Using Make Believe
in Reality
Make believe is a place with no real fear. Make believe is a place where no matter what happens there can be no real pain or real suffering attached. Otherwise it would not be make believe.
It is your goal as an actor to create a character that will impact on the reality of your life by the character’s impact on the reality of the audience’s life. The impact happens in that place called make believe. Make believe can only exist if talent has been achieved.
The place called make believe is caused by the outward directional flow of your life energy in Talent.
Pretending and being are two different things. The ability "to be" the character requires that you have created a talent for the character. This is done by acquiring the knowledge of who and what the character is and then doing the repetitions that create its talent. If you circumvent this process and responsibility you are making acting something it is not. The actor creates, through interpretation,the physical and emotional reality of his character. The actor can then leave those emotions behind at will.
It should be one of your goals as an actor to allow the character you are playing to behave badly while you stay in talent. The character is allowed to behave badly in make believe. You are not.
Your Right to Behave Badly
You have the birth right to behave as you choose. You have the gift of making choices that you wish to make. There are consequences for all the choices that you make. Perhaps your choices are made with the belief supported by "an eye for an eye." But, know this. An eye for an eye is a metaphor and is a lesson that must be understood before it becomes literal. Just as might makes right is a metaphor for understanding right is truth. Therefore, right (truth) is might. Do not allow yourself the luxury of becoming a victim to ignorance. Justifying your bad behavior with "your right" circumvents your understanding of right as truth. If this is how you allow yourself to think you will lose the quest toward growth and wisdom.
No matter what it is that upsets you, no matter what belief of yours has been challenged, no matter what wrongs you feel have been done to you, it is your response to those situations that are important. Your response will either give you the power and the strength to maintain your physical control or it will take you out of control and allow a mindless victim (the creature) to use your physical being for defense. Without awareness your physical response may get out of control and your mind may justify your accompanying behavior with a belief that supports your right to behave badly. We are all guilty, at times, of finding our selves in an irrational emotional state. A key to personal growth and success is to know how to be cognoscente of the state, physical and emotional, before it takes control of your mind. Or, at least, letting your irrational internal dialogue clue you that you have lost control of your life energy.
Practice being aware when you are trapped in a physical and emotional state of irrational behavior. Once aware, practice the process of talent needed to free you from that state. Being physically depressed and having internal dialogue of unhappiness, worthlessness, useless, suicidal, etc., are all thoughts programmed to play in your brain to keep your body in a fight and flight physical posture. You do not need to be imprisoned by this physical control. Awareness, focus and accountability are the keys to activating the process of change. Change comes from altering your perception of your circumstance by making a literal physical change. That physical change must be repeated until the thoughts do not return. It is the same process used to acquire a talent.
It’s interesting to note that when someone is prescribed drugs for depression or emotional disorders it is the perception that the drug attempts to alter. You can change your emotional states without drugs by using your physical body to redirect your perceptions. You can find health, happiness, and security in all the areas of your life by commanding your body work for, not against, you.
The causes for your non supportive emotional thoughts are the result of your debilitating physical states. We know non supportive activated thoughts are used to keep control of our body and energy. We also know it is our physical position that keeps us in a depressed state. This lack of physical control locks us into a state where it appears we are unable to change our body position and mental focus.
Change the actual body position by redirecting your life energy to your blood supply to activate the power of you muscles. Simulate the physical position of going to a talent you already possess. Use that power and knowledge to override your "creatures" instinctive need to protect the body. Reactivate the physical "on" position each time the thoughts return. Do this until the thoughts stop. Develop a talent for being in control of your mind and body.
The Power of Forgiveness
It is said that time heals all things. You will usually forgive someone’s wrong behavior toward you because deep down you want to. You know everyone is capable of making foolish mistakes. You also know that the power to forgive is the greatest power in the world.
Forgiveness is far more important to the forgiver than to the forgiven. Anything that cannot be forgiven becomes a power over you. It becomes a source of physical attachment that can lock you in a negative position allowing a rehashing of the negative thoughts and feelings associated to an event or memory of pain.
