Embracing my life is so much more fun than I ever imagined it could be!
I just got back from watching the film The Secret In Their Eyes at the Laemmle 7 theater in Pasadena. I was captivated by the story and the fantastic performances. There is something about French and Spanish language films. Those movies never fail to inspire me.
The actors have an emotional depth that I often feel surpasses American actors. Soledad Villamil, Ricardo Darin, and Jose Luis Gioia gave nuanced performances that inspired me to want to be a better actor.. Their characters were very real and not, in my opinion, compromised to service the plot. I would love to know what their training techniques are all about. How can I access the techniques that could fill my work with such emotional intensity? This is something I must investigate.
The beauty I found in this film is how as an American, I watched the film with certain expectations of how the thriller would unfold. However, it is not an American film so the direction it took forced my brain to shift and go down a road that was new to me. I loved it and hungered for more!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Growing Every Chance I Get
I had an audition on Monday for an independent film. I worked on that sucker for most of the weekend. I think it went well but I noticed my competition was the guy who played was in the new Star trek movie. Logically grabbing him up would immediately give them some name recognition to market their film with. Barring a lousy audition on his part, I think he has the part in the bag. Oh, well. Still, one never knows but I am trying to move on with the satisfaction of giving a good performance at my audition.
One thing that became abundantly clear is that I have to work as hard or harder for every audition as I did for this last one. The fact is my competition is tough and skilled and I need to continually grow as an actor if I want to succeed. Time for me to Embrace Life, my life and the direction I want it to take!
So, tonight, I decided to go see a really good film to do a little studying and to get some inspiration. My friend Kristin decided to join me tonight to check out The Secret in Their Eyes or "El Secreto De Sus Ojos" the 2010 Oscar Winner for Best Foreign Film.
One thing that became abundantly clear is that I have to work as hard or harder for every audition as I did for this last one. The fact is my competition is tough and skilled and I need to continually grow as an actor if I want to succeed. Time for me to Embrace Life, my life and the direction I want it to take!
So, tonight, I decided to go see a really good film to do a little studying and to get some inspiration. My friend Kristin decided to join me tonight to check out The Secret in Their Eyes or "El Secreto De Sus Ojos" the 2010 Oscar Winner for Best Foreign Film.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
WAKA,, WAKA !
It's time for the World Cup 2010!!
USA is about to take on England in a first round match up! GO USA!
I freely admit I have never been much of a sports fan but, there is something about learning more about a sport played around the world that has captured my imagination! Never understood why this sport is not popular in the US as it is in so many other countries. Well, I guess I will start checking out the USA team in the World Cup and then start following the LA Galaxy team whether they have Beckham or not!
Here's The USA Team's schedule so far:
In honor of the only real worldwide sport,futbol, here is Shakira doing what she does best!!
USA is about to take on England in a first round match up! GO USA!
I freely admit I have never been much of a sports fan but, there is something about learning more about a sport played around the world that has captured my imagination! Never understood why this sport is not popular in the US as it is in so many other countries. Well, I guess I will start checking out the USA team in the World Cup and then start following the LA Galaxy team whether they have Beckham or not!
Here's The USA Team's schedule so far:
 | England | vs. | United States | | - | Jun 12 11:30am (PT) on ABC | |||||
| Slovenia | vs. | United States | | - | Jun 18 7:00am (PT) on ESPN | |||||
| United States | vs. | Algeria | | - | Jun 23 7:00am (PT) on ESPN | |||||
In honor of the only real worldwide sport,futbol, here is Shakira doing what she does best!!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Making New Choices and Telling New Stories
The journey keeps providing me with opportunities to start "walking the walk" as they say. I decided on Monday to make my commitment to health and re-sculpting my body a major priority. So I woke up at 6 am, having breakfast and beginning a 3 mile run to my gym. When I got to the gym I pushed myself to do more sets and build up my weightlifting slowly so I can enjoy the small victories rather than let my ego dictate my progress. Afterward, I jogged back home and prepared to embrace the day with enthusiasm.
