I had to click on that.
While not a huge fan of his comedic style, I watched his
commencement address to graduates at Maharishi University with growing admiration. The jewel I took away was “your most
valuable commodity is the effect you have on others”.
I mused on that during my walk to the beach with Gracie today
and I will be honest that I am in what Seth Godin calls “The Dip”. A bit stuck.
I was feeling
sorry for myself, a bit down, stalled. And that is silly because good things are happening. Things are moving forward…but we always want
them to be further ahead than they are.
Then I realized, I was thinking about the effect my life was
having on me, as opposed to the
effect my career, NPT, my teaching was having on others.
I feel as though I take direction well, so I started by noticing
simple things on my walk with Gracie today concerning the “effect” I have on
others. I acknowledged that the effect I
have on Gracie when I am scratching her chin is that her back leg thumps
too. When I smiled at the older
gentleman pruning his bushes as we walked by he smiled back.
Then I transferred the cause
and effect thinking to part of my career.
My teaching: The effect I want to have on my students is not
just to teach them technically how to sing, but also to keep showing them
how the real world of theatre works. The entrepreneurial side of the
business. The effect I want to have
on them is that they enter that world well-armed and ready
psychologically. Nurtured, yes. But not pampered. Inspired to do their best
work, but also tough-skinned. I realized
if I am thinking of the effect on myself
in this I would only be nice and sweet and relatively uncritical so that they
think highly of me. But if I really want to have a positive and lasting effect, I have to be honest and diligent in my teaching. Yes and tough.
My career: It’s so easy to say as an actor that you had
an effect because you made the
audience feel, cry, laugh. That’s
good! Is it enough for me? I guess not
because I have always taught and
performed. There needed to be more even
than that or I guess I would not have
started NPT.
Ah and now we come to the crux of my cause and effect thinking. The
reason for my musing. The reason I am
stuck. What “effect” do I want NPT to
have on others?
In total honesty, it’s easy to get lost in the ego of
this. What effect does starting NPT have
on me? What effect does it have on my career? We are at a huge jumping off
point now and it’s not just my own
career, it’s an entire nonprofit with a board that believes in this project,
and donors and other performers and, and, and!
I started NPT with a huge vision. I have it written down. I
know others believe in it. It could be as simple as remembering the effect the
arts have on those in need I guess and then applying it to a whole community.
The little neighbor girl I gave flute lessons to years ago
who had lymphoma. It was the only thing
that would get her to move her swollen little fingers. The kids at After School at the Klein who
feel inspired beyond their immediate inner-city surroundings to do more with
their lives because of an arts class.
I need to make this post a, "To be continued...." as I keep my mantra "The Effect you want to have on others".....on the world....
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