After completing Part 1: Begin a journal and after each meditation, write about the following: On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being "effortless," to what degree were you able to "let go" and give yourself over to the guided meditation? Who showed up in your "crowd?" What feelings of resentment, shame, or regret were in the trunk or footlocker? What people and/or events are connected with those feelings? Describe your Healing Goddess and any feelings [...]
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My 3 year old son and I go to a baseball game to find our manhood and get more than we bargained for.
I describe one of my favorite synchronicities involving a gate, a symbol, the equinox and a nerdy idea.
I resort to cat videos, sound effects and animal mayhem to present my case for meditating.
Inspired by Dr. Joe Dispenza's "Changing Your Beliefs and Perceptions," this guided meditation is designed to bring you into an energetic state of change by becoming present, releasing limiting beliefs, emotionally experiencing what you want, and turning it over to a higher intelligence. It's a heart-centered, 40 minute love song - from you to you. May you experience the unexpected grace of a loving universe, and take that into the rest of your life.I welcome your comments and feedback. [...]
from my journal: February 11, 2013 It's a late Sunday night in February, and I've returned from another Hollywood Industry Awards show. Tonight, I heard dull remarks and passionless accolades. I recoiled at film clips that were filled with explosive, heartless, gun pointing violence. One of the few conversations I had was with a preeminent camera operator (he's done the last dozen Spielberg movies) who told me he's leaving next week to go to Canada for three [...]
To be human is to have days when if feels like life is one moment of uncertainty, followed by another of doubt and fear. We want to move ahead, but that requires us to make a choice. But how can we make a choice, when we don't know how it's going to turn out? Sometimes we just have to muster the courage and faith and go for it - like when we were kids and didn't know what [...]
Halloween brings us a perfect excuse to look at fear, and how fear might be keeping us from living fully into our potential. We are talking about psychological fear, not instinctual, "get me out of here before that tiger has me for lunch" fear. There are two instances when psychological fear shows up in most of us: 1. When things suddenly change: The end of a relationship, getting fired from a job, and moving are 3 biggies. 2. [...]
What keeps us happy and healthy as we go through life? If you think it's fame and money, you're not alone – but, according to psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, you're mistaken. As the director of 75-year-old study on adult development, Waldinger has unprecedented access to data on true happiness and satisfaction. In this talk, he shares three important lessons learned from the study as well as some practical, old-as-the-hills wisdom on how to build a fulfilling, long life. [...]
We've all been victimized and suffered the pain of it. There comes a point at which we must move on. Victimhood does not excuse living the rest of our life in a position of weakness. The Victim's lament is "Poor me!" The Victim feels oppressed, helpless, hopeless,powerless, ashamed, and seems unable to make decisions, solve problems, take pleasure in life, or achieve insight. Colin C. Tipping in his book, Radical Forgiveness: Making Room for the Miracle writes, “Victim Consciousness is defined as [...]
Pull back the curtain on how Tony Robbins advises top talent – from business leaders like Salesforce’s Mark Benioff to celebrity entrepreneurs like Pitbull – helping them to realize their leadership potential and unleash their creativity. The “CEO Whisperer” will give you the strategies and tools to raise your personal and professional game.
In the late 60's, Stephen Karpman, M.D. came up with a way to graphically display destructive interaction that can occur between people in conflict. The Karpman Drama Triangle describes the kind of crazy-making dynamics that we often see taking place in the workplace and in family relationships. It starts when two people enter into conflict. Two people going at it usually take on the role of Persecutor or Victim without even realizing it. In dysfunctional relationships, people assume [...]
For most of us, deciding to make a change in life is a decision to leave our Comfort Zone: We sell our house and move to another state; we say "yes" to a committed relationship, we quit our job or accept a promotion with new responsibilities. Sometimes without consultation, life simply boots us out of the Comfort Zone: We get fired; someone who "wasn't supposed to" dies; an unplanned birth turns you into a parent. Consider how many “disasters” in [...]
My son, Elliot, had just turned three. (to hear my reading of this, click here) And I began to consider my fatherly duty to teach him how to be a man. Actually, his mother said, "Hey, it's your fatherly duty to teach him how to be a man!" I had only a vague notion of what being a man meant, much less how to teach it. Guys watching sports together was a bonding ritual I'd seen, maybe we'd [...]
Yesterday, Vickie and I watched Tony Robbins' 2006 TED talk. I'd seen it before, but this time, I wanted Vicke to analyze it, give me her insight as a professional speaker about Robbins' technique. At one point, Robbins talks about the power of emotion in calling people forward. "Emotion is the force of life." Al Gore is in the audience, and Robbins says to him (regarding Gore's effectiveness in the 2000 presidential debates), "I believe that with emotion, you would [...]
As each day goes by, it becomes more clear: THE MOST POWERFUL means at my disposal to create change in the world is - to BE the change. It's an inside job. It's not about convincing "them," or changing "it." If I want the world to be a certain way (loving, compassionate, safe, pro-active, fearless, free, etc.), then I must do the work on any issues WITHIN ME that keep me from being loving, compassionate, safe, pro-active, fearless, free, etc.. I have to [...]
A month later, the production coordinator from Long Gone called me to work on another HBO film, The Man Who Broke 1000 Chains, featuring Val Kilmer in one of his first starring roles. Kilmer was very aloof on set. I don't know whether it was part of his process as an actor, or a symptom of something else, but he remained very much in his own world. I don't believe he ever looked me directly in the eyes. An odd [...]
