This first episode covers the idea of control, and what it means to us as artists, to us as creators, to us as beings in this physical reality. This idea was inspired by a sequence of events that took place in my life within the last month or so. I was on set shooting a TV show, and I unfortunately dislocated my right shoulder. It wasn’t anything too extreme, but it was in fact painful. Instead of taking drugs for the pain I decided, why not take up yoga? So for the past few months I have been going to yoga classes, stretching and taking care of my body. As tough as it has been, I just trusted the process. I knew that the path that I was on to recovery was going to work out for me in the end. Funny enough, my yoga teacher also does Reiki treatments. I had never had a Reiki treatment done before, but today I got my first Reiki treatment. Which was a great experience, it was everything that I thought it would be. I urge all of you readers to get Reiki treatments done, it works. I mean, if you’re open to the idea it will work. If there’s some resistance I can see it not being the best experiences for some people. Nonetheless, and the end of my treatment, my yoga teacher and I started a conversation about a book he was reading. He went on to mention that there was a particular line in the book that was resonating with him. The quote was something along the lines of, you are not in control of what happens to you. The minute he said that I was kind of taken aback. So I asked him: Do you believe in the law of attraction? He said: Yes.

 *For those of you who may not know what the law of attraction is, it’s essentially one of the laws of the universe that: like attracts like. So if you put good into the universe, you will receive good back to you. If you put negativity out in to the universe, that negativity will be reflected back to you. *

So when he said that he believes in the law of attraction I then took in a step further and said: Using that as your premise, what makes you feel that you aren’t in control of your life? And he said: I don’t mean control in terms of navigation. What I mean is control in terms of, when you are in a shitty situation, you have no control over that situation. It just is presently.

And that’s why it is so important that, in ANY conversation that you are having with anyone, if you don’t understand something, ask what that person means. Not ask them in a condemning way, but ask them to explain what it is that they mean so you can gain better understanding. Which is why I phrased my response the way that I did. First, I asked about the law of attraction, then secondly I said: Using that as your premise, what makes YOU feel that you aren’t in control of your life? Before I had asked that question, I was under the impression that this particular individual felt as though we’re kind of just beings just floating randomly, and we don’t really have any sort of direction. Almost as if there really isn’t a purpose for us being here, we’re just there. But he wasn’t saying that at all. He was saying exactly what it was that I was feeling, just in a different way.

On my way home I asked my self, when he mentioned that to you, why did a part of you take it personal? I thought about words that may have triggered it. That’s when I ended up on the word control, and the weight that that word carries and the importance that that word carries in the lives of everyone. To be told that you aren’t in control of your life is almost terrifying. The funny thing is that, as performers, you’re kind of taught that. You aren’t in control of your career. You aren’t in control of whether or not you will land that job. You are not in control of whether or not you will maintain that job, and you are not in control of whether or not you will get a job after that. Then they throw in that L word. That irritating L word. Luck. A word that implies that only a select few will be blessed to experience the luxury of being caressed and held by this beautiful thing called luck. And it’s irritating. It is. It’s frustrating for most of us, because if you’re a performer or some sort of creative, you’re sensitive! You come from a history of being the introvert, or being the one with the big personality. You know what it feels like to be different because at one point you were different. Whether it be, you being in the drama club in high school or you being the only boy in your ballet class growing up, you know what it feels like to not be apart of those select few who are praised, if you would. So as a performer to be told that only a select few are going to be lucky and make it, subconsciously you’re kind of thrown back into that place of: I don’t stand a chance. I don’t have what it takes. I’m not in control, this thing called luck is in control. But I’m here to tell you that you ARE in control. You were put on this planet to create. You chose to come to this physical reality to experience, to live, to love, to have free will, to GROW! Everything that is around you in this present moment, everything that you are experiencing right now is a manifestation of something you either wanted, or something that you didn’t want, but you were focused upon it. You have the choice. You have the freedom to pick what it is that you are going to focus on. Your focus shouldn’t be on the lack of auditions. Your focus shouldn’t be on the lack of call backs. Your focus shouldn’t be on the lack on money. What you should be focusing on is your craft and how it makes you feel. As an artist, how you feel when you’re become another character. As a writer when you’re creating a story, when you’re trying to draw your audience so that they can lay with you and live you and love with you. That is what your focus should be on. The art. The thing that gives you life. The rush you feel when you’re on that stage and the curtain opens and the light hits you and it’s your moment. That feeling is what you should focus on. And I promise, if THAT is what is driving you in your decision making, you will never NOT be in control of your life.

Resources

Book mentioned by yoga teacher is called: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

https://amzn.to/2OP3gMj

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