What Stops You from Living your Dream?

I head the other day some one say

"Itdoesn't take any more time to dream a big dream than a little dream.  Why not dream big?"What stops you from living your dream?  Have you ever asked yourself this question?  I ask my students that question and it is interesting that many times it is not the obvious answer.  It is not finding the right monologue for actors or finding the right hairdo.  No, when it comes down to it, most of the time it is our own inner fear. It is something that is inside you.  It can be something that happened to you lately or as a child where someone probably not intentionally or sometimes intentionally "killed your dream". 

I always feel so honored when my students tell me that many times what they needed was not just a better acting technique (although that is important too) but it is to find a way to fight the fear and be able to do what they love to do.

Yes I work with a lot of professional actors but I also work with people who never want to be actors but they do want to be able to speak in groups and lead in their company or business. They want to figure out why they are afraid and why they stop themselves. 

Lately I worked with a woman who found that she was stopping herself in her business by her huge fear of standing up and speaking to a group of people.  A friend of hers recommended that she come to me.  I told her as I tell most people who call that I don't have the answers but I know how to find the answers.  Why do I say that because the answers are always inside the student.  And they are distinctive to that person and his or her life experiences. 

What is so exciting for me is to be able to help someone find out why they are stopping themselves and how to fix it.  Simple and Plain.  But that is what works.  And yes I find using acting exercises can help to make that happen.  Why?  Because when we are free to imagine to make believe stuff happens.  Yeah I know that is messy explanation. But life sometimes is messy sometimes but there is always a way to figure it out.  That's why I call myself a detective.  Looking for clues and figuring out the mystery of this person. 

With this person on the first night we worked she discovered the reason that had started this fear and for her that made a huge difference in her life.  It was such an emotional moment both for her and for me too.  The joy I feel when a person breaks down a barrier is amazing.   With this person other exciting events came out of this experience.  She found that she could reclaim some family relationships and she became more comfortable getting up and speaking.  Now don't get me wrong  we still needed to practice the actual speaking in public.  She still needs to work on that.  But for this person finding the reason behind her fear made a huge difference for her and she now knows that she can become comfortable in front of groups of people and I think she will become a very inspiring and exciting speaker for her business. 

We all have fears that keep us from accomplishing something that is important to us.  Finding a way past that is one of the residual effects that happens for people in my acting workshops who may not want to be actors but want to be able to do what they dream of doing.  That belief in yourself doesn't just come by someone telling you to do it. By allowing yourself to "play" in  a make believe situation,  to pretend to be someone else and analyze that person's life, to realize that everyone not just you have inner battles,  many times people discover strengths they never realized they had.   It comes from trying something that scares you like an acting workshop or a new class and discovering abilities you find in yourself  to succeed in whatever you decide to do.  

So I do  agree with that person who said,

It doesn't take any more time to dream a big dream than a little dream.  Why not dream big?

And if I can be of some help to people to find their way to their dreams and learn how to get past their own fears, I am honored to do so. 

So face your fears and go after your dreams.  Now is the time!