Later that night I guess the Universe decided to see if I was really no longer in need of a bully. My friend called and in his usual fashion tried to trigger me. However, I was feeling so good and not interested in being triggered. Not taking his bait he decided to go for where he thought he would be able to get me. Smoking. He asked me if I was still smoking. I told him I have been back and forth but now I am focusing on getting in shape and hoped it would lose its hold as I enjoyed working out more. He continued to tell me I would get lung cancer and die but he would not be taking care of me when I am approaching death as his "humorous" way of trying to scare me. He kept trying to bait me. He said he feels since I have been smoking for so long that I would never be successful by focusing on exercise but should go get help. I said I am choosing right now to stop smoking and use exercise as my focus to stay on track. He argued for my failure. I told him I don't discuss my smoking with him because when I have told him I was quitting in the past he makes jokes about how my quitting is a "joke" and when I do smoke he constantly talks of me dying. In the end, I said, my smoking or quitting is not about anyone else but me. I told him he can decide to be a friend and support my journey or he can make this about being "right". He decided to be a friend.
So what was that out-of- the-blue telephone debate my friend and I had about my smoking really about? One aspect is, it is simply the most logical next step to stop smoking if my priority is better help and re-sculpting my body. My friend bringing it up as a futile battle provided me with a means of challenging myself to get real about how committed I was to change. Normally, I would be more upset about my friend but he is irrelevant. My intuition was telling me the time is right to take this journey but with a deeper awareness of what I am doing and why I am doing it. In a strange way, I feel more empowered because things seem to be falling into place.
I am on day four of my daily run and workout sessions. I have been feeling amazing. My eating habits have also begun to change, I am shifting to 6 small meals instead of 3 big ones and will see how that affects my routine.
I also, decided to start telling a new story. No longer will I tell the "worn out story about quitting smoking", that just keeps me in the cycle of "Will I/Won't I" fail. After this blog post, I will be focusing on getting healthy and cigarettes have no place in the story of my healthy life.
I must admit much of this week has been so successful because I rediscovered my I-Pod and the effect music has on me!. Having to reload I-Tunes and all of my music cds, I decided to make a three hour exercise mix of music that would motivate me. It has been amazing! I don't think about anything but how good I feel. My favorite song has lately been "Listen" from "Dreamgirls" sung by Beyonce! It seems to speak to where I am right now and it leaves me charged up!
I look forward to getting more and more wrapped up in my wellness routine. My biggest challenge has actually been the shift to 6 small meals.
Later that night I guess the Universe decided to see if I was really no longer in need of a bully. My friend called and in his usual fashion tried to trigger me. However, I was feeling so good and not interested in being triggered. Not taking his bait he decided to go for where he thought he would be able to get me. Smoking. He asked me if I was still smoking. I told him I have been back and forth but now I am focusing on getting in shape and hoped it would lose its hold as I enjoyed working out more. He continued to tell me I would get lung cancer and die but he would not be taking care of me when I am approaching death as his "humorous" way of trying to scare me. He kept trying to bait me. He said he feels since I have been smoking for so long that I would never be successful by focusing on exercise but should go get help. I said I am choosing right now to stop smoking and use exercise as my focus to stay on track. He argued for my failure. I told him I don't discuss my smoking with him because when I have told him I was quitting in the past he makes jokes about how my quitting is a "joke" and when I do smoke he constantly talks of me dying. In the end, I said, my smoking or quitting is not about anyone else but me. I told him he can decide to be a friend and support my journey or he can make this about being "right". He decided to be a friend.
So what was that out-of- the-blue telephone debate my friend and I had about my smoking really about? One aspect is, it is simply the most logical next step to stop smoking if my priority is better help and re-sculpting my body. My friend bringing it up as a futile battle provided me with a means of challenging myself to get real about how committed I was to change. Normally, I would be more upset about my friend but he is irrelevant. My intuition was telling me the time is right to take this journey but with a deeper awareness of what I am doing and why I am doing it. In a strange way, I feel more empowered because things seem to be falling into place.
