Zooming out
Many actors keep a "trigger" journal, which is essentially a record of people/places/events that trigger an emotional response. Over time, a trigger journal becomes a resource an actor can turn to when he/she needs help evoking particular emotional responses. For example, if an actor had a bad audition (say) where he forgot a few of the lines and it threw him off and he walked out realizing that there is no way he's gonna get the part and he hates himself for not preparing more (hypothetically speaking, of course), that could go in the trigger journal under "feeling like a dumbass", or more simply, "dumbass".
I sat today to start this journal, but rather than begin by listing explicits, I started with "things that make me happy". The thoughts came in a deluge, and I wrote down anything that popped into mind (no, I'll never be sharing this with anyone). When the ideas began to slow down, I started another column, "things that make me angry". "Things that I'm passionate about" followed, and then "things that make me sad" (yeah...next time I'll be starting with this last one and ending with the happy list...yikes).
Anyways, after this flurry of scribbling, I paused and then re-read each list. It was so interesting to see what was on each list, and then to compare those lists to how I'm living my life. The rest of the evening was not about a trigger journal, but about me. It was very insightful and very therapeutic, and for anyone doing anything (that's you), I highly recommend it. Take 5 minutes and focus on yourself, but zoom out. Move past the to-do list, and beyond judgment. I think you'll be glad you did.*
*Note: You may very well not be glad you did...proceed with caution....
I sat today to start this journal, but rather than begin by listing explicits, I started with "things that make me happy". The thoughts came in a deluge, and I wrote down anything that popped into mind (no, I'll never be sharing this with anyone). When the ideas began to slow down, I started another column, "things that make me angry". "Things that I'm passionate about" followed, and then "things that make me sad" (yeah...next time I'll be starting with this last one and ending with the happy list...yikes).
Anyways, after this flurry of scribbling, I paused and then re-read each list. It was so interesting to see what was on each list, and then to compare those lists to how I'm living my life. The rest of the evening was not about a trigger journal, but about me. It was very insightful and very therapeutic, and for anyone doing anything (that's you), I highly recommend it. Take 5 minutes and focus on yourself, but zoom out. Move past the to-do list, and beyond judgment. I think you'll be glad you did.*
*Note: You may very well not be glad you did...proceed with caution....
posted by sundeep at 12:26 AM
2 Comments:
For me, the issue is this -- happy and economics are not highly correlated. So, it always makes picking the "happy" option harder.
Speaking with the perspective of one who just said "#@$% it" to my job, it feels like few things are more precious at this stage than taking the time to sit down and really think about life. I had a long series of conversations with my little brother recently-- college junior, seriously trying to figure out life, people, what makes him happy, etc. I realized that in school and after, we're always so busy doing "stuff" that we rarely have time to step back and think about what makes us do the things we do. It's good you made your lists. Don't forget to take the time to update them as you grow old. --AM
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