Sunday, August 17, 2003
GETTING PSYCHED-UP
The moments before a job interview. Before a road test. Before an exam. Before the test results. Before a public presentation. But the scariest moments we have to psyche ourselves up for are usually before we have to confront someone. Whether it is that phone call when you are dating or when you were in school and you had to psyche yourself up to approach the big scary teacher at the front of the classroom.
How do you psyche yourself up? What are your tricks?
The reason we psych ourselves up would be to avoid the consequences of not acting. And after suffering the consequences a few times we realize we would be better off timing ourselves right and suffer the agony of following through with what we should.
But why are we so afraid? Humiliation seems to be top on the list along with rejection. We are fragile and sensitive and so easily shot down and deep down we know that. We know how easily we crumble. We know how damaging words can be. And when we become obsessed with someone, we make ourselves vulnerable. Approaching our idol we are confronting the truth and we begin to realize the dream world and the high we have been living off is a little too false, and realize that the lie could end here and now at this moment. Self-Esteem.
So how do you protect yourself? Anyone hurt by love knows the answer is not to put all your eggs in one basket. Also by preparing yourself for the fall and having alot of things to fall back on.
I'm going to deviate a bit and try to make this all fit together.
About a year back I started going to the bookstores to find a book on actor psychology. I was amazed at actor's who could completely immerse themselves in their role and get so emotionally involved. Like those scenes where there is crying and other intense scenes and the camera is so focused on their eyes and they are just so convincing. I concluded that they had to be on some sort of drug to get them into the mood to perform to that degree. But I knew that some heavy-duty mental processes were going on at the same time and there had to be a book on that mental prep rehearsal and just plain actor psychology as they are performing. So I tried to explain to the librarian who I thought would think I was completely off the wall, but she knew exactly what I wanted. I was handed the book "An Actor Prepares" written at the turn of the century by a Russian Actor/Director named Konstantin Stanislavski. Anyone who has studied acting seriously would know this person, as his teaching has become a known authority in Actor Psychology. He has a neat way of writing. He doesn’t just throw his ideas at you the reader. He tells a fictional story of a class of adult students taking acting lessons. He plays the teacher through the teacher in the story and teaches the students to really play their parts. The students are raising questions and each have their own personality, so as he teaches his imaginary students, he is teaching you the reader. Some ideas I carried with me were how to 'commune' with objects, how to immerse yourself into another role and something he called 'emotion memory.' While he was putting one of his actors into performing a situation, he just didn’t find her reactions and movements convincing enough as if she was really feeling them herself. He made her draw from her emotion reservoir, of her own past experiences. He taught that without having experiencing yourself a certain event, you would not know truly how to react or even pretend to react or feel what that person was truly feeling.
Getting Psyched Up. When I was going to court trials against my parents, I really had to get psyched up. It s so easy to get lulled into a false sense of security. It's so easy to not fight a battle. It's so easy to lose the intensity of a situation.
We need reminders. Visual images. Mental Images. Sounds. Supporting friends to build us up psychologically and not tear us down. A handshake and a pat on the back. Affection. Keeping the intensity alive. Keeping the consequences in mind. The need to act in time.
What images do you use? If you work in an office, who's pictures are on your desk? On your wall? Why are they there? What slogans do you surround yourself with? These are what drive you. The people you love. The people you believe in. The people you sacrifice for. The people you live for. The people you couldn’t live life without. The power of images. The incentive to hold you through this crap office job. A reason to hold on and endure. You need that. You do. If you want to have a life with inspiration.
Sometimes I lose my place in time. I lose my identity. I lose my self-worth. Sometimes this life seems like an irrelevant meaningless rattrap. I get lost and disconnected. I need the right people to bring me back.
The moments before a job interview. Before a road test. Before an exam. Before the test results. Before a public presentation. But the scariest moments we have to psyche ourselves up for are usually before we have to confront someone. Whether it is that phone call when you are dating or when you were in school and you had to psyche yourself up to approach the big scary teacher at the front of the classroom.
How do you psyche yourself up? What are your tricks?
The reason we psych ourselves up would be to avoid the consequences of not acting. And after suffering the consequences a few times we realize we would be better off timing ourselves right and suffer the agony of following through with what we should.
But why are we so afraid? Humiliation seems to be top on the list along with rejection. We are fragile and sensitive and so easily shot down and deep down we know that. We know how easily we crumble. We know how damaging words can be. And when we become obsessed with someone, we make ourselves vulnerable. Approaching our idol we are confronting the truth and we begin to realize the dream world and the high we have been living off is a little too false, and realize that the lie could end here and now at this moment. Self-Esteem.
So how do you protect yourself? Anyone hurt by love knows the answer is not to put all your eggs in one basket. Also by preparing yourself for the fall and having alot of things to fall back on.
I'm going to deviate a bit and try to make this all fit together.
About a year back I started going to the bookstores to find a book on actor psychology. I was amazed at actor's who could completely immerse themselves in their role and get so emotionally involved. Like those scenes where there is crying and other intense scenes and the camera is so focused on their eyes and they are just so convincing. I concluded that they had to be on some sort of drug to get them into the mood to perform to that degree. But I knew that some heavy-duty mental processes were going on at the same time and there had to be a book on that mental prep rehearsal and just plain actor psychology as they are performing. So I tried to explain to the librarian who I thought would think I was completely off the wall, but she knew exactly what I wanted. I was handed the book "An Actor Prepares" written at the turn of the century by a Russian Actor/Director named Konstantin Stanislavski. Anyone who has studied acting seriously would know this person, as his teaching has become a known authority in Actor Psychology. He has a neat way of writing. He doesn’t just throw his ideas at you the reader. He tells a fictional story of a class of adult students taking acting lessons. He plays the teacher through the teacher in the story and teaches the students to really play their parts. The students are raising questions and each have their own personality, so as he teaches his imaginary students, he is teaching you the reader. Some ideas I carried with me were how to 'commune' with objects, how to immerse yourself into another role and something he called 'emotion memory.' While he was putting one of his actors into performing a situation, he just didn’t find her reactions and movements convincing enough as if she was really feeling them herself. He made her draw from her emotion reservoir, of her own past experiences. He taught that without having experiencing yourself a certain event, you would not know truly how to react or even pretend to react or feel what that person was truly feeling.
Getting Psyched Up. When I was going to court trials against my parents, I really had to get psyched up. It s so easy to get lulled into a false sense of security. It's so easy to not fight a battle. It's so easy to lose the intensity of a situation.
We need reminders. Visual images. Mental Images. Sounds. Supporting friends to build us up psychologically and not tear us down. A handshake and a pat on the back. Affection. Keeping the intensity alive. Keeping the consequences in mind. The need to act in time.
What images do you use? If you work in an office, who's pictures are on your desk? On your wall? Why are they there? What slogans do you surround yourself with? These are what drive you. The people you love. The people you believe in. The people you sacrifice for. The people you live for. The people you couldn’t live life without. The power of images. The incentive to hold you through this crap office job. A reason to hold on and endure. You need that. You do. If you want to have a life with inspiration.
Sometimes I lose my place in time. I lose my identity. I lose my self-worth. Sometimes this life seems like an irrelevant meaningless rattrap. I get lost and disconnected. I need the right people to bring me back.