I am on day four of my daily run and workout sessions. I have been feeling amazing. My eating habits have also begun to change, I am shifting to 6 small meals instead of 3 big ones and will see how that affects my routine.
I also, decided to start telling a new story. No longer will I tell the "worn out story about quitting smoking", that just keeps me in the cycle of "Will I/Won't I" fail. After this blog post, I will be focusing on getting healthy and cigarettes have no place in the story of my healthy life.
I must admit much of this week has been so successful because I rediscovered my I-Pod and the effect music has on me!. Having to reload I-Tunes and all of my music cds, I decided to make a three hour exercise mix of music that would motivate me. It has been amazing! I don't think about anything but how good I feel. My favorite song has lately been "Listen" from "Dreamgirls" sung by Beyonce! It seems to speak to where I am right now and it leaves me charged up!
I look forward to getting more and more wrapped up in my wellness routine. My biggest challenge has actually been the shift to 6 small meals.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Satisfied and Eager for More...
I have been enjoying the journey of my life this week. It would seem that as I have had my big life lessons, my intuitive nature is providing me with opportunity after opportunity to make better choices with how I am reacting to things. I have been discovering that I don't have to see situations as examples of why my life is not working but as examples of how my life IS working in alignment with who I am.
It's funny that with the experience of re-loading a variety of programs I have lost from the computer virus attack, I have been metaphorically given a "do-over". With having to assess what programs I have that I no longer really need or use or never got around to updating out of laziness opened my eyes a bit.. In having to replace my passwords, I saw what sites I relied on the computer to remember things for me and now I had to create a new password after asking for assistance for what I forgot. This time however, I decided to keep a list of usernames and passwords that I now store in my home safe on a trusty piece of paper. Sometimes "old school" just makes sense.
Why are any of these rather mundane situations of any value? Well, I am finding my mind at peace allows for "seeing the lesson" available to me. I took a lot of things for granted with my computer and now I am seeing the value of "protecting what matters to me" and in protecting these things I honor their value and in an interesting way feel more present in the moment. I'm not coasting on auto-pilot. This has led me to look at other areas in my life where I may be coasting on "auto-pilot" and forgetting to remain present. Amazingly this is all coming from a place of non-judgement but ease of simple observation. It's as if some part of me has snapped into alignment and in doing so has started a chain-reaction of "alignment opportunities" with which to grow from without the drama of "auto-pilot" negative reactions.
The best example of this was tonight. I went over to a friend's house who I am working with on a screenwriting project. We have been "working" on it slowly but without much headway. I have just had a block with getting invested in the project with much enthusiasm. Tonight I went over and feeling in a pretty good space with myself, I decided to stay open and not let myself fall into being "triggered" by my friend. You see, our friendship has been a bit odd with dealing with his choice to intentionally be provocitive and me falling into anger and feeling disrespected or "victimized" by his endless negativity. In the bigger picture when we get along we get along fantastically but when he is in a space of negativity and I am in a place of negativity we click into this "trigger/feel disrespected pattern". Now I have known mentally that no one has the power to affect you unless you give them permission. I guess I never really got it pass the "mental" level. Tonight, however, I felt a little shift of understanding that may be sign that this belief is taking root somewhere deeper in me.
Tonight, instead of working on the script, we decided spontaneously to watch the original "The Karate Kid." It was a simple thing but it was an experience that was so filled with joy. We laughed, we each found ourselves going back in time to the joy this movie held for us "back in the day" and its resonance for us even now. The acting was great, the script was so well-crafted and the direction just did what good movies do- take you some place within yourself that allows you to "feel good" about living and see life beyond just something to get through but to be felt and lived. Being in the place where I am having revisited childhood issues of being bullied etc., "The Karate Kid" was an amusing synchronistic opportunity to go back with the movie to that childhood time and see that as the movie expressed, so much of that "bullying/being bullied" is about learning to get in alignment with your inner self in order to find victory on your "hero's journey".
As I left my friend's house, I drove home I thought, wow, my friend and I both have allowed ourselves to get off track with what is really important in our friendship. It is the times like tonight that matter not the negativity. I thought again about "no one can hurt you without your permission" and something in me said, I don't need to have a "bully" in my life anymore to keep re-living that old childhood pattern. (Lightbulb Moment!)
