Harmonizing Your Values
It is important that you learn the difference between the core and cover of your reality. If they are not on the same page with each other they will work against you. As we know your true values are easily uncovered by looking at your use of time and your desired values are revealed by clarifying your wants. You now know that your true beliefs may be controlling your life while your desired beliefs may have little power for you. You want to find the priorities of your life. If you have done that you should recognize how your time priorities show your true values.
Setting Action
As you may have noticed I believe that it is critical that you make sure that acting is really the profession you want(internal belief based on desire). It is important you are sure that acting is the profession you are willing to make your number one priority in life (external beliefs or use of time). But, you must acknowledge the possibility of your having external and internal turmoil. Without acknowledging this possible turmoil, you may never have what you desire for this career. And there is the possibility that your true beliefs of defeat will never loosen their grip on your destiny so that you can fulfill your desired beliefs. Remember, it is your true beliefs that dictate your actions.
Try these few simple tests to see if acting is both your true and your desired occupation. If acting is your true and desired profession then you are not embarrassed by those efforts needed to achieve your goals.
You are not embarrassed to go to make believe.
You do not criticize the physical actions needed for repetition.
You do not try and justify the art of acting.
You talk about your character in the third person.
You do not feel silly doing the job.
You expect to make a comfortable living and career success.
If you are challenged by any of these thoughts then there may be in conflict with your true values and your desired values. Meaning, there may be conflict between your true beliefs and your desired beliefs.
Beliefs are what create the countless reasons for your actions. Values are the attitudes and the qualities you consider important and are revealed in the way you live and conduct your life.
Some values motivate your behavior and some values motivate your thoughts.
They can be described as external or presentational values or internal or protective values. They really must be in sync. These internal and external values/beliefs must be focused on the same thing. If not, you’ll work against yourself without knowing it.
Your external values are your presentations, accompanied by your physical and emotional attitude. They present how you want to be perceived in relation to someone else. Your external values are what you want other people to observe as important to you. Your external values lead to the actions used to define you as a person. Often the presentation of some people’s external values is like "praying in public" to show they are pious.
In many cases a person’s external values are not supported by the internal values/beliefs. These folk risk being exposed for who they really are inside. There is nothing more pathetic in the human experience than presenting yourself as one thing but believing something else. The only thing worse could be not recognizing the difference. How terrible it is to be respected for your presentation and then to be discovered that your internal values negate your supposed truth. This is often the case with characters that you will play.
I had a friend who became mayor of a small town. He was respected and loved by the entire community. A married city councilman, who had decided to run against him for mayor, received a videotape of himself having sex with a woman, not his wife, in an abandoned parking lot. The councilman decided to expose the blackmail attempt at the cost of his reputation. His outrage of being blackmailed was greater than his fear of shame. When it looked as if the mayor was behind the whole scheme, the mayor denied his involvement. When an innocent deputy sheriff was charged, convicted and sentenced, the mayor denied his involvement. When the mayor’s closest friend began to crumble under the weight of the secret, it was finally exposed and yet the mayor still denied any involvement. The mayor denied any involvement even after he was convicted on Federal extortion charges and sent to prison. Two years later the husband of the mayor’s former secretary, a local minister, admitted that he had written the blackmail letter at the request of the mayor. With this revelation, the mayor finally confessed. After two years in prison, after being divorced by his wife, after going bankrupt, the innocent deputy sheriff was released. And, the culpable minister was given a new car by his parish for coming forward. Go figure.
What internal belief/value did the mayor possess that was more powerful than his external belief/value of decency and honor? What internal beliefs did the councilman have that made him think that his responsibility to his wife, his children and the community were more important that a quick sex act? What internal beliefs did the minister hold that allowed him to become involved in the ridiculous effort by writing the letter when he should have stopped it from happening. What value of his beliefs would allow him to let an innocent man stay in prison for two years before coming forward? What internal motivation did a moral reformer governor of a state possess that allowed him to be caught spending campaign funds on prostitutes or the internal motivation and beliefs of a close friend of the President of the United States and CEO of a major Wall Street company who tells all his employees to buy as much stock in the company as they can as he is secretly selling all of his or the internal beliefs of United States Senator that would allow him to actively support legislation to limit the rights of homosexuals while he cruises the men’s rooms in airports for anonymous gay sex?
