13196: Serenity: Practical Applications For Performers
Hey there, hero!
It seems like almost everyone, at some point, gets the urge to become a performer.
They look at the fame, the money, the autograph seekers and just how easy it is and those are just their first four incorrect assumptions.
Maybe you made some of those. Some rules you thought were true. Some shortcuts you thought might work.
And then, they, and you, were likely introduced to actual harsh reality. Ugh.
Building a performer’s practice is filled with mirrors and smoke and distortion fields, and once your assumptions are challenged, and you realize that there’s a lot of hard work and some amount of luck involved in changing things up, you might need some serenity to accept that.
And maybe, that you simply can’t change what can’t be changed, even though you thought it could.
Have you experienced this? Anything you thought was true but wasn’t? How did you handle that? With serenity? Let me know in the comments below.
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Raw transcript:
Raw transcript:
the Serenity Prayer came up in a recent
online session I was doing with a bunch
of people and it struck
me that that which is useful for 12ep
programs and for inspiration in general
can also have a very practical use when
trying to understand this whack business
that we’re in of Performing of being
actors and being voice Talent how you
ask well let me tell you and I will when
we come back in this episode of the vo
Heroes
podcast so if you’ve never heard the
Serenity Prayer it goes like this God
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 and some people think this is
from the Bible it isn’t it was created
to the best of of enologists knowledge
sometime in the 30s or 40s it’s
variously attributed to many different
people but this notion of um
understanding the difference between the
things you can change the things you
have control over the things you can’t
change that you don’t have control over
and that are inevitable or are uh at
least to be counted on to happen at some
point and then to be at peace with that
to understand
the difference between those two things
and to accept that there are going to be
some things you can change and some
things you can’t our business is filled
with
things you cannot
change it’s filled with things that you
can’t predict either not just can’t
change like can’t change means okay I
know this is going to happen and I can’t
change it from happening or not
happening sometimes you don’t even know
things are going to they’re going to
happen and no one understands 100 % of
this wacky business that we’re in this
business of being a creative of being an
artist of being an actor a voice Talent
at writer uh some sort of performer some
sort of artist
performer and that can become a real
real high speed bump like not just a
speed bump but a retaining wall that you
crash into for some people who try again
and again and again to make it work for
them based on the rules that they’ve
created and those rules are sometimes in
opposition to actual reality well I
think it should work this way so I’m
going to keep doing it and part of it is
because as as artists we’re often told
you know what you’re really unique
you’re really amazing you do things your
way you march to the sound of a
Different Drummer you keep doing that
you be you
boo uh unfortunately when it when it
veers into being in conflict with those
things you cannot
change you know it can cause well why
isn’t this working oh this is is BS this
is [ __ ] I’m not I you know and and
it can cause some real real pain and
frustration and some people leave the
business because things didn’t work the
way they thought they would work and
they didn’t take the time to consider
whether or not the assumptions that they
were making about our business were
correct that they could rely on those
assumptions that those were rules that
they could actually live by so when you
think about this business and you think
about some of the uh some of the
challenges that you’ve experienced I’d
love for you to take a moment and ask
yourself this is this something this
challenge that’s happening to me or
isn’t happening for me is this something
based on a rule that I have made for
myself or an expectation that I’ve made
for myself that might not be true and
that can’t be changed and no amount of
wishing or hoping or praying or uh
asking the universe to pay attention to
me for a moment you know none of that is
going to change that the Serenity Prayer
comes into play in a very practical way
I think I’d like to know what you think
let me know in the comments Below have
you experienced this where you thought
well I thought casting people were the
ones that made the decisions I didn’t
know it was writers and directors and
producers I thought casting people were
the ones with all the power well they
have some but that’s an assumption that
probably isn’t true you might want to
rethink that or get more information on
it tell me in the comments below if
there’s something that has happened to
you like that maybe what it was how you
changed up your mind and and you you
know you maybe thought oh well I can’t
change that I’ll just accept that this
is the way it is and move
on or was something that you didn’t know
you could change and you did tell me let
me know comments below vooh heroes.com
go there share with me what your
thoughts are on this while you’re at it
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two yeah three decades right exactly
before podcasting was called
podcasting share this with another
artist who might be bumping their head
against a wall uh they might be helped
by this I’m David H Lawrence this 17th I
thank you so much for watching and for
listening and I will see you in the next
episode of the vo Heroes podcast
(from YouTube)
this topic is so very timely, I woke early this morning to a situation in my business that this very much applies to. So, thank you .
Like many others we are of an age where a Paradyme shift is taking place. you mention that quote probably come from the 30’s or 40’s…My son recently pointed out that I need to start adding the century mark in there as many younger people will not automatically go to ‘1930s or 1940s’ or even “1930s or 40s”. We are just used to that, but so many we talk to now are going to say the 30s and 40s have not happened yet. Silly ramblings in the AM.
Because of limited life spans, any falcon alive today was born after the turn of the century, they are all Millenium Falcons. okay I quit
The Wisdom to know the Difference, resonates. I am learning so much everyday and trying to apply.
Thanks for bestowing us with all your knowledgable gifts!
I am one who has known the wisdom from the Serenity prayer for a long while now. I have found that most times when I’m stuck, its because of my own attitude about things than it is about how things are. I can accept the things that are out of my control. I am working on what I can control, which is inside my own head.
As always, David, thank you for the timely reminders and the food for thought.
I love the serenity prayer! It holds so much wisdom. My wife and I are struggling with normal, very challenging toddler behavior. The serenity prayer is very applicable.