Lesson has been learned. Since I am ready to stop being a "victim" and live in my present there is no need for a bully. I made my friend that person who helped me continue telling that old -worn out story. Now our friendship can also move in a healthier direction. The time for new stories has arrived and it is okay to embrace them. Why? I am satisfied with where I am in my life and eager to see what lies ahead.
Feeling in a place of joy, I found myself on you-tube checking out some Abraham-Hicks clips that spoke to me.
It's funny that with the experience of re-loading a variety of programs I have lost from the computer virus attack, I have been metaphorically given a "do-over". With having to assess what programs I have that I no longer really need or use or never got around to updating out of laziness opened my eyes a bit.. In having to replace my passwords, I saw what sites I relied on the computer to remember things for me and now I had to create a new password after asking for assistance for what I forgot. This time however, I decided to keep a list of usernames and passwords that I now store in my home safe on a trusty piece of paper. Sometimes "old school" just makes sense.
Why are any of these rather mundane situations of any value? Well, I am finding my mind at peace allows for "seeing the lesson" available to me. I took a lot of things for granted with my computer and now I am seeing the value of "protecting what matters to me" and in protecting these things I honor their value and in an interesting way feel more present in the moment. I'm not coasting on auto-pilot. This has led me to look at other areas in my life where I may be coasting on "auto-pilot" and forgetting to remain present. Amazingly this is all coming from a place of non-judgement but ease of simple observation. It's as if some part of me has snapped into alignment and in doing so has started a chain-reaction of "alignment opportunities" with which to grow from without the drama of "auto-pilot" negative reactions.
The best example of this was tonight. I went over to a friend's house who I am working with on a screenwriting project. We have been "working" on it slowly but without much headway. I have just had a block with getting invested in the project with much enthusiasm. Tonight I went over and feeling in a pretty good space with myself, I decided to stay open and not let myself fall into being "triggered" by my friend. You see, our friendship has been a bit odd with dealing with his choice to intentionally be provocitive and me falling into anger and feeling disrespected or "victimized" by his endless negativity. In the bigger picture when we get along we get along fantastically but when he is in a space of negativity and I am in a place of negativity we click into this "trigger/feel disrespected pattern". Now I have known mentally that no one has the power to affect you unless you give them permission. I guess I never really got it pass the "mental" level. Tonight, however, I felt a little shift of understanding that may be sign that this belief is taking root somewhere deeper in me.
Tonight, instead of working on the script, we decided spontaneously to watch the original "The Karate Kid." It was a simple thing but it was an experience that was so filled with joy. We laughed, we each found ourselves going back in time to the joy this movie held for us "back in the day" and its resonance for us even now. The acting was great, the script was so well-crafted and the direction just did what good movies do- take you some place within yourself that allows you to "feel good" about living and see life beyond just something to get through but to be felt and lived. Being in the place where I am having revisited childhood issues of being bullied etc., "The Karate Kid" was an amusing synchronistic opportunity to go back with the movie to that childhood time and see that as the movie expressed, so much of that "bullying/being bullied" is about learning to get in alignment with your inner self in order to find victory on your "hero's journey".
As I left my friend's house, I drove home I thought, wow, my friend and I both have allowed ourselves to get off track with what is really important in our friendship. It is the times like tonight that matter not the negativity. I thought again about "no one can hurt you without your permission" and something in me said, I don't need to have a "bully" in my life anymore to keep re-living that old childhood pattern. (Lightbulb Moment!)
Lesson has been learned. Since I am ready to stop being a "victim" and live in my present there is no need for a bully. I made my friend that person who helped me continue telling that old -worn out story. Now our friendship can also move in a healthier direction. The time for new stories has arrived and it is okay to embrace them. Why? I am satisfied with where I am in my life and eager to see what lies ahead.
Feeling in a place of joy, I found myself on you-tube checking out some Abraham-Hicks clips that spoke to me.
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