Change of Place: Inspiration, Flaky Non-Actors, and Utter Disappointment

Part of my plan in coming to Puerto Rico was to take a break from film and commercial work.  But that quickly changed in less than 2 weeks.  Moving to a new place makes everything exciting.  If you've been walking down the same street, neighborhood or city for a few years or more, chances are good that you don't "see" as much anymore.  Things like grocery shopping, going to the post office, or filling your gas tank are now probably mundane.  Unless you make a conscious effort to look, or see things in a new light.

All of that is much easier when you move to a new place.  You can explore everything: The streets, the alleys, the people, the places, etc.  Everything from a stray dog taking a shit can be exciting!  And there are A LOT of stray dogs in Puerto Rico.

Needless to say, I'm already rejuvenating my creative inspiration.  However, I thought it'd take me a while to find crew and actors.  Within a week and a half, I met a fashion photographer and cinematographer who relocated from New York.  His wife teaches where I work.  That was a start.

We decided to try working together, first, on a contest for MOFILM.  I came up with an idea I really liked and kept it simple so that we could produce it within our limitations (No budget, 2 man crew, I don't have a car, no lights, short amount of time until the deadline, very small actor talent pool, etc).

The last week I've been very busy both at work and then running around trying to produce this project.  Craigslist isn't very popular on the island.  In order to find actors, I ran, literally ran on my feet, around town posting handwritten casting notices.  Meanwhile I was scouting locations, trying to borrow a truck, gather props, all while trying to make a schedule that can be realistic and simple as possible while balancing all the variables.  

Casting was appearing to be the most difficult.  The DP and I went to the market, the beaches, and around town asking strangers if they were interested in acting.  The short notice and scheduling was looking difficult.

Monday I got a call from someone who was interested.  It was getting down to the last minute.  I ran 5 miles down the beach barefoot with my backpack to meet her.  Again, my feet are my only transportation.  Not too many people ride bicycles here because the roads are narrow, there's usually not a shoulder, people drive crazy, and there's 1500 accidents on the island a week.

I meet the woman, she's a yoga instructor.  She hasn't acted, but she's enthusiastic and looks the part.  She has a husband, a surf instructor, who fits the part and is interested as well.  Awesome!  We're cast!

We planned to shoot yesterday on my day off after they get off work but I get a call the night before from the husband saying that yesterday was the only day he could have a mechanic fix his car.  No flexibility there.  Okay fine, it's gonna be a pain but we reschedule everything:  Borrowing people's truck, apartment, babysitter for the DP, my work schedule...

Everything's good to go for today.  We're shooting at 1pm.  I get off work, make lunches to cater for the "actors" and start set dressing and moving furniture from other buildings with the DP.  We have picnic tables outside wrapped in tinfoil bouncing light into the windows.  We have a janky tripod and on it we have pretty good cameras with nice lenses.  We're all set up.

I walk around the campus to see if the a actors are lost.  I give the husband a call.  I say, "Hey this is Marty for the commercial."  I get a "Hey, what's up man!"  No indication, recognition, or apology that they are 30 minutes late.  Then I realize I dialed his house number and not his cell phone.  Uh oh.  "Are you guys on your way soon?"  "Hold on a sec."  I wait for about 2-3 minutes of silence and then the wife picks up.  She quickly tells me how "crazy" things have been for them and I get a list of eight excuses or more.  She asks if we could shoot next week.  I remind her, as I told her before, that the final deadline for submission is Monday.  Insert more excuses.  My mind and body become a bit numbed from disappointment.

I kindly explain to her how much goes into the schedule and planning for a film or commercial project.  I explain how important it is that when you tell me you are available, then you have to be available.  Otherwise, it's important to tell me that you're not available.  It makes sense to most professionals, especially producers and those in film.  Apologies.  Good bye.

Burned.

I sit down with the DP and share the disappointment.  We talk it over, try to think of alternate casting, but we really don't have anything.  I say let's think about it for 10 minutes to give time for a creative alternative or solution.  Ten minutes go by.  We call it off.  It's done.  A lot of planning and work for nothing.  Or rather, a lot of work for the lesson learned.

Back in Michigan, with my network of both actor talent, crew, and other resources, I could have pulled this off.  Not in Puerto Rico. Not yet at least.

I still feel a little numb.  I wish I wasn't working on this the last few days and I could have rested more.  Oh well, it was a great first lesson to approaching future projects here.  I'll need plenty of time for pre-production and casting to find real actors or reliable people.  I'll also need enough wiggle room for cancellations and rescheduling.  I'll forget about people being on time in the Caribbean.  Unless they're surfers, we're shooting a surf spot, and a good swell is coming in.

I'm gonna go take an afternoon nap, swim in the ocean later, and get over this one.

Change of Fruits: First Tastes

The last few days I've been trying fruits I never had before.  And I like that.

The kitchen picked some puma rosa yesterday.  It's looks like a small red pear with white flesh and a pit inside.  It kind of tastes like eating a tart handful of rose petals.  Awesome!

