It never ceases to amaze me…
In the blink of an eye, I’ve gone from having absolutely no time to staring at the paint peeling in my bathroom. The rest is welcome, believe me, and yes, I do leave the house on occasion, but this flip-side of the freelancer’s life has struck with the same force as the original typhoon that was winter 2009-2010. Read more…
For the past few months I’ve been volunteering at a literacy center in New York. I’ve been doing literacy work since college. Normally the work is focused on the, well, ABC’s of the English language, but a recent student of mine from South Korea and I have developed an unusual dialogue given the parameters of our relationship. We’ve been talking a lot about happiness, and our respective pursuits of the elusive beast. Read more…
My teacher, Jon Aaron, read this to our group the other day…
From AmericanTrails.org: “What to Do if You Meet a Bear.” Substituting the word “thought” for “bear,” we have…
There are no definite rules about what to do if you meet a thought. In almost all cases, thought attacks are rare compared to the number of close encounters. However, if you do meet a thought before it has had time to leave an area, here are some suggestions.
Remember: every situation is different with respect to the thought, the terrain, the people and their activity. Read more…
The Buddha was right. (Damn that guy…) Our suffering comes from craving, or as I recently understood it, from expectations. Shedding them is yeoman’s work, but if we have any shot at happiness, it lies therein.
I spent two days in silent meditation this weekend. The occasion was my birthday and I wanted to get away and reflect. My life has changed radically since my last birthday, and taking stock of it all felt like the right thing to do. Read more…
Many thanks to Rex for an invitation to Movie Beat this morning. You can listen to the archived interview here:
Rex Sikes Movie Beat – Edoardo Ballerini – 15 March 2010
I’ll be doing Part Two of the Interview on April 2nd. Until then, enjoy…
I’ve never liked the term “retreat” to describe the act of going away for a few days of meditation and restoration. It should more accurately be called “advance.” The notion that leaving our offices and crowded streets, our email, Facebook and Twitter lives for a few days represents going backwards is slightly offensive, but the conditioning is fierce, even amongst the enlightened who surely coined the phrase. Read more…
A woman I worked with some time ago told me that in order for me to make massive changes in my life, I would have to change myself by about two percent. Surely, she’s mad, I thought. What’s needed here is a full out 180 degree turnaround, a 100% re-imagining of who and what I am. Anything short of that is going to fall short of the mark. Read more…
Okay, so you’re an actor. Which means, to some degree, you crave a spotlight. You chose the stage and screen over decades of indulgent therapy, or worse, you’re doing both, in which case you probably can’t be saved. (If that’s the case, I feel a bit sorry for those around you.)
I witnessed a stunning display of acting douchebaggery that made Narcissus seem like Christ on the cross. While getting high praise on a scene, it was indeed very good, mind you, an actor was disturbed that there was noise going on behind him and that he wasn’t getting total silence for his grand review. The noise, it should be noted, was other actors setting up for the next scene. That’s how these things go. We share time and space. Read more…
If I have a regret in my professional life it’s that I didn’t get a degree in theatre. Countless people have done fine without it, of course, but I would have benefitted from it. I’ve studied, and have returned to doing so, but there’s something to enrolling in a program that teaches you everything from voice to fencing to working with text, and makes you sweat it out for a few years exclusively. Read more…
