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In this episode we touch on the N word. A word that many creatives dread. It’s one of those things that you can’t avoid in this industry. Networking!   Resources  Awareness by Osho https://amzn.to/2RRRPZu Follow us: Twitter: @thedoestudios Instagram: @doestudios Website: www.doestudios.com/oliversanswer

Over the past few days, I have been blessed with the opportunity to work alongside young fellow creatives and artists, and I can’t help but relish in gratitude. In my personal experience, it’s become some what of a rare thing to see a group of creatives band together to make something special happen. I have been so accustomed to encountering artists who live self serving lives and don’t have any interest in adding to the culture or industry, unless they are promised fame and fortune. I used to label these people as selfish, until I realized that they didn’t know any better.   Author and life coach, Iyanla Vanzant, had a sit down interview with Oprah Winfrey where she discussed the difference between being selfish and selffull. Although the context of their conversation was different, it made me realize that not everyone is in a place to give more of themselves. Many are functioning from a place where they see their glass as half empty. To them, giving anything more would mean taking away from the little that they already have.   I have this phrase that I use with family and friends whenever I feel like I need time to silence the mind and centre myself. I say: I do not have any energy to offer you right now. That is usually followed up by me requesting time to be alone until I gather myself and my emotions. In the beginning, many of my friends and family said I was being selfish. But the truth of the matter was that I wasn’t selfFULL. I needed to take a moment so that I was solid enough to offer more of me without taking away from what I had in my cup.   A lot of artist’s feel like they are better than that lowing paying acting or writing job, so they don’t take it. They sit around waiting for a big break that never comes. Why? Because the opportunity that would have changed their life forever showed up in a shopping cart, when they were expecting a Lamborghini. Nine times out of ten, it all stems from insecurity. A place where your ego tells you that you will never be successful unless your dream looks like this.   A creative who is selffull can never be broken because they know that no matter their circumstances, they are destined for greatness. They see the big picture and can find beauty in the baby steps.   Right now there’s a young filmmaker who has just started his final year of film school. Every Thursday he goes to a small meet up for filmmakers in a tiny conference room in the back of a coffee shop. A meetup that you’ve avoided attending because you felt it would be a waste of time. What you didn’t know is that, the young filmmaker was working on a film that is going to be nominated for an Oscar in 2021. A film that everyone in that tiny conference room was apart of.   The only way that we can see change happen is if we take the time to make sure our glass is full.   Resources Oprah’s Lifeclass Interview with Iyanla Vanzant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhqokZF5OFU Follow us: Twitter: @thedoestudios Instagram: @doestudios Website: www.doestudios.com/oliversanswer

Every actor or creative goes through a slow period. A point when you feel like things aren’t really happening for you. Auditions aren’t coming in, you don’t feel inspired to pick up the pen and write. For many of us this can be a really dark time. A time when you start questioning your choices, whether or not you have the talent or even your worthiness.   As a child I grew up in the church and despite my spiritual journey taking me down another path, there are a few passages in the bible that continue to resonate with me to this day. “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop; idle lips are his mouthpiece” Proverbs 16 v. 27. Whenever I say this passage I don’t envision a man in horns and a tail handing me weapons of mass destruction. I believe it was meant to be consumed as more of a metaphor. It’s in the moments of idleness that our ego creeps in and starts to fill our minds with negativity.   And being idle should not be confused with being still. So often, when people begin taking up a practice like meditation, they give up during the process of silencing the mind. Some use the excuse that they can’t stop thinking, others say that they feel like they could be spending their time being more “productive”. Being busy does not equate to being happy or having clarity. Those can only be discovered by surrendering to that which is greater that yourself. In a time when people have the attention span of a goldfish, something like silencing the mind and being at one with yourself feel impossible. But it isn’t.  You just have to trust the process.   So this all sounds great hypothetically, but what are some tangible things that can be done in the moment of those slow times.   First off, let go of any judgement. Whether that be lack of auditions or writers block, whether it was given by choice or circumstance, see it with compassion and trust that you will receive clarity when the time is right. Everything comes in seasons and contrast. That’s the only way for you to discover what you truly want.   The next thing is to do something else that brings you joy. Too often people believe that by taking a slight detour, means that you’re giving up on your dreams. No! Sometimes you need to shift gears a bit to find inspiration again. You’ll never get it wrong, and you’ll never get it done. Life is about constant evolution.   Lastly, hold on to that joy and add it to your arsenal of memories for future encounters with the ego. There have been many times when I was sitting at me desk feeling stuck and a tiny memory from my childhood would pop into my head and it would bring a smile to my face. The little ounce of joy was enough to inspire me to sit in front of my keyboard and write a power ballad which would then give birth to my very first musical.   All it takes is a single drop of joy to invite inspiration. If you’re stuck, do something else. If in moments of silence you feel unworthy, do something that makes you happy until you get to a place where you are better equip to handle the ego. But w  ords don’t teach, only life experiences do. So try it! What have you got to lose?   Follow us: Twitter: @thedoestudios Instagram: @doestudios Website: www.doestudios.com/oliversanswer