If you have said, “He pushed my buttons”, or, “She knew exactly what she was doing to set me off”, then, you are saying that you have made yourself vulnerable to reacting to those certain behaviors. You are saying that you are vulnerable because certain beliefs you hold can be used to take you out of control.
Your Personal Security System
The actor’s personal security system is based on how he/she allows their emotional behavior to be protected against unwanted activation. The actor wants to ensure that his personal security system does not have a breach. A breach would result if the actor allows the thought such as ‘they knew what they were doing’ or ‘they knew how the actor would respond’ or ‘they set the actor up to react this way’ to support the actor’s lack of emotional control. No one wants their emotional control to be predictable or open to manipulation. This breach would mean the actor has given his/her defense secrets out allowing for their own defeat. Any known breach that has not been removed or disarmed means that the actor is self-sabotaging.
To say, “They had no right” or “how could they do that to me” are statements of naivete. It suggest a certain knowledge that all people do things without thinking and that all people do things out of anger or all people do certain things out of revenge. But, people behave badly because it is part of the human condition.
That is also why we tell our stories. We need to constantly remind each other of our behaviors. We need to remind ourselves of how we will always answer for the choices we make, one way or another. Your patterns of behavior should always support your goals. If they don’t, your patterns must change.
The change can be supported when the person or source of some of your behavior has been recognized and forgiven. The person or source then becomes dis empowered through forgiveness. There is no legitimate excuse for your “behaving badly." You must become aware of what behaving badly means in your life. You must become aware of why your behaving badly is tolerated by you or by others around you. Be careful of the motives of those who allow you to behave in this manner. Ask them why they tolerate it. You first can ask yourself why you tolerate that behavior in them. You want to avoid others who will support your right to behave badly. You should want to know why they don't avoid you.
A Story
A longtime friend related an experience she had while rehearsing an off-Broadway play in New York. She said she left the play because of artistic differences. Having had artistic differences myself I wanted to hear more about why she would leave the most important acting job of her career. There are, after all, certain rules that we follow as actors. She explained that her major speech in the play was being staged during rehearsal. The director, well-known later as an award-winning film director, had her give the bulk of her speech upstage. After the rehearsal she began to get angry about her being purposely upstaged.
She interpreted the director’s staging as a personal attack on her talent as an actor. She demanded that her blocking be changed or she would leave the show. The director refused to change it and she walked. She explained that she was forced to take this action and stand up for herself. She knew that this was an important job but "there comes a time when standing up for what is right is worth more." I had listened to her tell the story. I watched as other actors, none of whom had ever gotten as far in their careers, applauded her actions and support her position.
Several questions came to my mind. What happened to the rule that the director is always right? What about her responsibility to the other cast members? What of her responsibility to herself? What was so wrong about what the director did that gave her the right to “behave badly?"
Everyone involved in that show has gone on to find a successful professional acting career. Some have become household names. To this day my friend still holds to her right to do what she did. She has since left the business and using this story of "being right" to justify her departure. It is a pity. She was, and probably still is, a wonderful actress.
No one, especially me, would question someone’s right to do anything they feel compelled to do. However, when you do, you must know there will be a price to pay. There is no justifiable excuse for behaving badly in relation to your career or in any other area of your life. Behaving badly does not have to be a component in standing up for yourself or your true beliefs. You can take a strong position but it is your physical and emotional control that will win the debate. You will never win by allowing your passion to override your logic.
I repeat: “You will never win by allowing your passion to override your logic.”
During the week become aware of your physical placement and your emotional behavior in response to actions you take. Become aware of those around you who support or allow you to "behave badly." Be aware of your friends and colleagues as they inter act with you or others. How are you behaving in relation to their behavior. Do you support there right to behave badly? You are responsible for what you do with your time from the physical and emotional reality of your life. You may find that many of your thoughts result from not taking control of your physical placement.
Have a great week.
