Episode 268: Illusions and Empowering Questions

On-Camera Class Costar Class I'm going to talk about illusion and illusion in your acting career in two different ways. The first way is I'm going to talk about how we have the idea that an acting career will go one way, but actually, that's just an illusion, and that's just me trying to control the outcome.  So when I'm doing that, it is an illusion.  And I remember this actually in terms of money. I always thought if I made X amount of money a year, I would be free. Oh, I'm going to be so happy. Oh, my life will be cupcakes and bubblegum. I will have no worries. Only to find out when I made that amount of money and much more. You don't get cupcakes and bubblegum. You get more decisions, and it becomes even more stressful.  And really, the only thing money buys is convenience. And if you're not making much money right now, that might be difficult to hear.  But money does not buy happiness. That was an illusion that I had.  Another thing that I find as a coach in the industry, and to be quite frank, even more so as a casting director, is this illusion idea that actors have about what it takes to be an actor and what it takes to be a working actor.  And it's difficult to explain, but I want you to think of something you have done in your life that was difficult. Okay, you're going to do this with me right now. Think of something in your life that you did that was difficult.  And then I want you to imagine someone who has never done that before coming up to you and either telling you how that experience would be for them or how they would go about doing it. And you, having known how difficult that was and how that actually gets done, is listening, quite frankly, to this bunch of bullshit.  And that's sometimes what makes it difficult to be a coach, a casting director, and meeting new actors, and having to break it to them and explain it's not that way. What is incredibly joyful for me, though, is the actor who goes, “Tell me more.” “Tell me more because I want to make that illusion a reality. I want to make that illusion a reality more than anything else in the world. Say jump, and I'll ask you how high.”  That's exciting. That lights me up. So that is the first way I'm talking to you about illusion. “We do not see the world as it is. We see it as we are.”  This goes into that example I just gave you previously about the actor and the coach or the casting director. I want to remind you of the definition of consciousness.  Now, the definition of consciousness is your awareness of who you are, as opposed to the you that you believe you are or are taught that you are. So, I think of it as my consciousness is how the Universe sees me.  Because the Universe sees me as it sees itself, which is Infinite.  I, on my own, in my ego world, is finite. So I can choose to believe the me that I believe I am or was taught that I am, or I can believe the consciousness and have an awareness of who I truly am so that I see the world more clearly with more reality.  Now let's also talk about, because I think this has really come up for me a lot in the past couple of weeks, how this core work helps you to be a better actor. If I can see things and understand things more truthfully, with more reality, oh boy, that will help me when I start working on character.  Because I'm tapping into Infinite Truth, Infinite reality, as opposed to my own finite truth, my own finite reality.  Because when you're Infinite, people are attracted to that. Quantum physics proves that the world is a creation of our perceptions.  So I want my perception to be as much in line with the awareness of who I truly am, as opposed to the awareness of who I think I am or how I was taught that I was.  I want to see the world Infinitely.  And I want my perception to be Infinite. We simply attract and then see what it is we expect to see and can actually create what we expect to happen. So that can work for us, or that can work against us. So, I want you to take a moment now just to write down this question:  How do I see the world, and do I see the world in a way that works for me or against me?  And then I want you to journal about that.  We create our world. Through the interpretations we make.  So, if we want to create a more enjoyable life experience, we can focus on finding peace, joy, and abundance. And that focus produces a more desirable perception of the world and those in it.  So now we're talking, this second part, we're talking about how to create a world that is happier for us, that is more desirable for us, that makes us feel good.  Dr. Wayne Dyer has this great quote, and I say this as an affirmation quite a bit: “I want to feel good. I want to feel good. I want to feel good.”  Dr. Wayne Dyer also has another quote that I love, which is all about illusion: “Change the way you look at things. And the things you look at change.” And that is, again, why I want my perceptions to be as aligned with my consciousness of the awareness of who I really am. Meaning in line with the Universe. In line with Infinite thought. Remember, like energy attracts like energy.  So the more positiveness I create in my life, the more positive energy I self-generate, the more I'm going to see that in my perception, in my beautifully created illusions.  Our goal is to see the world through the inner eyes of Universal Truth and inspire others to do the same. Remember, capital T truth is Universal Truth.  It's plants, it's nature, it's in alignment with that Truth, it's the wind.  And little t truth is ego's truth. An acronym for ego is easing God out.  And remember, I consider this to be the God of your understanding. God can also, a wonderful acronym for God is good orderly direction. Oh, wouldn't I love some more of that in my life, wisdom and some good, orderly direction.  And again, I remind you of the definition of consciousness, which is the awareness of who you really are, as opposed to the you that you believe you are or were taught that you are. So that capital T Truth is who you really are. And that little t truth is who you think you are.  So there I've given you two ideas on illusion.  Illusion in your career and illusion in your life. And how you create a more beautiful in both.