In this episode we dig into the archives and revisit a message that holds value and resonance even to this day. You have one purpose in life and that is to create, experience and love unconditionally. Do not judge others for their differences, but instead use it as an opportunity to discover what it is that you truly want.   Follow us:  Twitter: @thedoestudios Instagram: @doestudios Website: www.doestudios.com/oliversanswer  

Staying motivated takes work. Just as you have committed to mastering your craft, the same must be done for the mind. In a time when being good at one thing isn’t enough to pay the bills, we find ourselves having to hone other abilities. Whether that means that you’re an actor taking dance classes or a musician taking photography classes, many of us end up working towards multiple things. But there comes a time when you hit wall. A point where you believe that you are equally good at everything and this leads to a lack of motivation, which then introduces this thing called procrastination. The excuse you give yourself is that you have no idea where to start because you’re so good at so many things. That my friends is a cop out. It’s your ego! The reality is that if you were really good at everything, then you wouldn’t be concerned about which one you choose because logically any of those things should work out for you. The question that you should be asking yourself is why do I no longer feel motivated?  Why do I feel like I have nothing more to learn? The answer isn’t to find another career path nor does it mean to give up on everything. You need to change the way you think.  Dr. Joseph Murphy, is his book titled The Power of the Subconscious Mind, writes: “Most people try to change conditions and circumstances by working on those conditions and circumstances. This is a terrible waste of time and effort. They fail to see that their conditions flow from a cause. To remove discord, confusion, lack, and limitation from your life, you must remove the cause. That cause is the way you use your conscious mind, the thoughts and images you encourage in it. Change the cause, and you change the effect. It is just that simple."  Take some time to silence the mind and reconnect with that inner being. That stream on clarity that you were tapped into when you first fell in love with your craft. That moment when you were filled with such joy and excitement to work at perfecting your craft. Meditate. Start with at least 10-15 minutes a day. When the voices of unworthiness and lack of motivation creep in, hear them with compassion, then let them drift away. Just as you have trained yourself to become a better actor or writer, you need to train your mind as well. It’s like a muscle. And if you tire of that, watch or do something that excites you. Whether that be watching a play or eating your favourite ice cream, give yourself the chance to find joy. Then from that heightened joyful place, inspiration will float into your experience with ease. Resources   The Power of the Subconscious Mind by Dr. Joseph Murphy https://amzn.to/2nRmC8o   Follow us: Twitter: @thedoestudios Instagram: @doestudios Website: www.doestudios.com/oliversanswer  

