Forgiveness and the Actor
When things are not going as planned (e.g not enough auditions, work, or money in the bank) it’s easy to blame externals – our agents, our head shots or the lady slowing down the 10 items or less line. Yet this is just another machination of our tricky, scheming ego. You see, the ego welcomes guilt, it loves to make us wrong subconsciously. Unfortunately, oftentimes we are the last person we will blame consciously. Who wants to take responsibility for anything negative? Do you see how this keeps us in a cycle of guilt/blame, guilt/blame? The problem is always out of our conscious reach and so the cycle continues. That gets me to the title of today’s blog – Forgiveness and the Actor. How is forgiveness important you may ask? It is forgiveness of self that breaks us free from the guilt/blame cycle. When we can alleviate this feeling of guilt that leads to things like self sabotage, disconnection, anger, depression etc. we can begin to create the circumstances we want in our lives. Believe it or not you may want yourself to fail (at life, at acting etc.) because you are ridden with subconscious guilt. Failure on your terms is your self induced punishment. It’s not just a cliche that we are our own worst enemy. So I say forgive everyone. If not for them do it for yourself. Ask yourself if there is some reward forthcoming for holding on to grudges. Perhaps it is some Hollywood moment of revenge. Revenge is good right? That’s what they teach us in the movies. You may want to rethink that one. You will soon learn that it just feels amazing to let go. Like cutting loose a dresser we have been unknowingly dragging around. There is a great book Goodbye to Guilt by Gerald G. Jampolsky check it out. May you forgive yourself and your neighbor soon ( well maybe not that slow lady). In the meantime get to tapping.
to your acting and life success