Directing Your Own Life In The Beauty of Now Moments

From Shakespeare’s Play, As You Like It, Act 2, scene 7

Jaques:

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages.

In his famous soliquy, the character from Shakespeare’s play, Jaques, laments on the state of man with the “Ages” being the different stages of life, or the Seven Ages of Man.

This is where I begin to tell tell the story of “Theatre as Life.”

I write for a living; novels, plays, love letters, blogs, etc, and I coach clients in the ways of living successfully in the Now Moment with an ever-present eye towards the concepts learned by being involved in theatre for over 35 years.

I have acted, mostly in community and regional theatre and I have directed productions as a Managing Director for a regional theatre company doing everything from children's shows to dinner theatre productions to plays and musicals.

Additionally, I have been hacking away at this thing called the Internet for a while to combine my love for writing, usually blogs on different subjects, and my love for being an entrepreneur to use my creative mind as a way to earn a living and along the way began coaching clients in the way to live a life based on the principles I derive as an active participant in all aspects of theatre.

While this as been good to me in several arenas, there is little thing called passion that keeps nipping at my heels and that is my overriding love for all lessons that theatre has taught me in my life.

You see, I love the theatre and the passion it has instilled in my soul for living and, several years ago, I developed this whole strategy of "Theatre As Life", but was told by who I believed at that time to be “people in the know”,  that the niche was too small and “How could I monetize it?”

But who cares?

Passion is passion and Confucius said, "if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life." So, as a Now Moment coach, I have drawn upon the lessons of acting, directing and living a life as a theatre person to inspire others to look at life as what Shakespeare said when he penned that all the world is a stage and we are merely players.

There is this little thing called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs that every human needs to live. (If you have never seen it, look at the explanation of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs here.) Essentially, it is a diagram of a pyramid that shows the needs of humanity in a rather simplistic manner. The bottom two layers are the basics that humans need and, supposedly, until we satisfy those needs, we can’t move on.

You know, the essentials of life we desire to live at a bare level; the way to obtain the basics of life, (I guess in this day and age, it is essentially a cell phone and someplace to eat and sleep) and security in knowing that we have at least enough to get us to the next day.

So what does this have to do here with Theatre As Life?

Well, everything!

Theatre As Life is my way of giving you the world in all ways through the eyes of the lessons learned in theatre and as a writer, a creator, which we all are, and a coach of living Now Moments in a dynamic way that propel you dynamically into the next Now Moment, essentially the upper dynamics of the pyramid.

Where does this blog fit in? Every part of your life as we will discuss everything for relationships to living in excellence to developing your passion to creating a winning life and everything else that is relevant to making your way in this world in which we live in.

Yes, it will be from the eyes of the theatre and all that goes into putting a production together, but as Shakespeare said, “All the world is a stage.” So, I intend to use my passion for theatre to help you find your passion for living or, if nothing else, to live better in your own skin.

In life, like a great stage play, the desire is to end with such a flair that people stand and say, “Bravo!” for this is the greatest compliment we can receive as actors.

I stand right here, right now and say to you, “Bravo!” for you are on your journey right here, right now. Allow me to go with you and you with me and together let us make a difference in your world.


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Guilt: The Other White Meat - Part 2

 What is guilt? Guilt is the pledge drive constantly hammering in our heads that keeps us from fully enjoying the show. Guilt is the reason they put the articles in Playboy.

Dennis Miller

Oh, great! Now I have guilt!

T. Rex, from Toy Story

What is it about humanity that we have decided that guilt is the way we relate on such interpersonal levels to one another knowing that it is based in fear, as discussed in the previous post (part I)?

What is it about the ego within us all that we have decided that to keep our little superiority acts in check, we have to be the ones to guilt others into complying with our wishes? Are we so non-trusting within ourselves that we feel that we have to control others, not to mention ourselves, with guilt?

Ego and Guilt Work Hand-in-Hand

In living in Now Moments, guilt can really have no hold on us as it only seeks to keep the past ever present and living and the future looming within us, usually as nothing more than some type of dishonor of our past. The Now Moment is then completely obliterated as non-important, which is exactly as the ego has decided needs to happen.

By the way, the ego completely hates Now Moments.

You see, Now Moments are designed for us to have clarity in this moment so we can plant seeds of greatness in the next Now Moments to come. Guilt robs us of that clarity and keeps our disgusting past that guilt tends to persuade us exists, forever present so that the beauty of this Now Moment is completely abandoned. The ego desires you not to have peace in each and every Now Moment as then what would be the reason for ego to exist in the first place?

