even say his own name without stuttering. He, like so many others, was constantly made fun of by cruel and unfeeling people. As a result he tried to avoid talking at all cost. He was thought to be slow and dimwitted. This stuttering curse followed him into his adulthood. He tried to keep people from being aware of his affliction. It had scarred him deeply. He had many fear-based negative associations about his life. However, he chose to change these negative associations by finding a way to empower his suffering by giving it a purpose. He did this by inventing a device that stopped stuttering in countless numbers of those who tried it. His pain was changed to great pleasure. You can do this with your own fear-based negative associations.

You can turn them around and make them lessons learned. You do not have to be a victim of your own thoughts and actions. By disempowering your negative associations of pain they can become paths to pleasure through achievement. You may have allowed negative thoughts to have power over your day to day life. They could be stopping you from being all you can be. You can recognize those things you fear by the internal dialogue that goes on in your head. They are the conversations that are filled with doubt, guilt, frustration and pain. Once you define the subject of those pointless internal conversations you have the source of that particular fear.

Check each of the big 7 areas of your life for the beliefs that create positive thoughts and actions and for those beliefs that support negative thoughts and actions. Make a check of your emotional life, your financial life, your intellectual life, your personal life, your professional life, your physical life and your spiritual life. Notate internal dialogue you have had in each of them. Make note of those internal conversations concerning each of these areas that are positive or negative.

An example: identify what expectations you have had with acting classes. Have you had thoughts that made you angry or frustrated by what you thought you would learn and what you actually learned. In truth you may have unresolved negative beliefs about all acting classes that have manifest in your present reality.

You may find that your frustration really comes from a differt place all together. You may have had experiences in acting classes that turned you against them. You may harber deeper beliefs , based on your previous experiences, that acting classes are a waste of time and money. You need to rethink the reasons for your taking an acting class. You want to have your work evaluated, critiqued, supported, enhanced, developed, or perhaps, redirected. But, you may have a fear that you don't want to hear the opinions of others observations. Those opinions may unlease in you your own true fears.

You need to know exactly why you are going to a class in order to keep unwanted negative thoughts (fears) that could be keeping you from what you seek to learn. You must go to any circumstance of learning to get honest feedback about your potential value to the acting industry. And yes, it is an industry. The power, passion and healing ability it has to an audience is between you and the audience. The job is between you and the producer. The producer's bottom line is financial.

Another example, say in your financial life, is what your internal dialogue is telling you about your survival job. What beliefs do you have about waiting on tables, doing temp work, catering, or clerical work late at night in a law office? Negative beliefs about the work you and your friends do to survive could be devastating. The beliefs could be re-enforcing a negative memory which then undermines the reason you are doing the job in the first place. In that case, the end does not support the means.

You change all negative beliefs by first recognizing them. Once a non-supportive negative belief has been recognized you can exchange the negative belief for a positive belief. (Remember, these beliefs are recognized by your internal dialogue of frustration and annoyance.)

You have the power to make these changes because, in truth, change is a choice. You can choose to change the belief or you can choose to change the circumstances supporting the belief. To continue the circumstance while maintaining the negative belief about it seems a bit masochistic. And, let's be clear. A negative belief can only be based on "a fear." Therefore, what that exact fear is must be discovered.

Once you set out to exchange a negative non-supportive belief (fear) to a positive supportive belief, you then use the power of your energy to accomplish it. First, link a negative belief to a positive belief. Such as, “I know that waiting on tables is something that I believe is below my education and ability level, but I also know it is a means to an end." or "I have a personal responsibility to make an honest wage while I pursue my goals for a successful professional acting career.”

When you have recognized the belief (waiting on tables is beneath me) to the fear (what will people think of me as a server) then you can go to a desired positive belief that is even strong than the one before. Such as, "I can use waiting on tables as an acting class that I set up for myself. I can practice my energy control, my emotion need projections, my varying personality traits, my charm and a thousand other things characters must do to survive in their world of make believe." By waiting on tables you also have the ability to practice your levels of energy in order to sustain them in make believe.

Remember, the higher the energy level you use to disempower a negative belief by linking it to a positive belief the faster the exchange will occur.

This should be easy for you to understand because the actor knows that the intensity of creating a character is directly related to the passion and resulting energy level he uses to perform the character in make believe. Knowing how to take your physical body to excitement is part of what the actor does. Use this skill while you reprogram yourself by transferring a negative belief to a positive belief. As an actor, you can change stupid to bright, homely to handsome, low class to upscale, etc. I’m sure you get the idea. The idea is that it is up to you. It is acting.

Recognize the consequences of your present beliefs to acting as a profession? What are your associations as a participant? Do you associate your ability to that of James Franco? How about Julie Roberts? Are you one of those who say "I could have played that role?" I hope not because the truth is you couldn’t even if you could. Julie Roberts is not just an actor, she is a business. Her value to a project is at the box office. Her company guarantees a profit. When those profits stop coming so will her job offers. That is true for all actors who are on the "A" list. They are about market attraction. Their acting provability is, for the most part, a given.

This does not apply to you today. In the future you may decide that this level of fame is what you want. Now, however, your goal should be about recognizing your talents. You need to be able to recognize your ability to go to Talent. These are two completely different realities. One is an ability and the other is a place. To creat a talent you must face the fears that keep you from acquiring the knowledge you need to then turn that knowledge to muscle memory through repetition. To go to Talent you must have the ability to recognize that actual physical place in you that is without fear.