These convoluted internal beliefs are what make up the stories we tell. None of these men would appear to be willing to let these selfish internal beliefs risk destroying everything they had created for themselves and their friends and family. But they did and they still do.
Look at the extent the mayor was willing to go to in order to protect his external value presentation. Look at the extent the mayor was willing to go in order to protect his internal belief system from being exposed. It is important that you make sure the external values you demonstrate in your life are supported by your true internal beliefs.
It is frustrating when you recognize that your external values (use of time) needed for a successful career are hampered by your internal beliefs/values for security and respectability. Identify the actual beliefs you hold that support an internal belief that acting is a profession of security and respectability. When you find those true beliefs of fear that contradict your goals then you can work to replace them with your desired beliefs for success. You can then change their value with your use of time.
If you don’t know the difference between your beliefs and values how can you expect to keep them working in harmony? The primary reason for the 98% failure rate in the entertainment industry is the conflict between true and desired values and beliefs. By uncovering your values of these beliefs you can distinguish between the two.
Make sure your external values of presentation are in harmony with your internal true and desired values. Make sure your behaviors match your internal and external goals. Your goals must be in harmony with your use of time and your belief in the outcome of the goal.
Therefore you must create an agenda. You must create a plan. Arrange your time so that it puts your values in there proper place. Any goal requires being consistent and willing to sacrifice your time and efforts. It requires that you persevere. A goal requires action for results. This action can only be maintained if your beliefs are supported by both your true and desired values with your use of time.
One of the most difficult concepts to accept is that “all things are possible, if you only believe." It is difficult because it requires that you know your own truth. That means you need to believe in the truth of yourself and the truth of your beliefs. When you realize that your desired beliefs are real, supportive and powerful you’ll also realize that your success is in direct relationship to their harmony with your true values (indicated by how you spend your time). Your priorities, as defined by your use of time, will reflect if your true and desired values have merged and are moving you toward a successful acting career.
Remember, your true beliefs control your internal values that support action. Your brain does not evaluate the pros and cons of the instructions you give it when it is on automatic pilot. And on automatic pilot your true beliefs are the operating values you depend on to become a successful professional actor. They must be in harmony.
Your desired values and your desired beliefs can only be working with positive focus, awareness and accountability. Until you find a way to ferret out the true beliefs that are non supportive you’ll continue to be at the mercy of your own limitations. Don’t support beliefs (rules for living) that stop you from winning the game of life. It is your choice which beliefs (rules) you accept for yourself. That is why you want to know if your true beliefs are also your desired beliefs. You want to know if the things you really value most by the use of your time are supportive of an acting career or some other life affirming circumstance.
To be eliminated they have to be acknowledged as true beliefs that support true values rather than desired beliefs that support desired values. You must know the difference in order to put harmony in your life. You cannot wish yourself to be something different. You will have to work at it. Learn to accept your true beliefs and values by being accountable for your use of time. Own your use of time and be accountable for how you go about doing what you do.
The Comfortable Pain of Mediocrity
The power to change your life is completely up to you. Sometimes you may find yourself in a state of mind where your focus and actions are counter productive. Remember that your physical body has the power to keep you from your desired course. Your body can set an energy vibration that causes the law of attraction to work against you. Change this. Recognize when your thoughts are at a frequency level making you think as a victim. Recognize than in truth you are the victimizer. You victimize yourself. You do this because it is more comfortable to live in the pain of mediocrity than to risk the failure of action. Risk could force you to deal with humiliation and ridicule. The irony is that only you can feel badly about what you have done. But, to feel badly when you know your best was thwarted by your own true beliefs is a waste of time.
You do not want to accept mediocrity. That should be one of your new true and desired beliefs. You should believe that if one person has made it to the top of the mountain, it can happen to you. You should know what the top of the mountain is for you. You want to know what you expect from yourself. You should expect that if everything goes according to plan you will know where your career will be five years from now. If you know that, you also know how to describe your plan.
Put your plan into writing. You will feel empowered knowing that you actually have a plan. Identify what is keeping you from focusing on having a plan. Then, identify the priorities you have set for yourself that are your values and beliefs. Once you see your priorities (use of time) you can begin to understand what the true values are in your life.
It is important that you identify those beliefs that are keeping you away from your desired values. If you can’t put your desired values (the way you want to live your life) on your goal list then you really don’t want them. You must control your beliefs with awareness. Make sure all the pieces to your life puzzle are in place. And, most of all, make sure being a professional actor is where you really want to spend your life.