Trust me, I have heard more than my share of why “healthy guilt” is a good thing speech, so no need bother. Is the very term not an oxymoron to begin with, and, quite frankly, when people use it they usually have to justify the existence of the term at the very outset.

Guilt is associated with fear and there is no justification for giving fear to another person or living in fear as the spirit of fear is a debilitating spirit that robs you of all joy.

3 Step Process To Plow Through Guilt

Let me give you a quick three-step process that will help you with guilt.

1. Release. This is the first step of taking back your Now Moments. Release yourself, first and foremost. If you want to say it another way, forgive yourself. The past is the past and whatever is done is done. Keeping some past mistake alive forever in the throws of guilt does nothing for your ability to make this Now Moment precious. So you must first release yourself.

2. Let Go. This may seem to be like release but it is all together different in that you must truly let go of guilt by putting space between you and it. Release is the willingness to do so, Letting go is the action.

3. Flow. This is now the most important aspect of the process as it is based in peace. The peace of this Now Moment is a simple allowing of life to unfold all around you so you can become that ever-moving force of strength to yourself and to others around you. In peace there is tranquility within and that always presents itself as a quiet strength without.

Guilt is not healthy, EVER.

Release, Let go and Flow into each and every Now Moment for there the seeds of greatness live.

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DA Southern is a Now Moment coach, teaching the spirit of living in Now Moments with the principles he experienced during over 30 years as an actor and director in live theatre. DA coaches his clients to rid life of limiting beliefs that have kept them from achieving miracles in all areas of their life by embracing the beauty of this Now Moment with a renewed passion for life. Contact DA Southern for coaching @ directyourownlife@gmail.com

Guilt: The Other White Meat - Part 1

Several years ago, the pork industry came up with “pork, the other white meat” to get people to eat more pork. The little slogan was quickly identifiable and indeed increased the pork industries efforts to get the folks to eat more pork.

I our discussion of Now Moments and how fear from and of the past can hold you back from progressing into brilliant Now Moments, I really look at guilt the true other white meat to fear, as they often go hand-in-hand. And unlike pork, it is the other side of the fear coin that can bring a grown man to his knees. I am not a huge fan of guilt, as you can tell.

Suffice it to say, we could not even begin to scratch the surface on guilt and how it hampers your development but we will begin to speak of the harmful effects it does have on you and how you can take steps to rid this arch-nemesis from your very midst.

First, lets look at guilt from a perspective of control, from both your own being and from others who use it to control you. There is no easy way to say it except that guilt is that soul-sucking essence that keeps people from developing personally, achieving in life, and from developing healthy relationships that are free from drama and, most importantly, love.

Guilt is not something you desire in any way, and if you use it to control others in your sphere, shame on you. It is done in business, in relationships and all realms of group interactions. The real essence of the spirit of guilt is that is so opposite from joy in that where there is guilt, you usually find joy lacking in abundance. That is the shame of guilt, it robs you of joy.

Look back in your own life; every time someone “guilted” you into doing something you were not prone to do, or would joyfully do on your own, did you notice joy within? I can safely say, no you did not. You see, guilt is that tool that people use that the ego rails against and why it is time to start the process of ridding yourself of that as well. But another discussion for another time.

You can even look to our political systems. When some well meaning congressperson or senator desires to push some usually bloated piece of legislation through the congress, they often encase it in the “hot” buttons of the day, whatever the other representatives would feel guilt not supporting; children, seniors, helping this group or that one. As soon as someone is confronted with the fact that they might not support a certain bill or whatever, they are guilted into support because who wants to be again some deserving group of whatever, whether the legislation makes sense or not.

It all comes down to joy and a sense of self that is devoid of ego.

Find your center, your joy and begin to ask yourself a simple question when confronted with guilt; Am what I am being asked to think about or do bring me joy if i do it for ME. Again, the very nature of that question elicits a guilt response from many because we are told by parents and authority figures “not to be selfish,” are we not? So we don’t ask that question because of guilt to begin with?

Stop it right now and begin to be a better you and decide here and now that guilt will no longer be part of your existence in this Now Moment. It is all you have. Seek joy and find truth.

In the next post we will look at ways to do this effectively, but start now as it is the only Now Moment you have in which to do so.

*******

DA Southern is a Now Moment coach, teaching the spirit of living in Now Moments with the principles he experienced during over 30 years as an actor and director in live theatre. DA coaches his clients to rid life of limiting beliefs that have kept them from achieving miracles in all areas of their life by embracing the beauty of this Now Moment with a renewed passion for life. If you desire one-on-one coaching contact DA Southern @ directyourownlife@gmail.com