I had a great conversation with an actor last weekend and I wanted to…

I had a great conversation with an actor last weekend and I wanted to share the highlights. He’s a deeply creative person who writes, makes music, acts, all while balancing a day job. He’re’s what I learned:

Creativity is a tool to make sense of confusion in your internal world. This person will feel called to create something and it’s only halfway through the process that it will click as to why it relates to his experience and what the piece is saying. Finishing it becomes the resolution (and all stories have resolution) Creativity becomes instinct. Most people suffer with confusion but don’t have the creative tools to express themselves. He felt fortunate to have been encouraged during his upbringing. But it’s also necessary to have a sense of safety and financial security Acting is a mystery. It’s the connection of two people and their energies. It’s an unanswerable question that he’s passionate about exploring and the best goal is one that’s never achievable. I had never thought of acting in this way. You have to fall in love with the process. Too often people are fixated on the reward (the praise, the applause, the fame). Ultimately, it’s about everything that you do in the run-up to your performance. It’s the practice and the hard work. And then on stage you surrender. You just allow yourself to be moved like a mannequin. If you did the work, it doesn’t matter the audience’s response because there’s personal satisfaction. And if you didn’t do the work, and you get the applause, it doesn’t feel as good because you know deep down you didn’t apply yourself. Doing the practice is what allows you to relax, to enter flow state, so that you can surrender in your performance. This was interesting as it’s the same with the work I do - I spend a lot of time meditating, going inwards, so that then I can hold space for others in presence(ish). Eventually you’ll feel dispirited, stressed or whatever. That’s just life. Take yourself away with a journal and come back to the why. Why are you doing this. For him, it’s about answering the unanswerable question. What makes a good actor is their vulnerability to go deep into an emotion and to express it, where others would feel embarrassed. It takes enormous courage.