Awareness

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The Actor’s Mission: An Upfront Dialogue On The Actor’s Role In Art…

Transcript Of This Recording:

“We have all heard the saying ‘There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.’

But is there?

Or is there just a big tunnel containing a series of events that asks us to try to cope with random or, for my spiritual folk, karmic circumstances to the best of our ability.

And though we want to believe that there will be some favorable outcome, the truth is that we don’t always get what we want.

We don’t always get what we need.

Sometimes Life happens and it can be pretty crummy.

Sometimes Life happens and it’s just heartbreaking.

Sometimes Life happens and it is unbearable.

And yet all the ironic financially stable gurus who are published by the finest publishers sell their theories of this or that new age trend.

Oh yeah….”and that through our suffering, we find the path to enlightenment”.

Am I guilty of that?

Probably.

Actually, yes I am.

Oh God, I just ate a piece of humble pie.

I have been known to try to alchemize reality to somehow see a silver lining…

To convince myself and others that there is some transformative code and within that magical transmutation of difficult circumstances, there is a remedy for the common good.

And sometimes there is.

Sometimes people make it through the most heinous of circumstances, and are blessed with a very special knowledge to help the collective achieve the transformation it is seeking.

But sometimes there is not.

And that is a hard pill to swallow, isn’t it?

Sometimes we see and/or are given information that we don’t want to see or know.

And sometimes we just need to get real about the state of things.

Life is not always a fairytale and 99% of the roles we will ever play will be about an individual doing all he or she can to improve his or her circumstances.

This is a fact of the human condition that we, as artists, must be open and willing to reveal about the struggles of the human experience which unfortunately includes human suffering.

Sometimes we need to blow out the candles, snuff out the incense, throw away the sage, chuck the oracle cards at the wall and really look, with our hearts, at tangible reality.

Sometimes the cards people are dealt are nowhere near the full house they had hoped.

Sometimes there is no house at all but a tunnel that echoes thoughts and questions in an earnest quest for Life’s greatest mysteries thus stimulating the creative process to express and hopefully come to terms with the human experience.

The artist must face unanswerable questions to suffering, greed, poverty, war, disease, trauma, lovelessness, abuse, darkness, addiction, evil, and even the newest pan epidemic, ‘narcism’?

Do I have the answers to any of these questions?

Hell no!

Not at all!

What do I know?…

I just work here.

But we have to be willing see the questions because they are there all around.

We have to be aware of them if we genuinely care about the state of humanity.

We cannot be scared to ask and confront these questions because it is the job that we signed up for.

Yet, no matter how much we may try…

No matter how hard we may dig…

We have to be willing to accept that there will always be unanswerable questions.

Life will always be in a state of flux and there will always be suffering somewhere in the world.

And you are probably reading this looking for some statement that illuminates the promised light at the end of the tunnel.

But that is just my point.

Sometimes there just isn’t and we, the artists, have to do our part in revealing the struggles humans go through in order to help bring awareness to these unanswered circumstances.

Otherwise it is just a tunnel and we are walking or even running through not knowing where it leads or what the meaning of all ‘it’ is.

The facts are…

Sometimes we are here with people who are good.

And sometimes we are here with people who are not so good.

Sometimes we are here with people living through compassion.

And sometimes we are here with people living through agenda.

Sometimes we walk with people who use troubling circumstances to help the greater good.

And sometimes we walk with people who choose to bank on it.

Sometimes we walk with trust.

And sometimes we have to walk with cautious discernment.

Sometimes people will walk with us to wherever the tunnel leads.

And sometimes they’ll just fade away.

Sometimes it will bring treasures.

And sometimes it will bring trauma.

Sometimes it will please.

And sometimes it will disappoint.

And within all those circumstances, the answer is…there is no answer.

It is what it is.

We don’t know why but we know it happens.

And while we live in a filtered world, creating the prettiest most perfected selfie, that hides any inkling of a ‘flaw’ sharing our abs and show biz smiles for some validation in the form of ‘likes’ on social media, we are ignoring the fact that we are not OK with what is.

We are not OK with the questions because we don’t want to face the answers.

We’re scared of the answers because we are not OK with anything that threatens the perfect little pretty picture that manufactures an artificial boost of dopamine or serotonin.

In fact, we don’t want to face the answers because we are not even OK with asking the questions anymore.

So we hold onto that theory of a light at the end of the tunnel without paying attention to the chaos that’s begging to be noticed.

We skip the most important step!

We are too busy numbing ourselves with artificial affirmations that prevent us from actually dealing with what is going on here and now.