Character Types
You want to recognize any beliefs you have about acting that are keeping you from an acting career. They may be unconscious so you are seeking to understand what you truly believe to make them conscious.
I have already discussed that characters come as four basic types. Not just physical type by appearance but also what the person wants someone to see by their look. Some people choose to appear nice on the outside but at their core they are selfish and dangerous. I call these people light on dark. There are others who choose to appear to be nice on the outside at their core they are truly decent loving people. I call these people light on light. Then, there are others who choose to appear to be dangerous on the outside but, at their core, are unselfish and loving people. I call these people dark on light. And, finally, there are those who appear evil or dangerous on the outside and, at their core, they are. I call these people dark on dark.
Of the four types of people, the most honest are those who are light on light and those who are dark on dark. That is the honesty factor. You know where you stand with these people. Their true and desired values and beliefs are in harmony. What you see is what you get. Dark on dark types are not trying to intimidate without cause or trying to be intimidating without motive. They know that their selfish internal and external beliefs are in harmony and they let you know it, too.
The same is true with those who are light on light. They appear kind and compassionate on the outside and, in truth, are the same from their internal belief system. They, too, present to the world the truth of who and what they are. Characters are quickly defined this way whereas in reality it is a bit more complicated. Where do you fit in this list of types? What true beliefs have led you to a presentation that may or may not support the truth of your internal beliefs? You need to have this awareness in order to create harmony in yourself.
Self Serving
Self serving is only a negative experience if the feelings and needs of others are sacrificed in order for us to get what we want. Based on topic and circumstance any of us can be self-serving. What is important it that you be true to yourself. If you choose to sleep your way to the top yet that is counter to your true belief system you’ll find the end result may not be worth the sacrifice. If, on the other hand, your true belief system accepts sleeping to the top then may not become an issue. However, choices you make today will surface to haunt you if they are made against your true beliefs. Do not try and go around them. That is why it is important to know what they are and change them if you can. Be sure that you know what your true beliefs are or you may be in for a surprise.
Have a great week. Focus on what you are doing with your time. See if that time expenditure matches the things you are saying about what you want from this life. You might be surprised.
As always,
I wish you well.
Russ
It is important that you learn the difference between the core and cover of your reality. If they are not on the same page with each other they will work against you. As we know your true values are easily uncovered by looking at your use of time and your desired values are revealed by clarifying your wants. You now know that your true beliefs may be controlling your life while your desired beliefs may have little power for you. You want to find the priorities of your life. If you have done that you should recognize how your time priorities show your true values.
Setting Action
As you may have noticed I believe that it is critical that you make sure that acting is really the profession you want(internal belief based on desire). It is important you are sure that acting is the profession you are willing to make your number one priority in life (external beliefs or use of time). But, you must acknowledge the possibility of your having external and internal turmoil. Without acknowledging this possible turmoil, you may never have what you desire for this career. And there is the possibility that your true beliefs of defeat will never loosen their grip on your destiny so that you can fulfill your desired beliefs. Remember, it is your true beliefs that dictate your actions.
Try these few simple tests to see if acting is both your true and your desired occupation. If acting is your true and desired profession then you are not embarrassed by those efforts needed to achieve your goals.
You are not embarrassed to go to make believe.
You do not criticize the physical actions needed for repetition.
You do not try and justify the art of acting.
You talk about your character in the third person.
You do not feel silly doing the job.
You expect to make a comfortable living and career success.
If you are challenged by any of these thoughts then there may be in conflict with your true values and your desired values. Meaning, there may be conflict between your true beliefs and your desired beliefs.
Beliefs are what create the countless reasons for your actions. Values are the attitudes and the qualities you consider important and are revealed in the way you live and conduct your life.
Some values motivate your behavior and some values motivate your thoughts.
They can be described as external or presentational values or internal or protective values. They really must be in sync. These internal and external values/beliefs must be focused on the same thing. If not, you’ll work against yourself without knowing it.
Your external values are your presentations, accompanied by your physical and emotional attitude. They present how you want to be perceived in relation to someone else. Your external values are what you want other people to observe as important to you. Your external values lead to the actions used to define you as a person. Often the presentation of some people’s external values is like "praying in public" to show they are pious.
