Inspiration from the Fat Man: want a model for courage and determination? Check him out!

Feature Article: What's So Great About Being Vulnerable?

Living in Appreciation: Lessons from Katrina

NOTE: Some words in this ezine have been disguised to avoid triggering overzealous sp^m filters.

The Actor's Success
The online eZine for Actors
Who want thriving careers
from Robin Jones,
MFA & Certified Life Coach

Volume II, issue 9
September 2005

Not to be missed! the 1st Tuesday of each month.
Please pass on The Actor's Success to those in your network.
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Inspiration from The Fat Man

In his latest post to the website he says, "I have had up
days and I have had down. I have exceeded my own
expectations from time to time and I have given into my
weaknesses. But I am still here. Getting to New York is not
a matter of success or failure to me, instead it is a
certainty. I have no doubt at all about my ability to get
there. What is in question is whether it is necessary. I
feel that this journey has been a great success for me
personally because I accepted the challenge, walked out of
my security, and faced down my insecurities to get to where
I am today. Happy in my own skin."

Feature Article: What's So Great About Being Vulnerable?

I received a lot of comments in response to my last feature
article on Paris Hilton. I knew as I wrote it that it was going
to push a lot of buttons ~ I don't mind stirring up a minor
controversy.

What I didn't count on is how I would feel after reading
some of the responses I got. Here are a couple of examples:

"good gracious robin jones. You should have ended your
'wisdom' after the first sentence. In fact, you should have
stopped after you listed your 'credentials' MFA and CPCC. I
would have been more impressed."

Bleah.

"Robin! Thanks so much for the informative article relative
to Paris Hilton but actually about selling ourselves! Very
insightful. Upon reading this article, I immediately and
seriously started listing my flaws, obvious and not so
obvious, as well as my strengths. I am looking to accept and
embrace what I have and how can offer that artistically.
Thank you again."

Yay!

When I write my newsletters, I am opening myself up and
putting my true self out there for my readers. It feels very
personal and vulnerable. I care what people think about who
I am and what I have to say. I suspect you have similar
experiences in your own life. In fact, as an actor, it's
your job.

As a result, each response I get takes me in different
directions and I have fairly strong emotional reactions. It
would be easy for me to get swept away in those emotions,
but I always bring myself back to center by remembering a
few important things.

First, what people think about me isn't true or false. It's
opinion. The first response above says, "In fact, you should
have stopped..." Actually it isn't a fact that I should have
stopped or kept writing ~ it's just something someone said.

This isn't to say I don't care about those opinions, but I
don't have to let them rule me. Popeye said it best: "I yam
what I yam and that's all that I yam."

Secondly, emotions aren't true or false either ~ they're
just things we feel. I don't believe it's a good idea to try
to control our emotions, but we can certainly manage them.
So if I can keep myself present and feel what I feel when I
feel it, I'm able to let it pass like the weather.

Funny how the keys to good acting are often the same keys to
living happily.

Finally, I choose how to respond. I really appreciate
feedback as long as it gives me something helpful, but the
first reply above simply breeds bad energy. While it could
be easy to perptuate the bad energy, it isn't very helpful,
so I choose to let it go and focus my energies on the
positive.

I don't tell you all this to toot my own horn, but because
you are pursuing a tough business and one that demands that
you keep putting yourself out there, again and again. Become
resilient without losing your desire to succeed and your
ability to make yourself vulnerable, and you'll be the best
kind of actor there is. And the best kind of person there
is.

Living in Appreciation

As I look out the window of my home office, I see we are
getting showered with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I
look at the images of the hardest hit areas on the Gulf
Coast; they are the images of people whose lives have now
been turned upside-down. Some have lost everything.

One man wandered the streets of New Orleans with his son,
describing how he couldn't hold on to his wife as she was
swept away by the flooding. Through his tears, all he could
manage was, "I'm lost, I'm lost."

Even as I write this, I'm brought to tears again.

Since Katrina hit, I've been looking very closely at my own
life, and feeling a deep appreciation for what I have,
knowing that it all could be whisked away in the blink of an
eye. My life is filled with good things and I don't believe
I can stand by and watch without doing something.

So, until those hit by the storm are back on their feet, I will
be donating 10% of the The Actor's Success' profits to the
International Red Cross.

If you feel moved to contribute, please visit the Red Cross.

Until next month, I wish you much appreciation for your own lives,

RJ

© 2005 The Actor's Success & Robin Jones

Robin Jones is a Certified Professional Life Coach specializing in helping actors beat the odds of the business and build thriving careers.Visit www.ActorsSuccess.com to move your career forward now.

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