Categories

The Great Acting Blog: “Win The Familiar, Internal Struggle”

The Great Acting Blog: “Win The Familiar, Internal Struggle”

That is never too often repeated, which is never sufficiently learned” – Seneca

Remember that at the point of commitment, at the threshold of change, when you are close to accomplishing something meaningful and important to you, the mind will suddenly focus on the negative and will try to make all other courses of action seem preferable to the one you are on. Suddenly our best laid plans are forgotten, we focus on the reasons why it won’t work. We start to feel as though we should recede from going through with the important, inspiring, life-changing action, and instead, hide ourselves away, curling up into a ball until everything goes nice and quiet once again – safe, comfortable and going nowhere.

But we cannot recede. The frightening but glorious action must be carried out. It is the only way we can progress. The more essential the action, the more we will try to resist it at the point of commitment. This is when we need to focus our minds on the positive aspects of the action, this is when we should remind ourselves of the inspiring idea behind it, the one that motivated us in the first place, then see the action through with total commitment. The key lesson though, is that we have to fight that same internal battle every-time we face a new threshold. If we are continually challenging ourselves, genuinely challenging ourselves, then that internal struggle will be familiar. We must recognise it’s face each time it rears itself, we must see it for what it is, because then we are better placed to win the struggle. The alternative is to set ourselves up for a fall.

 

Subscribe to The Great Acting Blog

James

No Comments

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.