In many cases a person’s external values are not supported by the internal values/beliefs. These folk risk being exposed for who they really are inside. There is nothing more pathetic in the human experience than presenting yourself as one thing but believing something else. The only thing worse could be not recognizing the difference. How terrible it is to be respected for your presentation and then to be discovered that your internal values negate your supposed truth. This is often the case with characters that you will play.
I had a friend who became mayor of a small town. He was respected and loved by the entire community. A married city councilman, who had decided to run against him for mayor, received a videotape of himself having sex with a woman, not his wife, in an abandoned parking lot. The councilman decided to expose the blackmail attempt at the cost of his reputation. His outrage of being blackmailed was greater than his fear of shame. When it looked as if the mayor was behind the whole scheme, the mayor denied his involvement. When an innocent deputy sheriff was charged, convicted and sentenced, the mayor denied his involvement. When the mayor’s closest friend began to crumble under the weight of the secret, it was finally exposed and yet the mayor still denied any involvement. The mayor denied any involvement even after he was convicted on Federal extortion charges and sent to prison. Two years later the husband of the mayor’s former secretary, a local minister, admitted that he had written the blackmail letter at the request of the mayor. With this revelation, the mayor finally confessed. After two years in prison, after being divorced by his wife, after going bankrupt, the innocent deputy sheriff was released. And, the culpable minister was given a new car by his parish for coming forward. Go figure.
What internal belief/value did the mayor possess that was more powerful than his external belief/value of decency and honor? What internal beliefs did the councilman have that made him think that his responsibility to his wife, his children and the community were more important that a quick sex act? What internal beliefs did the minister hold that allowed him to become involved in the ridiculous effort by writing the letter when he should have stopped it from happening. What value of his beliefs would allow him to let an innocent man stay in prison for two years before coming forward? What internal motivation did a moral reformer governor of a state possess that allowed him to be caught spending campaign funds on prostitutes or the internal motivation and beliefs of a close friend of the President of the United States and CEO of a major Wall Street company who tells all his employees to buy as much stock in the company as they can as he is secretly selling all of his or the internal beliefs of United States Senator that would allow him to actively support legislation to limit the rights of homosexuals while he cruises the men’s rooms in airports for anonymous gay sex?
These convoluted internal beliefs are what make up the stories we tell. None of these men would appear to be willing to let these selfish internal beliefs risk destroying everything they had created for themselves and their friends and family. But they did and they still do.
Look at the extent the mayor was willing to go to in order to protect his external value presentation. Look at the extent the mayor was willing to go in order to protect his internal belief system from being exposed. It is important that you make sure the external values you demonstrate in your life are supported by your true internal beliefs.
It is frustrating when you recognize that your external values (use of time) needed for a successful career are hampered by your internal beliefs/values for security and respectability. Identify the actual beliefs you hold that support an internal belief that acting is a profession of security and respectability. When you find those true beliefs of fear that contradict your goals then you can work to replace them with your desired beliefs for success. You can then change their value with your use of time.
If you don’t know the difference between your beliefs and values how can you expect to keep them working in harmony? The primary reason for the 98% failure rate in the entertainment industry is the conflict between true and desired values and beliefs. By uncovering your values of these beliefs you can distinguish between the two.
Make sure your external values of presentation are in harmony with your internal true and desired values. Make sure your behaviors match your internal and external goals. Your goals must be in harmony with your use of time and your belief in the outcome of the goal.
Therefore you must create an agenda. You must create a plan. Arrange your time so that it puts your values in there proper place. Any goal requires being consistent and willing to sacrifice your time and efforts. It requires that you persevere. A goal requires action for results. This action can only be maintained if your beliefs are supported by both your true and desired values with your use of time.
One of the most difficult concepts to accept is that “all things are possible, if you only believe." It is difficult because it requires that you know your own truth. That means you need to believe in the truth of yourself and the truth of your beliefs. When you realize that your desired beliefs are real, supportive and powerful you’ll also realize that your success is in direct relationship to their harmony with your true values (indicated by how you spend your time). Your priorities, as defined by your use of time, will reflect if your true and desired values have merged and are moving you toward a successful acting career.
Remember, your true beliefs control your internal values that support action. Your brain does not evaluate the pros and cons of the instructions you give it when it is on automatic pilot. And on automatic pilot your true beliefs are the operating values you depend on to become a successful professional actor. They must be in harmony.
