Rockin Documentary, I AM

I AM.  Great title.  Great documentary.  Great for so many reason, but the title tells it all.  It's the filmmaker, Tom Shadyac, taking responsibility.  "What's wrong with the world?  I AM," he says.  He's not alone.  If we really sit back and take an honest look at ourselves, many of us would join him in this statement and maybe there would be some serious change. 


Sometimes just saying the words out loud and admitting that you are part of the bigger problem is enough to shift your way of being and doing and this affects everyone.  This is one man's contribution to the shift of me, me, me to US; the human race as a whole.


He leads us through a meditation on finding the joy and meaning in the small aspects of life and leaving the excessive materialism behind.  "Things" aren't what makes a life meaningful. 


One of my favorite bits of information was that we are the only life force that takes more than we need.  A redwood tree only takes the nutrients from the soil that it needs to grow and nothing more.  A lion only kills one animal to feed himself, not the entire pack.  Humans take well over our fair share and leave others starving and dying while turning a blind eye.  So true and so sad.


We are all connected.  What we do at the individual level affects the global environment.  I know I don't want to be part of the problem!  Do you?  I want to be a part of the crowd that says, "What's right with the world?  I AM."

Go open your eyes!
I AM The Documentary

~PL&C~

Kick Up the Imagination

I saw this quote today on Dreamworks Animation’s website by CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and had to share.  “Every single thing you see on-screen came out of somebody’s creativity.  It doesn’t exist.  Nature didn’t deliver it to us.  Everything had to be dreamed.” 

I love this!  It's EXACTLY what's been on my mind lately.

The value of a live, active imagination seems to be shot down more often than it's celebrated.  I think about this often.  I feel like people are always saying things like "you have to be realistic" because I spend much of my time in my imaginations and dreams.  What's wrong with that?  Haven't they ever heard the saying, "if you can dream it, you can do it?"

Don't we encourage our kids to use their imaginations constantly?  Why don't we continue to say that to each other as we grow up?  Why do we have to be "real" about everything, all the time?  It's depressing.  Gee...maybe there's a link here between the lack of playfulness and the mammoth consumption of Prozac. 

Yes, we can't get so caught up that we're living in a fantasy and ignoring life happening around us, but what would the world look like if people played in their imaginations a bit more and carried those visions into their everyday life?  I'm pretty sure it wouldn't look like war or hate. 

I feel like I've had a successful day when I have given myself the freedom to play inside my imagination because that's where a lot of my inspirations come from.  That's what gives life-force to my acting and writing endeavors...and actually, to my very existence. 

~PL&C~

Knock off the Negativity

Los Angeles can be a tough place for so many reasons, but one of the main reasons for me is that I sometimes get so caught up in what I don’t have, and how incredibly far I am from my dreams that all of the creativity is just sucked right outta me until I’m dry and bitter.  Well heck, that’s no way to live and that’s CERTAINLY no way to be inspired or inspire others.

So how do I maintain my creativity and a positive attitude among all of the struggles?  Like an AA enthusiast…one day at a time.  I find that if I just focus all of my crazy thoughts into something creative for even 10 minutes a day, I don’t lose myself or feel that dreaded sense of uselessness.  Come on, we all feel it.  No artist can say that monster doesn’t rear his nasty little head now and then.  You know, the one that says, “what the hell are you doing?”  Challenging you and making you feel insane for thinking you could really make a living doing what you love. 

But one good way to shut that voice up is to do something that stimulates your humanity and starts the creative juices flowing.  Sometimes a 20 minute walk will do it for me, or reading a chapter in a great book, or calling someone you know is lonely, or writing in a journal, or brainstorming a new script idea, or working on a scene whether I perform it or not.  Anything to get the positive feelings back into my thoughts and the negative ones kicked to the curb.  I admit…some days are easier than others.  The great and sometimes annoying thing is, we control whether we allow ourselves to go to the dark side or whether we pull out our Lightsabers and fight for our positive, creative thoughts.

~PL&C~