The Art of Dramatic Living

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Change signals an opportunity to ask big questions, to re-vision and make yourself anew. That’s where my head was over the past two weeks and I found some really cool things I want to share with you:

The first one is Living in a Human Suit created by Scott Brandon Hoffman aka @TheEntertainer. Scott leads with his sense of humor and has a refreshing way of making you laugh while making you think about the Big Picture.

You know things like your life and your purpose and why you might be inhabiting this planet at this point in time.

I hated to leave my blog and my Twitter friends over the past week, but there wasn’t any other sane choice. I continue to surf the wave of change that is sweeping through my life.

Status Report:

My daughter and I (and the goldfish and the guinea pig) have moved into our temporary home with my fiance, my mother has moved into her new apartment (and is STILL waiting for her cable hook-up – AAAARGH!), my dog has moved into her temporary home with a friend of mine, we had the house inspection last Thursday and we are waiting for the seller’s response to our requests, my belongings are stored away in a truck that is parked in a secured area in some unknown location, my fiance and I are learning how to co-habitate (practice makes perfect) and all of us are negotiating these new territories on a moment by moment basis.

I am in Abilene Texas today enjoying the air conditioning, wearing SPF 50 sunblock and visiting with lots of folks I haven’t seen in a long long time. This post will be short, but I want to share with you some of the things I have been thinking about this week and some of the resources I found while on the road.

I was searching around for info about myths as metaphors for the creative process. The internet – being basically a literal beast – found this for me: Myths About Creativity on CreatingMinds.org. The first sub-heading caught my eye, “Creativity is Stupid”. I’ve never heard it said quite that blatantly, but I’ve confronted this belief more than once in my lifetime. I’ve come across many people who perceive creative people as unrealistic airy-fairy idealists who can’t cope with responsibility.

I watched this wonderful video on TED Talks this morning and it was music to my ears, a breath of fresh air, a bundle of lovely cliches that say, “I felt good.” Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of Eat, Pray, Love and she talks about the frightening reactions she’s been getting from people since the “freakish success” of Eat, Pray, Love.

I wrote yesterday about closing my last show and the end of my streak of acting gigs. It’s a bittersweet ending. And I do feel some fear or some apprehension when I think I might not get that energy back. Finding this video today was an encouraging bit of synchronicity.

Melissa Karnaze at The Mindful Construct has written a wonderful post on 5 Mindful Ways to Sharpen Your Creative Focus. I read the post this morning and immediately felt a sense of peace about my creative work. She’s right on when she explains how creativity is a challenge and also demanding, but when we try to ignore our creative self, the price we pay can be devastating.

I am an advocate of always having pen and paper available because, once you open the door, the creative ideas and thoughts will flow - convenient or not. Having pen and paper available is an act of openeing the door. But let’s face it, none of us would ever get any sleep or even make it through the process of showering if we were completely open and trying to capture EVERY creative idea that flows through our heads. There are times when I have thought I would have a simpler life if I just kept the door shut in order to avoid the flood. But, that way lies pain.

This discussion or thread on SoulPancake is exciting, thrilling, interesting, valuable! It is bigger and more fun than anything I can write today. It’s a Q&A for your soul and/or your brain. If you believe in the word “soul”. I do today. I believe I am a creative soul. I am thinking today about how sexy both my soul and my brain are.

Heres the Question (or challenge):

Participating in this film has taken much more time and energy than I expected. One of the most interesting things about it has been learning how different film is from live theatre. They are completely different mediums. I knew this, but experience is different from knowledge. And, I don’t know why I didn’t realize this before I got started with it, but we film the night scenes at night! So lately I’ve been working all day at the day gig and filming most of the evening.

I had a rehearsal on Sunday for a scene I performed at the university on Wednesday and on Sunday evening I auditioned for a new production with a new theatre company. I found out Wednesday that I got the role. Happy Dance!!! I will be playing Helen in George Walker’s Problem Child. I am definitely living in the flow of opportunity. I actually feel as if I am on the edge of losing control of the current.

My fear wants me to pull back and stop, but

Opportunity is knocking and I would rather not answer the door. In other words fear, resistance and sheer laziness are always lurking in the shadows. It always seems easier to not put myself “out there” than it is to walk through the door of opportunity and greet the unknown. Avoidance always appears to be the easy way out. But I know from experience that living in “the numb” created by my avoidance is ultimately more painful than pushing past my fears.

And still I go through this internal push-me/pull-me dance every time I start something new. For me, it takes effort and will to make creativity a habit.

I’m acting in a film now. We start shooting on Monday. Yikes!

I had a wonderful time visiting my family in the beautiful New Jersey countryside. And I enjoyed stomping around New York City visiting with friends, catching up on their lives in coffee shops and prowling bookstores with my kiddo.

And, finally, after 2.5 days of driving it’s good to be home.

I’ve been thinking about “home”. This is the first time in the 5 years since I left New York that the place where I live has felt like “home”. I’ve thought of myself as a displaced New Yorker for the past 5 years. I love New York City with all its raw opportunity and its creative force. (The food is good too.)

I am going to take a little vacation beginning tomorrow. I’ll be back on April 1. In the meantime I want to leave you with an Imagination in Action Exercise. It’s simple and fun. I hope it will put a big smile on your face and fuel lots of creative action while I am away.

Simply read and visualize the action in your imagination as if you are starring in a movie about your life.  You can write your responses in your journal as you go or take some time after the exercise to record what you saw, felt and heard. 

When you are done with the exercise, you will have: 

• clarified your goals, intentions and creative aspirations
• identified a mentor, personal hero and leader in your field
• renewed your understanding of the legacy you want to leave
• created an animated and detailed visualization of your success