It happens with alarming regularity. I wake in the night with a prattling thought, and toss and turn for a while, trying to relax back into sleep. Between pointless rolls of my body east and west I start coming up with ideas that, like Jack’s beanstalk, climb towards the heavens at steroidal speeds.
I spent the better part of the week in an intensive workshop-like writing process with a friend. We got an amazing amount done in a short period, but we refrained from the scripting of any dialogue, sticking solely to the outline process. Naturally, you start hearing lines you’d like to include. Read more…
In a business of perception, Right Mindfulness may stand apart as one of the most neglected concepts in a professional acting career. We are asked to hype things beyond recognition, airbrushing the truth to a nearly unrecognizable state. And there’s a real argument that if you don’t do these things, you’re not using a major tool in the proverbial toolbox. So much for seeing things as they are, the basis of Right Mindfulness. 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…
Everybody has problems, and everybody looks for answers. This is the human condition. I have a certain faith in humanity, and believe that if there were a magic bullet solution to suffering, it would have been discovered by now. The best I’ve seen has been through mindfulness, but that’s no panacea, of course. It’s just one approach.
Some people go for therapy, others for chocolate, and sometimes these things work. How long they last is anybody’s guess, but there is one thing that has to precede any prescription for change, and that is desire. That is, if the desire for change is there, then any manner of things will work, and work quickly. Taking long hikes is the cure-all, if you believe that taking long hikes is the cure-all. If you don’t, then you get blisters and nothing more. Jumping up and down and yelling, “Booga booga booga” for fifteen minutes a day is another option, and again, you’ll either feel better, or feel stupid. It could be pez, it doesn’t really matter… Read more…
A quick perusal of the self-help/psychology sections of bookstores reveals a distinct trend: the word “mindful” is finding its way into a lot of titles. The significance is inescapable. Mindfulness is now fashionable, and is being used to sell products, which can only lead to a corruption of its meaning, the way westernized yoga today bares scant resemblance to the original practice. Accessorizing your wardrobe with $100 shorts from Lululemon is not yoga, it’s Sex and the City. Read more…
When I was in high school a kid came back from winter break with a shaved head and a scar on his scalp. In one of my greatest asshole moments I looked at him, laughed, and said, “Whadya do? Have your brain replaced?” He looked back and coolly replied, “I had a brain tumor removed.”
I have felt bad about this ever since. Read more…
I would like to get every job I meet for. In point of fact, I would like to get everything I want, and I would like it handed to me on some kind of ceremonial serving dish, preferably delivered by beautiful people, all of whom tell me how great I am. This is not possible. Not during waking hours, anyway. But as I remind myself, the Buddha taught us that suffering exists, and my profession has more than its share. (He didn’t actually mention acting in the Four Noble Truths or the Eightfold Path, but please read on…) Read more…
Listen to full episode: “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Actor”
A typical day for me can look something like this: wake up, meditate, write in my journal, go to the gym, morning meeting/audition, lunch… somewhere, maybe with a friend, find a spot to perch for an hour or so, often the library, then maybe a class or another meeting, find another spot to perch, do some kind of acting related thing like go to the Drama Bookshop or meet a photographer, and finally an event or evening of theatre before heading home. In between there are a lot of subways and walks. And I do it all alone, the great irony being that I went into acting, in part, because I thought it would be a collaborative thing to do, filled with a lot of people and interactions and goofing around with cute girls. But the truth of it is that it’s a very solitary affair. Read more…
Listen to full episode: “Let It Be”
Once again it seems my spiritual practice is dovetailing with my professional life. I study meditation. That may sound strange. What is there to study? You just sit there and do nothing, right? It’s a little more complicated than that. At any rate, I do study, and I have a wonderful teacher, who last week raised the distinction between “letting go” and “letting be.” It’s subtle, but important. “Letting go” can often lead to further frustration, if, in fact, the thing in question – anger, fear, resentment, whatever it is – isn’t let go of. Now you’re stuck with the original thorn in your side, only it has been twisted. “Letting be,” on the other hand asks only that you accept that the anger, fear, resentment is allowed to exist. That’s all. It just… is. I’m frustrated, I’m angry, I’m afraid. So be it. It’s just a feeling. It will work it’s way off on its own, as you simply observe it. In fact, you might even try to befriend it. Stop me if I’m moving to fast. But try it. You’ll see.
Read more…
Listen to full episode “Right Speech”
As an actor, I don’t always get to choose my words, so I’m often called upon to say things that have nothing to do with me, but I say them nonetheless because somebody sticks money in my pocket, and, truth be told, I like playing pretend, so it all works out. But there have been occasions in which I have been asked to do or say things that portray an ideology I do not subscribe to, or even cuts against many of my core values. I have struggled with this of late, particularly in the face of a Buddhist concept known as “right speech.” Right speech means avoiding four types of harmful speech: lies (words spoken with the intent of misrepresenting the truth); divisive speech (words spoken with the intent of creating rifts between people); harsh speech (words spoken with the intent of hurting another person’s feelings); and idle chatter or gossip (spoken with no purposeful intent at all). Put in the positive, it means speaking in ways to promote happiness and be uplifting without sounding like you just snorted an eight ball of Prozac. Read more…
It happens with alarming regularity. I wake in the night with a prattling thought, and toss and turn for a while, trying to relax back into sleep. Between pointless rolls of my body east and west I start coming up with ideas that, like Jack’s beanstalk, climb towards the heavens at steroidal speeds.