All of us, every day - are triggered. You're triggered whenever you have an emotional reaction to a person, event or circumstance. Most people know when they're upset, but fewer look at it in terms of being triggered. Instead, they blame the person, event or circumstance for "making me feel this way," when in reality their upsetting feeling is coming from inside; it's been there for a long time and is now coming into awareness. So I'm here [...]
"(In our culture) pain is not acceptable...The message is, 'You have a right to not have any pain, so take whatever you need to numb it.' Since wisdom and maturity come from facing pain and learning from it, I believe we are a nation of very immature people who don't have the willingness to experience the pain that leads to authentic wisdom." - Pia Mellody, Facing Codependence: What it is, Where it comes from, How it sabotages our [...]
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. The Serenity Prayer, 26 words that summarize the challenge I face each day. An all-purpose intention for ease and grace. A spiritual map for navigating the unknown. It's an appeal to a higher power for acceptance, courage and wisdom, three qualities that reside in my heart. Three qualities that all too often [...]
Having dealt with the emotional upset triggered by a micromanaging boss, the next course of action is to ask: Am I the only one being micromanaged or are all the people working for this person getting the same treatment? If the answer is, it's only me, then it's time to look at where you can improve what you do and how you do it. That could mean showing up five minutes earlier every day or communicating with your boss differently. [...]
One of the biggest threats to successful, creative collaborations is a behavior that might be confused with the the desire to be seen - the desire for approval or approval seeking. I will be able to feel good about myself, only if I can get them to like me, is a core belief of the approval seeker. Unfortunately, people who continually seek approval suck the energy out of any collaboration whether it's a film crew, a friendship, or a love relationship with another person. [...]
I was a camera operator on a television show known for its visual style, a style characterized by a camera that never stopped moving. "Hypnotic eye candy," I called it, "dished out to keep the audience from realizing how dismal the writing and performances are." You can see, for starters, I had a slight attitude problem. While there, I served under a director of photography (DP) who micromanaged. I had never done well with controllers, and this was no exception. The [...]
Google "definition of integrity." Skip the first definition, the one that has morality attached to it. The second definition says: integrity: the state of being whole and undivided synonyms: unity, coherence, cohesion, togetherness, solidarity example: The integrity of the roof depended on the quality of the nails joining the rafters to the beams. When I was growing up, integrity was a concept usually described in judgmental terms. You were "good" if you had integrity and "bad" if you didn't. I decided that integrity was a word used [...]
It’s the day before Thanksgiving, 1998. I’m the “A” camera operator on the movie Runaway Bride starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. During the lunch break, the crew stages their own Thanksgiving Day Parade. Per the director’s wishes, each department on the crew has been given the assignment to create a float. The most memorable float is assembled by the onset special effects department. Their centerpiece: a nicely broiled, whole chicken stuffed with small explosives, which they detonate as their float [...]
Today I have a choice: I can live in the ego-world of dualities, of "rights" and "wrongs," of "goods" and "bads" that color my thoughts, emotions, and experiences. I can wade through the muck of a regretful past or the fear of an imagined future. I can hold on to false identities I've created about myself that separate me from everyone and everything. If I do, my day will be an endless string of judgments, most of them self-critical, confining, [...]
The good news was: I was a newly minted camera operator in IATSE local 600. The less-than good news was: I had achieved this by working for seven months on Anything for Money, a videotape show. Unless I was careful, I risked becoming known as a video operator. There was a huge gulf between camera operators known for their video skills and operators of film cameras. The prestige went to the film camera operators; they got to work on [...]
If you've worked on a film set, you've seen that magical things can happen when creative people come together under the right leadership. And no one has more influence than the director. Whether they realize it or not, cast and crew are continually taking their cues from the director. Questions like, "Why are we here?" and "How safe is it for me to be myself?" are answered by the director based on her demeanor: a nod, a smile, [...]
My goal coming out of film school was to be a director of photography. The traditional route to becoming a director photography was to work as an assistant. A camera assistant's job involves knowing the nuts, bolts and electronics of a variety of cameras, lenses, filters and accessories that work with the cameras.On set, when a piece of camera equipment stops working, all eyes turn to the camera assistant whose job is to fix it or [...]
I recently watched a presentation by Bruce Lipton Ph.D., author of The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, & Miracles. In it he drew a fascinating picture of the human brain and how it develops. Lipton described the pre-frontal cortex, a region that occupies about 10% of our total brain mass. In terms of evolution, It is the most recent addition to the human brain. The pre-frontal cortex is involved in creativity, complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, [...]
“If you don’t change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?” — W. Somerset Maugham It being nuptial season, I attended a beautiful wedding recently. At the reception, the best man rose to make the obligatory toast to the bride and groom. Raising his glass, he said, "There are three kinds of rings... the engagement ring, the wedding ring, and the suffering. And for those of you, like me, in a long term marriage, you know [...]
I was once hired to work on a film as a camera operator and the second unit director photography. My immediate supervisor was the director photography on the main unit - I'll call him Jason. Beginning day one of filming, Jason drew me into in a series of conversations that were either critical, patronizing, or confusing. When he was on his game, he could pack all three into the same conversation. He gave me zero positive feedback. Instead, he told me the [...]
This year, 2015, has been a challenging year for me. I'm not surprised. I knew it would be when I decided to make changes regarding my career, my relationship and my living situation - all at once. The year has brought a roller coaster ride of triggering upsets. This week it was as though I was allowed to rise above the chaos for a breather, a chance to pause. When I did, I realized how much of this year has been gnawingly uncomfortable. This week I also read this passage [...]
