I
recently came upon an excerpt from an Actor’s Studio interview with stage and
screen actor Hugh Jackman. Though I’ve never seen Jackman’s work, his
discussion of the acting process was invaluable.
“The
life of an actor is really about being awake,” he explains. Speaking
specifically of stage work, he discusses the importance of keeping a
performance fresh, night after night, by truly listening to his fellow actors
in a scene. "You do eight shows a week, and if you're not awake, that thing is going to be stale by the 5th show," he explains. Each performance, "has to be for the first time."
Sounds
a lot like life, this amazing play that dawns fresh in each moment.
When
we move across the stage on autopilot, however, preoccupied and speaking our
lines from rote, that freshness is lost. We become stale and life loses its
rich flavor. But
when we awaken, our authentic presence is offered to even the simplest
experience, and we are enlivened in the process.
When
we speak to a loved one or greet a coworker, for example, we can do so in a
daze, just another weary actor reading from a barren script. Or we can pause to
truly see the person in front of us and speak from the heart.
The
interval we’re discussing here is more one of awareness than of duration, as
even the busiest day allows time for an authentic hello. The challenge is to
cut through our inner landscape, to get out of our own way in order to perceive
the person before us simply as they are in that moment. When
we do so, we connect with the essence shining through. Our attentiveness
enlarges the channel through which that vitality flows, and we both are
nourished.
As
I type that last sentence, my fingers drop from the keyboard and I turn toward
the window. A deep blue sky cradles a westering sun. The garden lies in shadow
and a breeze stirs the leaves of backyard trees.
It
has been a stressful day. With lots to do and deadlines looming, I have
constricted and become depleted. Now, as I consciously lay down my busyness, an
oasis spreads out before me.
Earlier
I’d discovered, not surprisingly, that Hugh Jackson is a meditator. In a 2006
interview in O Magazine, he refers to meditation as “dipping into that powerful
source that creates everything.” I
do this now. I steep myself in that which gives rise to it all. I awaken once
more and am soothed.
Many
believe we are here on this dear planet for precisely this purpose~~to awaken
again and again, until living in full awareness becomes the new norm. And
then, no matter our role or who shares the stage with us, we will know with our
whole being that all is well.
Happy dipping! Oh, and double dipping is allowed!!!
Loanne Marie
And click here to get to Jackson's interview clip. Links to the full interview and an earlier one, too, can be found to the right.