You also need to identify your level of competition at the present time. You need to address your current personal abilities and personal knowledge in order to create actions that will lead to change. Change beliefs that are getting in your way and then change your new beliefs to success.
The Best You

What are your positive beliefs that support your efforts? Could some of them be: "Learning is great. People are honest. All things are possible. If you build it, they will come. Being bullied empowers me to stop bullies." These could be a few of your positive beliefs. However, you want to become aware of those beliefs in your life that have taken hold of you because they give you instant gratification. They may include: smoking, excessive drinking, recreational drugs or anonymous sex. Many of these instant gratifications in the long run may carry a heavy price tag for your health, your life, your security, and your self-respect.

For this reason you want to recognize your true beliefs (those beliefs that you act on) and your desired beliefs (those beliefs that you would like to think you use to live your life). You can not pretend that you live your life with your desired beliefs when your true beliefs are your reality. Your true beliefs are your actionable beliefs and usually differ greatly from your desired belief. You can change the actions that are supported by true beliefs. You can change those actions that take away the time and money necessary to work toward your career. But first, and here is the rub, you must recognize them.

You are looking to become your "best you." To prepare yourself to be highly competitive and ultimately successful as an actor, you are going to make yourself aware of what your “best you” really means. You want to focus your daily efforts in the presence of your “best you”. A key element in creating a character is allowing the character to "behave badly." You want the character to show how little control he has over his creature as he learns his/her life lessons during the play, the film or the TV show.

However, behaving badly can not be an option in your reality.

In the reality of your life you know when you are behaving badly. You also know when you are behaving your very best. You know when you’re putting your best foot forward. You know when you are your most attractive physically and emotionally. You know this.

You want to use your “best you” in all seven areas of your life. You want to know how you can go about doing this.

First, you become aware of your emotional behavior and own it. If your behavior is not something you wish to own, take corrective actions to change it. Make achieving your “best you” a priority in your life. It is directly related to your true beliefs (actionable) and your desired belief (wishful thinking). Give the quest for discovering your behavioral patterns more attention. Give it more focus. Once you recognize your negative behavioral patterns you must work to change them. Give your recognition power a chance to strengthen you without slipping into a place of judgment.

Don’t judge yourself and don't jusdge others. It is a waste of time and allows your internal dialogue to be controlled by your earthly need for survival not your spiritual and intellectual desire for a happier life. Intolerance of yourself or others is often used as a device to justify your internal dialogues use of incorrect thinking.

Do not allow yourself the luxury of judgmental thoughts of yourself or others. Use your thinking time to take control of your own behavior. Use your thinking time to work on your own reality. Being the best you is a quest that will result in life changing experiences in your world. Practice being in control of your best you. See how those around you respond to you. It will give you confidence and personal gratification.

Addictive Behavior

Addictions are attempts to keep your fears at bay. They are personal efforts to patronize your fears. Most of the time any addiction can be substituted for another. Addictive behaviors can ruin the life of you and your loved ones. If you want to free yourself from addictions you must identify the fear beliefs you have attached to allow them. You can change any addiction by recognizing the fear the addiction is pretending to control. That fear can usually be recognized because it usually lies in the forefront of the addiction.

Remember, if you are not experiencing the life you want, you are experiencing the life you choose.

For that reason the ability to change your circumstance and redirect your future is totally within your control. Learn what it takes to accept this power with grace and responsibility. If not, you run the risk of being at the mercy of those around you. Don't forget, your control of your career is based on the associations your career has to the seven areas of your life. You must understand your responsibility to getting the job as well as your responsibility to performing the job. This all requires your clarity in relation to the way you live your life and the methods you have chosen to cope.

You may have learned to associate pleasure to many things that at first you rejected as unacceptable. Yet, through peer pressure, role models, or desperation you may have conditioned yourself to accept these negative addictions as acceptable operating percedures in your life. Some misguided thoughts (internal dialogue) that support your addictions could be that the addiction helps you overcome your fears. This, of course, is rediculous. Those thoughts are only hiding what are actual dangers to you. You must accept that you are allowing this to happen. Acknowledge the things you are doing that are defocusing you and take control of them before they destroy your dreams, your goals and your life.

The key to changing addictive behavior is at your disposal. It is in the skill of the person who is peddeling the addictive circumstance. If you go into the mindset of the person making a profit on your addictions you will have the answer to your personal fear and weakness.

Let's be clear, you always know what is best for you. You can say anything you want to justify your accepting a wolf in sheep’s clothing but the truth is always in you.

You are ultimately in charge of acceptance and change. If you associate “good times” with doing stupid things and wasting precious time, you may find it difficult to associate “success” to using constant effort and focus through discipline (use of time).

Review your list of true beliefs you have toward acting as a career. Remember, a true belief is how you actually live your life. It is true, even if it is not what you purport to be true, in that you act on it. Be aware of how difficult you may be making life work for you by the rules (true beliefs) your have set for yourself. You may not recognize that your behavior is based on your true beliefs. If those beliefs are not acknowleged as your rules for living they will be impossible to change.

Only you set the rules by which you lead your life. No one else can do that. If the truth of how you wish to live your life is in your desired beliefs then make those desired beliefs your true beliefs. You do this by the actions you take to live your life.

The game of life will be won by the rules you set for yourself. You can not ignore society’s rules just as you can not ignore the rules of any given game. But, you can adjust the rules to work for you.

Decide on what level you wish to play the game and how much of a competitor you desire to be.
Your competitive level is based on your willingness to recognize your fears. You recognize those fears by what you try to avoid or by what you are addicted to. Accept your fears as real. Expose them to yourself with purpose. Disempower them by learning the lessons they are trying to keep your from learning.

Have a great week.

I wish you well.
Russ