Meditation: Headspace, Focus Length: 3 minutes Where: Office/Guest Room, Los Angeles How It Felt: Short!
I was really trying to fit a lot of tasks in last night, including memorizing half a play worth of lines. My character has a ton of dialogue, all toe to toe with the lead actor. One on one, no room for error. It’s heady stuff, exploring big themes and some deeply traumatic situations, and I’m just trying to do it justice.
I am out of memorizing shape (which I’m hearing from a lot of my fellow actors- a combination of lack of practice after a fifteen month theatre hiatus and quite a bit of stress). I have to really, really work at it, which I’ve seldom if ever had to do before. Maybe my first few Shakespeare gigs were this challenging, but I’ve always been a fast memorizer. This is frustrating for me!
As always, giving myself grace and reminding myself I’m not alone. I’m just going to have to work twice as hard at this one, and working hard to do what I love has never been a problem for me. I’m so lucky to even be in the arena. How many people get to have their dream job? (I hope more and more will now, after this pandemic reset so many of our priorities!)
I’m not complaining.
I really wanted a “Focus” meditation, but the one on Headspace was super short. Still, I figured it would help! Three minutes of meditating is far better than two, which is better than none. However, I wanted more.
So, I spent a minute doing Headspace’s beautiful breathing exercise, too. I love those. The little animations are always so cute, and they just make me smile! I like how Headspace is organized, and it’s likely the app I will keep at the end of my yearlong experiment. We’ll see! I think it’s well worth the price.
Did the meditation help me focus? I have no idea. But I was crazy busy and I still stopped to meditate. So that’s a win.
I think I might take a night off tonight. Not of meditating, of course, just from my to do list. Order some sushi, watch a dumb show. Give my tired mind a rest. Sleep in tomorrow and start fresh.
Then kill it tomorrow and the next several days!! Big goals this week!
Oh, man. I missed having big goals I can do something about. So ready for this pandemic to be over for real! Someday.
My Year of Meditation 