We HAVE to be willing to face the reality of things, no matter how scary, no matter how unpleasant, no matter how dark.

This is our job as artists.

To see what others are not willing to see.

To face what others are not willing to face.

To step into the trenches and face the human condition, head on, mask free, in all its grit and glory.

Because that is what Life is.

A series of moments defined by grit and glory.

And if we are lucky, sometimes we will find ourselves somewhere in the middle.

I guess it’s just about allowing the questions and being OK with the answers whether they come with favorable or unfavorable echoes of a response…or even not at all.

Whatever the case, I encourage you to walk through this beautifully complicated Life tunnel without any expectations but with awareness and compassion.

Allow yourself the willingness to experience it for what it is in all its authenticity and then be willing to share that beautifully complicated authenticity through your work.”

 


Let Go Of Holding On

 

Boat and anchor, Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, India

One of the most complex issues we tend to face as artists is the whole notion of finding a way to get out of our way.

Time and time again, it seems like this topic of conversation comes up when addressing the myriad of obstacles that, without fail, inhibit the desired freedom we desperately crave in our work and our lives.

In my eighteen years of teaching and coaching, I have found that this question always seems to be common ground:

“What do I do so I can break free?!”

The best piece of advice I can ever give is to let go of holding onto what you have thought or still think things are suppose to be or how they are suppose to go.

I know when we face questions such as this, it is most likely being stirred up because a specific moment in time is being experienced as complicated, difficult, stifling, and/or even painful.

It is especially during these times that we want to clench onto what feels familiar by believing it serves as some sort of “life preserver” preventing us from drowning in the unknown.

But sometimes it is our holding onto the familiar that is actually the very thing that is keeping us in the circumstances from which we are trying to break free.

So I propose these question back in response to the original question:

“Did you ever ask yourself what is keeping you from letting go of how or what you think things are suppose to be or look like?

Why is it so difficult to just let go?

What if you just let go?

What if you face and embrace the unknown?

What if beyond that wall of your everyday rigid belief system and structure lives the key to your freedom, to your healing, and to that creative bliss you yearn for as an artist?

And as a human being?

What if the unknown is not the enemy you may be defining it as?

What if it is the “hallelujah” you have been seeking?”

You see, all those “things”…

All those “experiences”…

All those “thoughts”…

All those “relationships”…

That we are very often holding onto with such strict definitions, blueprints and expectations…

That we may think are the rock that is keeping us sound and safe and stable…

May also be the very things that may be holding us down and back from our greatest potential.

It is like an anchor holding a ship in its harbor…

Yes, that anchor serves it’s purpose…

But when the ship is ready to move on to its next destination, that anchor needs to go so the ship can go to where it supposed to be.

Sometimes we have to just let go…

And I know it is difficult…

I know it is scary…

But we have to trust that the unknown has the answer for us…

We have to trust that if we move on…

What is meant to come to us will come…

And trust that it is in our best and highest purpose.

And trust that it is for our good.

And to get there, we have to be willing to do the work.

We have to be willing to face what is not serving us and LET IT GO to make room for what does.

And we have to have the strength, perseverance, willingness, self trust and self love to do this kind of work on our own.

Of course others may be of service but the truth is, it is ALL YOU.

It can ONLY happen from and through you.

So do yourself the favor and break free from any and all “anchors” that are not good to you, for you, and about you.

Then climb over that tall wall no matter how difficult it may be.

Use your blood, sweat, and tears to find your freedom and finally meet your true Self, your realized Self, and your actualized dreams on the other side.

Once you get there, I guarantee you will wonder why you held onto all the other stuff as long as you had.

 


Who Are You Really Competing Against?!

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So let’s talk about this idea of competition, and how it absolutely serves NO purpose for us as artists.

Because the truth of the matter is the real competition is happening within with this inner saboteur that somehow someway is convincing us that we are not good enough, we are not special enough, or we are not individual enough to fulfill the idea of what we think the outside world wants from us.

And that is absolutely not true because by the nature of our birth our specialness has already been validated…

The mold has already been broken by the creation which is us.

And though others may have gifts that we don’t have, we have gifts that others don’t have.

But it’s not our job to be thinking in those terms.

We have to realize that the more we allow ourselves to live in a dynamic of competition the more we continue to walk on our own Achilles’ heel causing more pain and obstacles rather than freedom and ‘success‘.

It’s our job to show up as we are…grit and glory…utilizing the totality of who we are, unapologetically, and unfiltered…and then trusting that all that is more than enough to show up for the demands at hand.