I wish you well,
Russ
in Reality
Make believe is a place with no real fear. Make believe is a place where no matter what happens there can be no real pain or real suffering attached. Otherwise it would not be make believe.
It is your goal as an actor to create a character that will impact on the reality of your life by the character’s impact on the reality of the audience’s life. The impact happens in that place called make believe. Make believe can only exist if talent has been achieved.
The place called make believe is caused by the outward directional flow of your life energy in Talent.
Pretending and being are two different things. The ability "to be" the character requires that you have created a talent for the character. This is done by acquiring the knowledge of who and what the character is and then doing the repetitions that create its talent. If you circumvent this process and responsibility you are making acting something it is not. The actor creates, through interpretation,the physical and emotional reality of his character. The actor can then leave those emotions behind at will.
It should be one of your goals as an actor to allow the character you are playing to behave badly while you stay in talent. The character is allowed to behave badly in make believe. You are not.
Your Right to Behave Badly
You have the birth right to behave as you choose. You have the gift of making choices that you wish to make. There are consequences for all the choices that you make. Perhaps your choices are made with the belief supported by "an eye for an eye." But, know this. An eye for an eye is a metaphor and is a lesson that must be understood before it becomes literal. Just as might makes right is a metaphor for understanding right is truth. Therefore, right (truth) is might. Do not allow yourself the luxury of becoming a victim to ignorance. Justifying your bad behavior with "your right" circumvents your understanding of right as truth. If this is how you allow yourself to think you will lose the quest toward growth and wisdom.
No matter what it is that upsets you, no matter what belief of yours has been challenged, no matter what wrongs you feel have been done to you, it is your response to those situations that are important. Your response will either give you the power and the strength to maintain your physical control or it will take you out of control and allow a mindless victim (the creature) to use your physical being for defense. Without awareness your physical response may get out of control and your mind may justify your accompanying behavior with a belief that supports your right to behave badly. We are all guilty, at times, of finding our selves in an irrational emotional state. A key to personal growth and success is to know how to be cognoscente of the state, physical and emotional, before it takes control of your mind. Or, at least, letting your irrational internal dialogue clue you that you have lost control of your life energy.
Practice being aware when you are trapped in a physical and emotional state of irrational behavior. Once aware, practice the process of talent needed to free you from that state. Being physically depressed and having internal dialogue of unhappiness, worthlessness, useless, suicidal, etc., are all thoughts programmed to play in your brain to keep your body in a fight and flight physical posture. You do not need to be imprisoned by this physical control. Awareness, focus and accountability are the keys to activating the process of change. Change comes from altering your perception of your circumstance by making a literal physical change. That physical change must be repeated until the thoughts do not return. It is the same process used to acquire a talent.
It’s interesting to note that when someone is prescribed drugs for depression or emotional disorders it is the perception that the drug attempts to alter. You can change your emotional states without drugs by using your physical body to redirect your perceptions. You can find health, happiness, and security in all the areas of your life by commanding your body work for, not against, you.
The causes for your non supportive emotional thoughts are the result of your debilitating physical states. We know non supportive activated thoughts are used to keep control of our body and energy. We also know it is our physical position that keeps us in a depressed state. This lack of physical control locks us into a state where it appears we are unable to change our body position and mental focus.
Change the actual body position by redirecting your life energy to your blood supply to activate the power of you muscles. Simulate the physical position of going to a talent you already possess. Use that power and knowledge to override your "creatures" instinctive need to protect the body. Reactivate the physical "on" position each time the thoughts return. Do this until the thoughts stop. Develop a talent for being in control of your mind and body.
The Power of Forgiveness
It is said that time heals all things. You will usually forgive someone’s wrong behavior toward you because deep down you want to. You know everyone is capable of making foolish mistakes. You also know that the power to forgive is the greatest power in the world.
Forgiveness is far more important to the forgiver than to the forgiven. Anything that cannot be forgiven becomes a power over you. It becomes a source of physical attachment that can lock you in a negative position allowing a rehashing of the negative thoughts and feelings associated to an event or memory of pain.
