Get to Know Yourself

Twisting Oneself to Obtain New Understanding

In my constant travels within the endless undulating highways of my imagination, I’ve stumbled across an amazing way of getting to know precisely who you are, where you stand on any issue in life, and what you are willing to tolerate. It’s a 5 step powerhouse of a procedure that I’ve glued together with scraps of ideas from many different and long forgotten sources. It’s pretty basic to understand as a concept, but is quite tricky to get the hang of, in practice.
Okay, first of all I’d like to explain exactly why this exercise helps actors with characterization (the process of connecting with the character you intend to portray), and how it can benefit the population in general.
As actors, we are forever experimenting with different characters, emotions, ideas, challenges and feelings in an effort to prepare a memorable performance for our audiences. In order for an actor to successfully “become” a character in every way, it is essential for the actor to leave their own personality, habits, traits, feelings, emotions, inhibitions and all the other little bits and pieces of themselves behind.  As a fellow actor and I agreed in a conversation we had a few weeks ago, it is impossible to leave yourself behind if you don’t have complete awareness of who you are and what makes you tick. My peer’s statement was, and I’m paraphrasing here, “You cannot bring eve a small part of yourself onto the stage.”
For people in everyday life this tool is useful for building opinions, stepping into another person’s shoes to view life from their point of view, and to strengthen your resolve so that you know precisely what you are and are not prepared to cope with or tolerate.
This all got me thinking about how one can become so completely and intensely aware of oneself. I didn’t have to wait long for the penny to drop; it was obvious. One simply has to take it step by step, and embark on a motivated journey of discovery. Here’s how to do it:

1. Make a true statement about yourself/your beliefs/your life, etc.
2. Make the exact opposite statement.
3. Convince yourself that the opposite statement is true.
4. Explore your thoughts and emotions for signs of how this may be affecting you.
5. Make sure you break away from this process while remembering your experiences.

Confused? Let me offer an example of this hugely helpful process.

1. I am a trustworthy person.
2. I am not a trustworthy person.
3. Convincing myself that it’s true.
4. I’m feeling dark, contemplative, sly, angry, vengeful. I’m thinking about ways to double-cross people.
5. Breaking away from the process.

The benefit? I can now see how people, that I feel aren’t trustworthy, function. I can put myself squarely into their shoes and almost “see” through their eyes, the situation that is currently affecting me. This allows me to handle encounters with these people with more skill, or to better understand the character I am attempting to portray. Play around with this method, and see how it benefits you in life as well as in your career.

The possibilities are exciting and endless.

In closing I’d like to apologize for my scarceness this weekend, as my girlfriend and I were attempting to hike in zero degrees Celsius, far from internet access. I hope my post on attracting new theater-goers helped ease the boredom a little.
Once again, thank you all for the support!