And then letting go of what we think those results should be and trusting that if they are in alignment with what is best for us…they will show up for us unfailingly.

So why focus our energies on trying to be ‘better’ than another?

When we really examine this, isn’t it all stemming from all the insecure energies formulated from our own personal drama?

As we begin to consciously dissect things for clarity, we begin to see that we have gotten lost in the repetitive patterns and held in the bondage of past unfulfilled experiences that are causing us to seek validation to make up for what was once not validated.

Perhaps if we are going to participate in competition, allow it to be a healthy personal competition with the Self committed to the choice of being better than we were yesterday in mind, body, and spirit all the while nurturing that very process with self love, patience, and compassion. 

And then if we can help someone else along the way, even better!

At the end of the day it is our responsibility to Self evolve and then help each other do the same.

As we come together in support of each other, watch the world change from Fear Factor or Survivor, to one of flourishing creation.

It is not about competition…it is all about COLLABORATION.

ESPECIALLY AS ARTISTS!

Self Evolution accompanied with and resulting in a Collective Evolution

Now that is fierce!

That is eternal!

Until we get to that state of consciousness, we go on sleepwalking, fighting, hating, killing, poisoning, and destroying rather than awakening, living in peace, healing, loving, and creating in harmony.

A dream?

Maybe.

A reality?

Possibly.

A choice?

Definitely!

That internal choice is always our own for the making…

Now…

What do you choose?

 


Even Though Others May Have Hurt You…

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I will never forget when I was in the first grade, a close friend of mine, (let’s call him He-who-will-not-be-named), said “I hate you!” and proceeded to attack the hair on my head like his life depended on it.

He didn’t let go until my playground guardian angel, which in this case was a teacher’s aid, came over to dissect He-who-will-not-be-named’s little claws out of my carefully sculpted bowl cut.

It was the cat fight of the era according to the popular playground posse.

And when one goes to Bellville Number 5 Elementary School in New Jersey, that holds some weight.

We were both sent to the very terrifying principle’s office, which reeked of Parliaments, and suffered some kind of ridiculous but loud scolding.

Looking back now, the principle’s ferocious yelling did not really address anything but instill fear which had no chance of remedying a broken sacred friendship.

However, I was not really bothered by the hollow consequences of scholastic authority.

The real suffering for me was that I could not shake from my consciousness that someone intentionally sought out to hurt someone else’s which unfortunately was me in this situation.

As a very sensitive ‘artsy’ kid, I just could not let it go.

A week earlier, we were such good friends, talking about putting on a play in my basement called The Beast And The Servant (I think my mother still has a copy of this thirty three year old timeless masterpiece somewhere).

The next minute, I was his nemesis…his target.

It hurt.

My heart hurt which I did not even understand at that age.

I just knew something in my chest felt different than it did the day before and that change did not feel good.

What happened?

What did I do?

Was I a bad friend?



Was I a bad person?

How could someone that I once played, laughed, and talked with about some deep seven year old stuff hate me so much that there was the desire to hurt me?

Thirty three years later I still do not know why He-who-will-not-be-named lashed out like he had. 

We never had the discussion and no one at that time really addressed the issue other than what we did was bad and not to do it again.

I even think we were given detention in separate rooms and never encouraged to talk it out.

There was no communication between me and He-who-will-not-be-named ever again after that.

I guess this was my first introduction to the now common act of ghosting.

I never really received any actual answers to some of those questions which haunted me as a child.

But at forty years old and many gray hairs later, I have done some extensive homework trying to understand why humans behave the way they do for my line of work and is the basis for the way I teach.

I have come to the conclusion that those in pain have received pain, and unconsciously cause pain when triggered.

Even when those things that trigger another are not known by the triggee.

Well, a lot of time has passed and I am lucky to say, that I have not been in any kind of physical altercation since that first grade trauma.

However, I have experienced many other ways that we go about hurting each other.

There are, of course, the global issues which are reprehensible and heart breaking.

But there is also a silent epidemic in which we have allowed ourselves to become complacent.

Our silence is a weapon that can cause a lot of damage.

Our inability or unwillingness to communicate can equally be injurious.

Hiding behind screens allows for miscommunication that could literally destroy relationships.

Even something as simple as a conscious choice to not be supportive or even celebratory for another’s accomplishments can be wounding.

There are so many weapons we use, consciously or unconsciously, that are just as damaging emotionally and spiritually, as He-who-will-not-be-named’s infamous hair pull is physically.

Despite what we may think or even remember, we all have one thing in common…our desire to live a happy, healthy, peaceful life.