Prince charming isn't just going to show up on your door step. Not until you've done the work. Listen in while we explore the languages of love and uncover how they can be utilized for character development. Show Notes: Your emotions work like the tuner on a radio. If your dial is set to sadness, you will receive sadness. If your dial is set to joy, you will receive joy. When someone’s personal frequency is set to the “lack of” there is nothing that can be said or done to change that. Like attracts like. That is Law. With that said, the best thing that one can offer to someone who is on a lower frequency is silence and an open ear. However, many of us feel like we aren’t being helpful if we aren’t actively engaged in the interaction, so we say things like “love yourself first, the rest will come”. These words only offer more suffering because it’s a reminder of what they do not have. Their frequency is set to sadness and loneliness; they cannot hear you. Exploring love languages are a great way to understand how you feel love. It can also be used to develop a character’s motives in a scene. i.e. A female protagonist commits a number of heinous acts after her husband divorces her. It isn’t enough to say that she lost her mind because she “misses her husband’s companionship”. Giving her a love language will take her from being an archetype to more of a three dimensional character. Everyone has a primary and a secondary love language.   Love Language Breakdown Words of Affirmation: This means that you feel love when someone say’s things like: “I love you” or “You mean the world to me” or “I would do anything for you”. Acts of Service: When someone does something for you like: cleaning the house, walking the dog or even little things like opening and closing doors. For these people, actions speak louder than words. Receiving Gifts: Pretty self explanatory. These folks feel love whenever something is given to them.  Quality Time: People with this love language appreciate spending time with those they love. It’s all about them getting your undivided attention.  Physical Touch: Nothing means more to those with this love language than an appropriate touch. Once you have figured out your love language, you will be able to articulate what it is that you feel is “lacking” in your life. From there, the path to loving yourself will become clearer. You’ll know exactly what it is that you need to work on. Any want or desire is something you believe will make you happier in the having of it. The answer is to be happy first, then the rest will come. We’ve been conditioned to believe that good things come with struggle, but the truth is that what you’re feeling determines what you attract into your life. “Stop walking through the world looking for confirmation that you don’t belong. You will always find it because you’ve made that your mission”. Quote from author Brene Brown Make your mission that of joy, harmony and clarity. Enjoy the journey. The rest will come.   Resources 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman https://amzn.to/2PncqRj Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown https://amzn.to/2MA5v8Y   Follow us: Twitter: @thedoestudios Instagram: @doestudios Website: www.doestudios.com/oliversanswer

Method acting. A technique evolved by Stanislavsky in which an actor doesn’t just play the character, but they become them.   As an actor, we’re hesitant to dive too deep into our character out of fear of losing ourselves. Method acting can be scary! The best way to take it on is to make sure that you’ve taken care of your own personal demons first. This can be done by doing the work. More specifically, shadow work.  Shadow work: Working on the side of you that you feel is flawed. Shadow Work Outline   Step 1: No emotions are bad. Recognize that these emotions that you are feeling are not bad. You cannot move forward if you are constantly judging yourself for your emotions. Meditation is a great tool for this step. Take 10 – 15mins a day to be still, silence your mind & silence the ego.  Step 2: Identifying the Shadow Look for patterns in your life. What are certain themes and experiences that keep presenting themselves to you? Go back as far into your past as you can until you land on the very first time you ever felt that emotion. i.e. Someone who discovers that they are always the first to leave a relationship, may find that they are still suffering from the abandonment they felt when their mother walked out on them. So in order to protect themselves from another broken heart, they make sure that they’re the first to leave. In their minds, every relationship has an expiration date. Step 3: Investigating with Compassion Subconsciously you project onto others anything you bury within yourself. The ego uses this tool as a defense mechanism. Keep a Journal. You can write down whatever it is that you are feeling. It does not need to follow any specific template. The idea is that you get everything out and onto the page. Write a letter. You can write a letter to your offender, the bystanders or even yourself. You don’t actually have to deliver the letter; you can rip it up or burn it afterwards. The idea is that you release the ties that bind and forgive those who did you wrong. But most of all, you need to forgive yourself. By the end of this you should have a pretty good idea of where you came from, where you are going and how you can do things differently. Step 4: Love that little boy or girl unconditionally. It was that younger version of you that experienced these emotions for the very first time, so love them. Let them know that you did the best you with what you had. Your emotions matter and how you feel matter. You are not alone. Remember that this is a process. Don’t expect to get all of this overnight, but you need to be sure that you are doing the work. The only way that you can experience change is if you put in the work. And then… the next you decide to dive deeper into a character, you wont be afraid because you will be in alignment.   Follow us: Twitter: @thedoestudios Instagram: @doestudios Website: www.doestudios.com/oliversanswer

