Will you choose Big Magic?

Welcome to the first post on my blog. I am excited, and find it no small coincidence, that I happened to start reading Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert, shortly after I decided to launch Beyond Technique. The aim of my coaching is above all, to share my education and experience as a professional performer to help promote authenticity through performance techniques.

As an actor and comic, I am constantly drawing from experience, both real and imagined. The value of intentionality, wonder, and research can not be over estimated. A book I read three years ago, may provide a kernel of truth for a character I’ll play a week from now, a year from now, or ten years from now. Or it may pragmatically help with the business side, serve as a salve to the sting of rejection, or help cultivate a mentality needed in order to remain centered in such an uncertain business where one’s job is to pretend to be someone else. Absolutely, there is never a shortage of relevant reasons to read.

The amount of useful information, packed into Big Magic makes it not just a must read but also a JUST READ! If books had a Nike slogan, there would be a swoosh saying JUST READ IT, right under #1 New York Times Bestseller.

In Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert shares the truths of creative living. She dissects the courage, enchantment, permission, persistence, trust, and divinity that drives that experience.

Reading this book, a kernel I had stored away from a discussion sometime ago popped up into the forefront of my mind. That kernel was called Radical Acceptance.

Radical acceptance is accepting something fully as it is. Without holding onto illusions, hopes for, should bes, or favorite parts... radical acceptance is accepting AS IS. To radically accept the creative process and ALSO to radically accept who you are and your relationship to that process is no small feat. This awareness can lead to liberation and free you to make your art your way, and help end the suffering tied to the illusion of what should be.

In Big Magic, Gilbert lays it all out there and we can see the creative process from someone who has "made it". Who after "making it" can verify the process is STILL the process with highs and lows both warty and wonderful. If we can radically accept this truth "and have the courage to bring forth this work" we may find ourselves joyfully experiencing Big Magic.