Episode 296: Positive Thinking for the Actor

BOOK A CALL WITH PETER Today, I'm going to talk about positive energy and energy and the actor and why it is so intensely important.  I have found positive energy and positive thinking to be one of the most important things for a happy life and a happy career. So I'm going to start with a quote, which is Gandhi, which is “be the change you wish to see in the world.” Anais Nin, “We do not see the world as it is. We see it as we are.” And so what I want to see the world is, especially in such tumultuous times, is I want to see the good in the world.  Not the bad, because the more I see good in my world, the more good is reflected back to me.  And because we see it as we are, that is why we want to have as much positive energy going through us as possible.  And when I talk about positive energy, I talk about anabolic energy.  I'm talking about that anabolic energy and that anabolic energy is growing, building, healing energy.  And it is who I Truly am and that's truth with a capital T, whether I believe it or not. Another thing is that anabolic energy gives me a high chance for success. It has me being fully conscious.  It has me in a state where I believe in myself. In me, but I also believe in that power greater than me, in that universe.  So now I'm going to move into my favorite text of The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie. “It's so easy to look around and notice what's wrong, it takes practice to see what's right.” The reason why it's so easy to see what's wrong is because that's what my motherboard, my limiting beliefs, have taught me, programmed me to look for the bad, not for the good, or to look for the negative instead of the positive. That's the only reason why that happens.  It happens because I was programmed that way.  And there's that wonderful joke that your parents know how to push your buttons because they're the ones who installed them.  It takes practice to notice what's right.  Now, remember when just a moment ago I said it's easier to look around and see what's, what's wrong or what's negative. I put that word easy in quotes because quite frankly, It is actually far easier to do this work and have a happier life than continuing to look at the negative and continue to build and foster that.  That just keeps me in that awful state of negativity and that awful area of status quo, where I know that pain that you know you could be doing so much better, but you aren't. I'm sorry, but that is not easy.  Melody Beattie goes on to say, “many of us have lived around negativity for years. We've become skilled, we've become skilled at labeling what's wrong with other people, our life, our work, our day, our relationships, ourselves, our conduct, our core work. We want to be realistic and our goal is to identify and accept reality.” However, this often is not our intent when we practice negativity. The purpose of negativity is generally annihilation.  I do not wanna annihilate. I do not want to annihilate a good life for myself because of the way I was programmed.  No, I want to create a good life for me, a happy life for me, a place where my life is in the position for a high chance for success. And this is what I want for you as an actor.  “Negativity empowers the problem.” The problem of not working as an actor. The problem of not knowing what to do next. The problem [ of nothing ever good happens to me. It empowers that. I'm sorry, I don't want to go there. That's not what I want because negativity takes us out of harmony.  Negative energy sabotages and destroys.  How many actors have said to me, I sabotage myself. I sabotage myself.  I used to be someone who used to sabotage themselves. I no longer do that. I no longer do that.  Let's put it this way. I no longer choose that.  I choose to work for myself instead of against myself. And that is the far easier path.  “Negative thinking empowers the problem. It takes us out of harmony. Negative energy sabotages and destroys. It has a powerful life of it’s own.  and it has the power to enable our self sabotaging. But here's the catch, and here's the good news. So does powerful energy.  “Each day we can ask what's right, what's good about other people, about our life, our work, our day, our relationships, ourselves, our conduct, our recovery.”  And this is something that I truly believe. Negative energy comes from my ego. It comes from that thought system. That power system.  And positive energy comes from the universal. Thought system, the universal power system, that is infinite, that is positive. And here is the thing, my ego thought system is finite, it only has so much energy.  But positive energy, when I hook up my pipeline to the positive energy, to the universal energy, that is much stronger than the negative energy.  That is why I say in my weekly classes, I talk to my clients, my students, my actors about this. You put in one inch of core work, you put in one inch of effort, and you will get more than one yard back.  Because the positive energy is so much stronger than the negative. We just have to choose it.  “Positive energy heals, it conducts love, and transforms. Choose positive energy.” I love that word transforms. Because I truly used to be a very negative person. Mainly about myself. Every other thing I said to myself was, I'm not something enough. That is not the case anymore. There is truly hope.  If I can help myself, I can help you.  The other thing about Energy is that everybody wants that positive energy. Everybody wants that abundant life. And the thing is that living that abundant life begins with believing in focusing on that abundant world.  Practicing gratitude. Just even mentioning three times a day or three things in a day that you want to practice gratitude for, that is a phenomenal way to have positive energy in your life.