We are all doing the best we can with what we have and are always trying to improve our circumstances.

These circumstances shaped the world in which we perceive and cause us to react based on how we are triggered.

However we go about doing that is based on the accumulation of our life experiences and, at the very core, how we received or did not receive love.

This becomes deleterious when these triggers remain unconscious, taking control of our psyche and therefore our actions, allowing us to repeat patterns that are not necessarily in the best interest for ourself or our relationships.

So we never take a moment to look at the full spectrum of relationships to understand how we can truly be affecting another.

We become so one-sided in our needs, that our actions become the very thing that keeps compounding the very cause of why we began responding the way we do.

We get into a viscous cycle of our unconscious pain-body and forget that we are the very thing that keeps it alive.

If it sounds complicated, it is and it isn’t.

It is complicated because we are addicted to our wounds.

It isn’t complicated because our wounds are only trapped energy that can be released and healed through the power of magnetic intention.

But in order to have the intention, there needs to be the awareness and then the will to change.

And in my case, as would be the case for any of us, that awareness and will to change has to start with me.

No matter how much it can hurt at times, I HAVE to keep my heart open without the expectation of someone else’s heart being open.

I HAVE to forgive without the expectation of being forgiven.

I HAVE to find a way to know that my interpretation of events may not be the only truth of what those events are or what caused them.

I HAVE to allow myself a compassionate understanding of circumstances, even when they hurt, without the expectation of compassion from another.

I HAVE to keep inspiring, encouraging, and supporting, without the expectation of being inspired, encouraged, or supported.

I HAVE to find a way to keep loving without the expectation of being loved.

I HAVE to take responsibility and accountability for my experience in this life.

Maybe others will take a similar path.

I hope so but I cannot expect that result.

We have free will within our mind about our experience and the choice is individual based on that chosen perception.

Looking back now, I know He-who-will-not-be-named must have been in pain that day. 

Maybe something happened at home.

Maybe he was going through something treacherous and did not know how to cope.

Maybe he lashed out at me because he knew I loved him as a friend and it would be ok.

Maybe he lashed out because he needed me and had no idea how to ask.

Maybe he just needed a freakin’ hug!

Maybe had we understood these simple yet complex issues…

Maybe if we had a chance to open up a dialogue addressing the root of the pain…

Maybe He-who-will-not-be-named and I would still be amazing friends thirty three years later.

But that did not happen and unfortunately history cannot be rewritten.

So to my friend in first grade…as the Ho’oponopono prayer goes…

I Am Sorry.

Please Forgive Me.

I Love You.

Thank You.

Thirty three years later, I am thankful for that confusing incident.

It has been an amazing on going learning lesson.

He-who-will-not-be-named was never really an enemy.

He was a teacher.
And so we all keep on going and learning along the way…

PS, I never forgot your name, my friend.


Universal Awareness

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“There can be no greater peace of mind than the self trust one inevitably obtains through the unrelenting practice of universal awareness resulting in a perfectly aligned and abundantly useful intuition.”~#MarioCampanaro ©


Creative Healing: Breaking The Structure Of What Imprisons Us

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It is said that doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity.

When we really take a moment to contemplate the depths of this, it is absolutely true.

Who wants to live the same thing over and over?

Staying in that kind of set structure without the desire to expand and grow creates utter stagnation and deprives us all of the gifts of evolution that Life has in store for each of us.

As artists…

As co-creators…

As human beings..

It is in our genetic makeup to crave growth and expansion and then contribute all we can to the world through our chosen mediums in order to continue that expansion process for the greater good.

However, when something new challenges our set belief system and daily routine, defense mechanisms kick in.

Fear seizes us and causes us to lock down on the familiar convincing us that some imaginary net is keeping us safe from the unpredictable tightrope of Life.

But that is false.

It is actually staying in the familiar that is causing our own demise because it deprives us of the growth that can only happen by experiencing the newness Life has to offer.

We MUST be open to change.

We MUST be willing to break the structure in order to experience a higher level of consciousness.

However, growth and expansion cannot happen unless there is a willingness to sit with the discomfort that often accompanies change.

Whether we are aware of it or not…

Whether we like it or not…

There is no escape from this simply because by the laws of nature itself, each and every moment requires a physical, mental, emotional, and yes, even spiritual shift within us.

As we consciously begin to accept this, we can begin the process of truly activating it in our everyday Life.

Along the way, there will be many twists and turns challenging our belief system all the while adjusting it.

Trust that all has been set in place so that our soul can discover and experience the greatest possible evolution contracted for its journey.

