D21 - Life's Givens

The nine givens in life every person must deal with:

1. Mortal – to be mortal and thus at risk of death during every moment of life.

2. Fallible – To make all decisions on the basis of only partial knowledge thereby rendering myself fallible and constantly open to the risk of being wrong.

3. Addiction – to be susceptible to tolerance and addiction placing my self control at risk.

4. Disenable – To be susceptible to disease and genetic disadvantage, thereby jeopardizing the plans that I make for each new day.

5. At Risk – To be vulnerable to physical and mental impairment through accident, natural disaster, crime and the hazards of war.

6. Meaningless – To arrive in the world with no inborn meaning, thereby rendering a personal search necessary.

7. Bad Will – To carry within me a capacity for bad will towards others rendering me capable of inflicting harm on others.

8. Aloneness – To enter the world as a separate entity (nobody but myself) and to stand responsible for my personal “connectedness” and/or aloneness.

9. Pleasure – To be characterized by behavior that is constantly vulnerable to persuasion from pleasure and pain.

I do not do so well with numbers 6, 7, & 8. It is like I have to constantly remind myself that everyone is also dealing with these same things and has always had to deal with them.

  

 

D22 - Don't be a hater

The first time I saw Kreayshawn's "Gucci Gucci" music video I could not help but burst out laughing.  How could anyone produce something so blatantly ridiculous?  But you know what...?  She has a music video and a recording contract and is doing what she wants with her life.

Letting go

The sooner you can let go of the idea that you can be perfect, that you can trick people into thinking you are perfect, the faster you will get better.

No one plays all the notes.  No one remembers all the things.  No one is on point 100% of the time.  It is disingenuous to pretend like it is possible.  You are not fooling anyone else and only making yourself feel bad for all of your perceived short-comings.

There is an incredible release of tension that happens when you free yourself from these notions of perfections.  As a performer it is the only way to transcend the notes on the page and perform the music.

Letting go is like taking out the garbage.  Mistakes are going to pile up, and ignoring them, fighting them, or, worse, stressing out over them is not solving the problem.  They will continue to pile up like garbage in front of you and soon become a barrier between you and the audience.  It is unpleasant for you and them to feel the tension and even embarrassment for the ever grown trash heap in front of you on stage - even the nicest dinner party with delicious food can be made uncomfortable by an offensive stench that gets worse throughout the evening.

Take out the trash, let go of the mistakes, recognize that you have to be continually sweeping the space in front of you clear - the audience will appreciate it.  Ignoring and pretending doesn't make the trash go away.