If you have said, “He pushed my buttons”, or, “She knew exactly what she was doing to set me off”, then, you are saying that you have made yourself vulnerable to reacting to those certain behaviors. You are saying that you are vulnerable because certain beliefs you hold can be used to take you out of control.
Your Personal Security System
The actor’s personal security system is based on how he/she allows their emotional behavior to be protected against unwanted activation. The actor wants to ensure that his personal security system does not have a breach. A breach would result if the actor allows the thought such as ‘they knew what they were doing’ or ‘they knew how the actor would respond’ or ‘they set the actor up to react this way’ to support the actor’s lack of emotional control. No one wants their emotional control to be predictable or open to manipulation. This breach would mean the actor has given his/her defense secrets out allowing for their own defeat. Any known breach that has not been removed or disarmed means that the actor is self-sabotaging.
To say, “They had no right” or “how could they do that to me” are statements of naivete. It suggest a certain knowledge that all people do things without thinking and that all people do things out of anger or all people do certain things out of revenge. But, people behave badly because it is part of the human condition.
That is also why we tell our stories. We need to constantly remind each other of our behaviors. We need to remind ourselves of how we will always answer for the choices we make, one way or another. Your patterns of behavior should always support your goals. If they don’t, your patterns must change.
The change can be supported when the person or source of some of your behavior has been recognized and forgiven. The person or source then becomes dis empowered through forgiveness. There is no legitimate excuse for your “behaving badly." You must become aware of what behaving badly means in your life. You must become aware of why your behaving badly is tolerated by you or by others around you. Be careful of the motives of those who allow you to behave in this manner. Ask them why they tolerate it. You first can ask yourself why you tolerate that behavior in them. You want to avoid others who will support your right to behave badly. You should want to know why they don't avoid you.
A Story
A longtime friend related an experience she had while rehearsing an off-Broadway play in New York. She said she left the play because of artistic differences. Having had artistic differences myself I wanted to hear more about why she would leave the most important acting job of her career. There are, after all, certain rules that we follow as actors. She explained that her major speech in the play was being staged during rehearsal. The director, well-known later as an award-winning film director, had her give the bulk of her speech upstage. After the rehearsal she began to get angry about her being purposely upstaged.
She interpreted the director’s staging as a personal attack on her talent as an actor. She demanded that her blocking be changed or she would leave the show. The director refused to change it and she walked. She explained that she was forced to take this action and stand up for herself. She knew that this was an important job but "there comes a time when standing up for what is right is worth more." I had listened to her tell the story. I watched as other actors, none of whom had ever gotten as far in their careers, applauded her actions and support her position.
Several questions came to my mind. What happened to the rule that the director is always right? What about her responsibility to the other cast members? What of her responsibility to herself? What was so wrong about what the director did that gave her the right to “behave badly?"
Everyone involved in that show has gone on to find a successful professional acting career. Some have become household names. To this day my friend still holds to her right to do what she did. She has since left the business and using this story of "being right" to justify her departure. It is a pity. She was, and probably still is, a wonderful actress.
No one, especially me, would question someone’s right to do anything they feel compelled to do. However, when you do, you must know there will be a price to pay. There is no justifiable excuse for behaving badly in relation to your career or in any other area of your life. Behaving badly does not have to be a component in standing up for yourself or your true beliefs. You can take a strong position but it is your physical and emotional control that will win the debate. You will never win by allowing your passion to override your logic.
I repeat: “You will never win by allowing your passion to override your logic.”
During the week become aware of your physical placement and your emotional behavior in response to actions you take. Become aware of those around you who support or allow you to "behave badly." Be aware of your friends and colleagues as they inter act with you or others. How are you behaving in relation to their behavior. Do you support there right to behave badly? You are responsible for what you do with your time from the physical and emotional reality of your life. You may find that many of your thoughts result from not taking control of your physical placement.
Have a great week.
I wish you well,
Russ
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