As we go deeper into dismantling stagnation, it can feel somewhat overwhelming due to the restructuring of Life from a colloquial essence to that of an acute awareness.

This is the beginning of change in and of itself.

This is the healing and metamorphosis process.

And this process may not always be experienced as what may be labelled as ‘positive’.

It may have taken an enormous accumulation of traumatic and emotional toxins to result in a present state of stagnation.

As these stored poisons energetically release from Life, there might possibly be an unpleasant cleanse mirroring the cause.

We must not be surprised if there are even moments during which we feel ‘locked’ in our head, ‘paralyzed’ in our body, or even uncomfortable and unpredictable emotional/physical pains emerging.

Very often this is the ego trying to desperately avoid change and hold onto its ‘safe identity’ while a cleansing/recalibration process takes place.

Be what it may, trust in the light within the process.

Do not resist it.

The only thing that is holding us back from the gifts of the unknown is our fear of the unknown.

Resistance is fear’s energetic way of brainwashing …and we have come way too far to be at the mercy of it.

When we are able to dissolve all useless fear and its resistance through our conscious awareness of it, and seek refuge within, all the blocks that we feel imprison us begin to dissolve and we can experience the change we seek.

And we grow…

And we expand…

And we share…

And we expand…

And we grow…

There awaits not only personal and creative freedom, but also a delicious sense of peace and wellbeing to be enjoyed within daily Life…to continue to share…to grow…and to expand.

 


Life’s Great Lessons

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“You can read all the books in the world, but they will never prepare you for the actual lessons Life itself will teach. Stay open, aware, and conscious. You will find your way.”~#MarioCampanaro ©


The Clutter Of Disembodied Thoughts

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“What you seek is already there for you hidden beneath the clutter of all the thoughts that serve nothing other than empowering a disembodied ego fighting a dirty fight to be something other than a minuscule disembodied thought.”~#MarioCampanaro ©


The Wounded Child

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“Like a wounded child, others may become reactive because of their pain. A hurt heart knows no rationality as it is yearns to be witnessed and healed. We all need the awareness that everyone is doing the best they can with the tools they have been given. So have heart and give heart to those who may be lost in their suffering.”~#MarioCampanaro ©


The Movie Of Our Mind

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Each of us has an inner monologue that manifests as a subtle voice constantly whispering about the present situation in which we are perceiving.

If these circumstances are out of our comfort zone we quite often begin to criticize them.

This perception then begins to inevitably develop a very specific lens of the world in which we live.

We convince ourself that our experience is completely separate from what is going on “out there” and “the others of the world” are to blame.

With that chosen lens, we somehow believe that we release ourself of the responsibility of what we are experiencing when in fact we are the lead players of that very experience.

We go throughout our life, for the most part, unconsciously choosing thought processes based on our historical experiences and then act on them as repetitive as Pavlovian dogs .

We create this movie in our mind’s eye that brainwashes us into thinking our thoughts are the one and only truth.

As this happens, our mind, like a projector, creates that actual story into our reality because our reality can only be experienced by what the brain is willing to formulate.

We get so wrapped up in the story, like when we are sitting at the cinema, that this does indeed become our truth no matter how pleasant or unpleasant that may be.

It’s a cycle of inner dialogue, perception, judgment of whats good or bad based on past experiences, and then the continuous creation of that which pleases or displeases us more and more… over and over again.

However, once we become aware of this inner monologue as the script to the movie in which we are witnessing, we immediately become conscious.

We become the observer and the knower of our being.

Within this consciousness we are able to stand witness to our own thought processes.

We are able to get a “bird’s eye view” of the reality in which we have created.

This can be a very scary truth for a lot of us because it then takes us looking at our life and holding ourself responsible for all that we are willing to experience.

Yes, WILLING, to experience.

The exciting part of this is if we have created a specific movie that we no longer wish to perceive, we have the power to shut that down without judgment, change the film, and begin to witness life differently.

But we must put into practice patience, discipline, self trust, self nurturing, self love, and the willingness to EXPERIENCE a new template through consciousness.

We need to awaken to something new to experience something new.

We can only begin to create a new movie by becoming conscious of that subtle voice and transforming each thought to that which we CHOOSE to experience in the here and now moment.

To choose patterns that truly do serve our best and highest purpose.

The possibilities that this creates for our individual microcosmic experience is astounding.

Just imagine the possibilities that could occur on our planet if we made this adjustment for the best and highest purpose of the macrocosmic experience.

Can you then see that movie?


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