Controlling versus letting go and trusting is on my mind recently. This polarity relates to how we approach life, the creative process and also our acting.
Viola talks about not trying to control the outcome of a performance. She says: “Whatever I work with at home I only take it to a certain extent,….you gotta say 'yes' to your partner. If they're giving you a line in a certain way, guess what? You gotta get up off your 'A-double-snakes' and use that. - Viola Davis
I find letting go and trusting the process frightening and I don’t think I’m the only one. There isn’t one magic tool that can help us to do that.
The recent discussions we’ve had about Improv, Meisner and Method can help us to let go in acting. More broadly we can work on challenging unhelpful beliefs, trying to reinforce more helpful ones, feeling the fear and doing it anyway. We can also work on our sense of safety in our body as we control to try to feel safe.
An EMDR tool I use to activate the neural networks related to safety is to imagine myself in a very safe situation vividly. I see the place, smell the smells, feel the body sensations and really bring in the feeling of safety in my body. I then tap bi-laterally left-right-left-right on my body to reinforce the feeling whilst telling myself “I am Safe’. I thought this might be helpful for others.
Curious to hear how you navigate letting go and trusting the creative process?
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Alexandra Stevens, this resonates so deeply. As a raging perfectionist, letting go is something I struggle with on an almost daily basis. I can get completely consumed by overthinking. Last night it took me nearly 40 minutes of lying in the dark just to get my brain to stop racing and finally fall asleep. The quote from Viola Davis is so powerful and such a necessary reminder. Trusting the moment, the process, and your scene partner can be terrifying, but also where the magic happens. I love the EMDR tool you shared. Thank you for offering something so tangible. I’m definitely going to try that.
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Ashley Renee Smith glad you found it helpful. And thanks for openly sharing about your over-thinking and difficulty switching off. You are definitely not alone with that. Look forward to hearing how the 'Safe Situation' exercise goes if you get around to it
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Great info Alexandra Stevens and I'm with Ashley Renee Smith when she speaks of perfectionism. I still struggle with it but I'm slowly learning that when I let go, the work produced turns out better than it would have had I held on so tightly. Again, still learning (I struggle with my past work being any good) but the road to peace (for me) lies in letting go.
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Thanks for sharing this Leonardo Ramirez. I'm planning to write a blog article on it as I suspect perfectionism is pretty common here. Glad to hear how you've managed to shift that a bit for you and that the work is better. And of course it is an ongoing process, as life is
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You're very welcome Alexandra Stevens. Very much looking forward to your article!