We are that generation of Indians who have been blessed to have cruised the wave of the opening of our economy to foreign investors, the advent of cable TV and the inevitable globalization that followed.
We watch the latest sit coms & films, eat fast food from international food chains, shop for the latest trends in fashion and more importantly imbibe the notions of success that come from the illusion of fame and glamour not just from our culture but from across the globe.
Now as much as I enjoy the benefits of all this connectivity reading the latest issues of GQ & Vogue or watching YouTube, I am deeply aware of the inconspicuous side effects of this level of exposure.
We live in an age that defines “success” in a twisted way.
Looking at the rising statistics of drug use, plastic surgery and celebrity suicides one would think that it would be obvious that fame isn't the ideal marker of happiness or success.
The standards by which we qualify success have become more and more convoluted.
In this day, as long you as you are the right size, live in the right address, have access to designer clothes, shoes, gadgets or have a certain number of friends on Face book you can consider yourself successful.
It’s all about how it looks on the outside, about external validation.
There is this huge compelling need to be recognized and acknowledged as attractive or talented or worthy of being, well, somebody.
The problem with being obsessed with being “ somebody” one can forget how to be you.
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” ~ Rumi
I’ve found that for most people, who want to be actors or models or in any job that involves being in the limelight; it’s about being seen. Somewhere in their childhood or in the structure of their first families they felt neglected, unseen or unloved.
As simplistic as that sounds, most artists’ start out that way but with time and a conscious desire to heal they move past that initial compulsion.
In my reality, only when I have been able to move past the needs of the wounded ego and align with my spirit’s plan and potential, I have then been able to bring something unique and extraordinary to whatever it is that I have chosen to put my energy into.
That is the approach that has worked for me whether I was writing a new script or directing a project or when taking a photograph.
It stops being about being on stage or in film but more about doing what makes your heart sing irrespective of who is watching or if anyone is watching at all.
It becomes about the work, how much you & your collaborators grew and evolved in the doing & making of it and how it affected your audience be it 3 people or 3000.
And the work stands, irrespective of how much money I made on the project or how much publicity we got doing it, or how the reviews read, because the intention behind it was crystal clear.
Acting is something different to everybody. I just know that if you watch an actor or actress getting better and better, I think that's them just understanding themselves better and better.
Cameron Diaz
I believe that each one of us is born with a mission and given traits, talents and flaws to enable us to fulfill that mission. The mission is in-extricably tied into what we each bring to the world and our contribution in making it better than how we found it.
For me success has become about living in alignment with spirit (Buddha nature, higher self, God what ever you want to call it) about following passion, living with conscious awareness and embracing the responsibility that comes when you understand how powerful you are.
It doesn’t mean that I remain completely un-affected by issues of money or bad reviews or unsupportive people; I now look at those moments as opportunities for growth and as material to use in my work. Today using theatre and film to spread awareness is my passion; tomorrow I may end up being an apple farmer who is to say.
The greatest gift I have been given by my teachers has been to learn to spot the difference between the ego’s desire, the hearts longing and the soul’s calling. And in that I've found my freedom.
“When I was a child my mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier, you'll be a general. If you become a monk, you'll be the pope.' Instead I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.”
― Pablo Picasso
“When I was a child my mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier, you'll be a general. If you become a monk, you'll be the pope.' Instead I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.”
― Pablo Picasso
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