Get A Move On

Tonight I go to the theatre to see some friends in [act]ion. Hooray!

As August draws near, I get closer to my big move and my excitement about my own acting career is starting to build!

A client at my work recommended some teachers and workshops to me and I started googling away.

Some of the women she mentioned had books out so one thing led to another and I ended up splurging on a mini "Amazon" binge, ordering quite a few plays and books about acting in LA.

Some of it's pretty funny and induces little giggle-fits or major eye rolling but I'm determined to put snobbery aside and try to focus on the potentially helpful bits.

Never judge a book by its...

Yeah, yeah.

Another book I was incredibly skeptical about at first is turning out to have a few cool tidbits too.

But shhhhhh... it's a ______.

Nothing you haven't heard before if you've ever read about any "creative visualization" techniques but it's always cool to be reminded to think positively, I guess.

I will say that I hate the way it's marketed, don't approve of the materialistic overtones and could do without the ridiculous Da Vinci Code-esque look of the thing.

But all that said, I do believe that thoughts can create your reality in the sense that the things on your mind color your mood and affect those around you. I dig it. Why dwell on what sucks?

So in that spirit: I feel great today! I've made it out for my morning jogs every day this week and I have the comfiest bed EVER and cool friends AND I got to eat yummy fruit from Bi-Rite last night AND it's almost the weekend! Life is good, no?

*The next few months are going to be a little hectic for me so I don't think I'll be posting much but there will probably be at least one more before I move. Then, when I make it down south it'll be a change-of-address and a change-of-blog-address too! You will be able to find me here and I think I'm going to be posting lot's and lot's of pictures now that I have a camera again. Follow my Adventures and watch me sink or swim!

Contemplating Attachments

Today I will make vegan cupcakes with tofutti "cream cheese" frosting.

The last time I attempted vegan cupcakes I made them chocolate with green mint frosting.
Everyone called them "toothpaste cupcakes".

I'm determined to redeem myself today! However, in the spirit of this post, I will try not to become attached to a particular outcome. These will be my "go-with-the-flow" cupcakes.

Getting my hair chopped was a good reminder of how easy it is to become attached to stuff, (in this case a mess of dead cells). The day before my scheduled cut I stood outside Little Star, waiting for Amanda to get us a table and found myself drifting off into a hair stroking trance. I caught my reflection in the window and took hold of my longer locks. I started running my fingers down from root to tip and repeated this motion unconsciously until,

"SHAKTI! What are you doing? I got us a table!"

"Dude, I'm not psychic, I was waiting for you to tell me! Lemme lock up my bike."

Really I had just zoned out but the point of this stupid story is that I realized I don't want to be tied down by my attachments. I know I'll always have certain attachments. I'm not a saint and don't plan on becoming one but I also don't want to get to a point in my life where my clinging to material things is running the show! The hair thing got me thinking...

The new chop has brought with it a new sense of freedom! I'm re-inspired to continue minimizing my stuff and since I'm going to be moving in August, I have a real excuse for getting rid of things.

Letting go can be really hard but one of the things I keep hearing at these Buddhist meditations is that it's the clinging that causes the suffering. I find this to be true in my own experience so it's interesting to experiment with what happens when you let go of stuff for starters.

I'll clear out some trash and clutter from my room and then move on to bigger things such as the boxes of "mystery junk" under the bed and in the closet. As I go through the bits and pieces I'll try to be mindful of what I'm feeling or experiencing.

Today my practice is a cupcake/cleaning meditation.

Random:
Speaking of attachments, what's with people spending tons of money on engagement rings??? This is kind of like the baby thing from the last post. I just really want to hear your thoughts.

Sometimes I feel like we just continue to accept things because "that's just the way things are".

I hate this.

Oh, and another thing, I might be showing some paintings in the near future.
Weird.
More on that later...