    This first episode covers the idea of control, and what it means to us as artists, to us as creators, to us as beings in this physical reality. This idea was inspired by a sequence of events that took place in my life within the last month or so. I was on set shooting a TV show, and I unfortunately dislocated my right shoulder. It wasn’t anything too extreme, but it was in fact painful. Instead of taking drugs for the pain I decided, why not take up yoga? So for the past few months I have been going to yoga classes, stretching and taking care of my body. As tough as it has been, I just trusted the process. I knew that the path that I was on to recovery was going to work out for me in the end. Funny enough, my yoga teacher also does Reiki treatments. I had never had a Reiki treatment done before, but today I got my first Reiki treatment. Which was a great experience, it was everything that I thought it would be. I urge all of you readers to get Reiki treatments done, it works. I mean, if you’re open to the idea it will work. If there’s some resistance I can see it not being the best experiences for some people. Nonetheless, and the end of my treatment, my yoga teacher and I started a conversation about a book he was reading. He went on to mention that there was a particular line in the book that was resonating with him. The quote was something along the lines of, you are not in control of what happens to you. The minute he said that I was kind of taken aback. So I asked him: Do you believe in the law of attraction? He said: Yes.  *For those of you who may not know what the law of attraction is, it’s essentially one of the laws of the universe that: like attracts like. So if you put good into the universe, you will receive good back to you. If you put negativity out in to the universe, that negativity will be reflected back to you. * So when he said that he believes in the law of attraction I then took in a step further and said: Using that as your premise, what makes you feel that you aren’t in control of your life? And he said: I don’t mean control in terms of navigation. What I mean is control in terms of, when you are in a shitty situation, you have no control over that situation. It just is presently. And that’s why it is so important that, in ANY conversation that you are having with anyone, if you don’t understand something, ask what that person means. Not ask them in a condemning way, but ask them to explain what it is that they mean so you can gain better understanding. Which is why I phrased my response the way that I did. First, I asked about the law of attraction, then secondly I said: Using that as your premise, what makes YOU feel that you aren’t in control of your life? Before I had asked that question, I was under the impression that this particular individual felt as though we’re kind of just beings just floating randomly, and we don’t really have any sort of direction. Almost as if there really isn’t a purpose for us being here, we’re just there. But he wasn’t saying that at all. He was saying exactly what it was that I was feeling, just in a different way. On my way home I asked my self, when he mentioned that to you, why did a part of you take it personal? I thought about words that may have triggered it. That’s when I ended up on the word control, and the weight that that word carries and the importance that that word carries in the lives of everyone. To be told that you aren’t in control of your life is almost terrifying. The funny thing is that, as performers, you’re kind of taught that. You aren’t in control of your career. You aren’t in control of whether or not you will land that job. You are not in control of whether or not you will maintain that job, and you are not in control of whether or not you will get a job after that. Then they throw in that L word. That irritating L word. Luck. A word that implies that only a select few will be blessed to experience the luxury of being caressed and held by this beautiful thing called luck. And it’s irritating. It is. It’s frustrating for most of us, because if you’re a performer or some sort of creative, you’re sensitive! You come from a history of being the introvert, or being the one with the big personality. You know what it feels like to be different because at one point you were different. Whether it be, you being in the drama club in high school or you being the only boy in your ballet class growing up, you know what it feels like to not be apart of those select few who are praised, if you would. So as a performer to be told that only a select few are going to be lucky and make it, subconsciously you’re kind of thrown back into that place of: I don’t stand a chance. I don’t have what it takes. I’m not in control, this thing called luck is in control. But I’m here to tell you that you ARE in control. You were put on this planet to create. You chose to come to this physical reality to experience, to live, to love, to have free will, to GROW! Everything that is around you in this present moment, everything that you are experiencing right now is a manifestation of something you either wanted, or something that you didn’t want, but you were focused upon it. You have the choice. You have the freedom to pick what it is that you are going to focus on. Your focus shouldn’t be on the lack of auditions. Your focus shouldn’t be on the lack of call backs. Your focus shouldn’t be on the lack on money. What you should be focusing on is your craft and how it makes you feel. As an artist, how you feel when you’re become another character. As a writer when you’re creating a story, when you’re trying to draw your audience so that they can lay with you and live you and love with you. That is what your focus should be on. The art. The thing that gives you life. The rush you feel when you’re on that stage and the curtain opens and the light hits you and it’s your moment. That feeling is what you should focus on. And I promise, if THAT is what is driving you in your decision making, you will never NOT be in control of your life. Resources Book mentioned by yoga teacher is called: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson https://amzn.to/2OP3gMj Follow us: Twitter: @thedoestudios Instagram: @doestudios Website: www.doestudios.com/oliversanswer