Your desired values and your desired beliefs can only be working with positive focus, awareness and accountability. Until you find a way to ferret out the true beliefs that are non supportive you’ll continue to be at the mercy of your own limitations. Don’t support beliefs (rules for living) that stop you from winning the game of life. It is your choice which beliefs (rules) you accept for yourself. That is why you want to know if your true beliefs are also your desired beliefs. You want to know if the things you really value most by the use of your time are supportive of an acting career or some other life affirming circumstance.
To be eliminated they have to be acknowledged as true beliefs that support true values rather than desired beliefs that support desired values. You must know the difference in order to put harmony in your life. You cannot wish yourself to be something different. You will have to work at it. Learn to accept your true beliefs and values by being accountable for your use of time. Own your use of time and be accountable for how you go about doing what you do.
The Comfortable Pain of Mediocrity
The power to change your life is completely up to you. Sometimes you may find yourself in a state of mind where your focus and actions are counter productive. Remember that your physical body has the power to keep you from your desired course. Your body can set an energy vibration that causes the law of attraction to work against you. Change this. Recognize when your thoughts are at a frequency level making you think as a victim. Recognize than in truth you are the victimizer. You victimize yourself. You do this because it is more comfortable to live in the pain of mediocrity than to risk the failure of action. Risk could force you to deal with humiliation and ridicule. The irony is that only you can feel badly about what you have done. But, to feel badly when you know your best was thwarted by your own true beliefs is a waste of time.
You do not want to accept mediocrity. That should be one of your new true and desired beliefs. You should believe that if one person has made it to the top of the mountain, it can happen to you. You should know what the top of the mountain is for you. You want to know what you expect from yourself. You should expect that if everything goes according to plan you will know where your career will be five years from now. If you know that, you also know how to describe your plan.
Put your plan into writing. You will feel empowered knowing that you actually have a plan. Identify what is keeping you from focusing on having a plan. Then, identify the priorities you have set for yourself that are your values and beliefs. Once you see your priorities (use of time) you can begin to understand what the true values are in your life.
It is important that you identify those beliefs that are keeping you away from your desired values. If you can’t put your desired values (the way you want to live your life) on your goal list then you really don’t want them. You must control your beliefs with awareness. Make sure all the pieces to your life puzzle are in place. And, most of all, make sure being a professional actor is where you really want to spend your life.
Character Types
You want to recognize any beliefs you have about acting that are keeping you from an acting career. They may be unconscious so you are seeking to understand what you truly believe to make them conscious.
I have already discussed that characters come as four basic types. Not just physical type by appearance but also what the person wants someone to see by their look. Some people choose to appear nice on the outside but at their core they are selfish and dangerous. I call these people light on dark. There are others who choose to appear to be nice on the outside at their core they are truly decent loving people. I call these people light on light. Then, there are others who choose to appear to be dangerous on the outside but, at their core, are unselfish and loving people. I call these people dark on light. And, finally, there are those who appear evil or dangerous on the outside and, at their core, they are. I call these people dark on dark.
Of the four types of people, the most honest are those who are light on light and those who are dark on dark. That is the honesty factor. You know where you stand with these people. Their true and desired values and beliefs are in harmony. What you see is what you get. Dark on dark types are not trying to intimidate without cause or trying to be intimidating without motive. They know that their selfish internal and external beliefs are in harmony and they let you know it, too.
The same is true with those who are light on light. They appear kind and compassionate on the outside and, in truth, are the same from their internal belief system. They, too, present to the world the truth of who and what they are. Characters are quickly defined this way whereas in reality it is a bit more complicated. Where do you fit in this list of types? What true beliefs have led you to a presentation that may or may not support the truth of your internal beliefs? You need to have this awareness in order to create harmony in yourself.
Self Serving
Self serving is only a negative experience if the feelings and needs of others are sacrificed in order for us to get what we want. Based on topic and circumstance any of us can be self-serving. What is important it that you be true to yourself. If you choose to sleep your way to the top yet that is counter to your true belief system you’ll find the end result may not be worth the sacrifice. If, on the other hand, your true belief system accepts sleeping to the top then may not become an issue. However, choices you make today will surface to haunt you if they are made against your true beliefs. Do not try and go around them. That is why it is important to know what they are and change them if you can. Be sure that you know what your true beliefs are or you may be in for a surprise.
Have a great week. Focus on what you are doing with your time. See if that time expenditure matches the things you are saying about what you want from this life. You might be surprised.
As always,
I wish you well.
Russ
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