Chironja is a common fruit in Puerto Rico that I eat a lot of.  It's a cross between a grapefruit and an orange.  It's sweet and delicious.

Change of Place: Moved to Puerto Rico

I made it Puerto Rico! I’ll be here for the next 3-4 months doing a work exchange at the Ann Wigmore Natural Health Institute in Aguada where they teach the Living Foods Lifestyle created by Dr. Ann. I live in the men’s dormitory where there are 6 beds and, currently, 2 other participants staying. I work in the kitchen and will be producing videos and marketing materials in the near future. I eat a very simple diet here in the program which is living, raw, vegan. 

I wake up early every morning- something I’ve not been good at in the past- and walk 50 yards to the beach. I run barefoot and usually head south to the town of Rincon. I listen to Spanish audio lessons on my iPod. When I turn around and run back to Aguada, the sun starts to rise. It has an amazing warm glow as it parts the palm trees and reflects in the ocean mist. When I get back to Aguada, I go for a swim and then head up for breakfast. 

There’s typically lots of papaya and bananas for breakfast along with almond milk and sprouted buckwheat cereal. For lunch, there’s sprout salads, avocado, and energy soup along with ferments like sauerkraut or seed yogurt. For dinner, always energy soup, which is blended sunflower sprouts and lentil sprouts with vegetables, rejuvelac, and dulse. For people new to the diet, or rather lifestyle, energy soup may be difficult to palate at first. I really like my energy soup though! If you mix in the blended papaya, blended ginger, and limes that are served with it, I think it tastes pretty good. I was warned by people who have come to AWNHI that although the food is very healthy and healing, it can be rather bland. Few seasonings are used and there’s no salt. Dulse, a sea vegetable, and celery are used for sodium. There’s basil, parsley, and other herbs in the garden. Throughout the day, I drink lots of coconut water, water with limes, wheatgrass shots, and rejuvelac- a fermented drink we make from quinoa or cabbage. 

I’m not sure why I didn’t move to the tropics earlier… but I’m happy to be here now. The majority of foods I love, that is the tropical fruits, are here: Bananas, lemons, limes, mangos, coconut, avocados, and more. I didn’t know there were other varieties of avocados! The ones we had at lunch today were huge! Papaya wasn’t my favorite fruit for a while, but I like it now. There’s also a lot of almond trees, but they’re different here. The nuts have a richer flavor and are much softer and skinnier. I learned to crack the fallen shells with a rock yesterday. 

I’m trying to keep my computer use to a more controlled minimum: Once in the morning and once in the evening. Technology can do some great things… but in the past, I would often find myself distracted by the internets and unable to concentrate. Perhaps I’ll get my computer use to only once a day or less. Regardless, it’s much nicer to use my computer at the picnic tables outside where the wind flies while carrying the sounds of the ocean. 

I’m very happy thus far to be at the AWNHI in Aguada. It took a few months of persistence to secure a position. At one point, back in Michigan, I felt like I could have let this opportunity slip by. I thought of moving somewhere else or pushing harder on my career in film. At that time, I began to feel a certain sensation in my gut or body, a physical response to these mental ideas. It felt similar to the physical feeling that can come after an emotional loss or pain. I’ve been getting better at listening to my “gut” feeling. In this case, I began to interpret it as telling me the right thing to do while allowing me to feel the pain and regret that I might experience if I were to let this opportunity pass. I needed to follow this new interest in food and find some personal growth. I’m not sure exactly where I’m heading but I feel as though I’m on the right path. Either way, I’m on the beach in Puerto Rico and I’m happy! 

Boom!

Changing My Seriousness

Sometimes I forget that I shouldn't take myself too seriously...

Because when I remember not to take myself seriously, it is a lot of fun.

The picture above is an example of me not being serious today.

I found a pair of goggles today and I put them on.  Then I put on my warm hat.  Then I laughed like I was a crazy person.  Then I went to the post office and grocery store while pretending I was a pilot.

This made my errands much more exciting.  At the post office, I sent my packages air mail.  At the grocery store, I got in and out of there as fast as I could as if I was on a secret mission.  Driving home, I had to refrain from doing a barrel roll while checking my rear view mirror and seeing cars locked on my target.  Having dual horn triggers at both thumbs proved useful.

Have fun!

Changing

Changing

The year is 2012.  What a change.  Last year it was 2011.

I am 25 years old.  Some people might say I am 25 years young.  The measurement of my age is the same, but the attitude towards it changes.  All the while, my age continues to change as time keeps moving.

Change is everything.  Everything is change.  At least that is what I think right now.  I may no longer think that way…

A few moments ago I changed to become a writer.

Last year I changed a lot.

I changed my physical health.  I changed the foods I put into my body.  I changed what I thought of my body.  I changed what I did with my body. 

All of that helped my body change for the better.  At least I think so right now…

Thoughts, though, are a bit abstracted from my body and they change too.

My body holds my brain where several little things spark and change to create my thoughts. 

If someone is thinking the same thing I am, then does that mean they are sparking and changing exactly like me?

Does my brain hold onto its lovely creation of thoughts? 

I was moving my mouth once while talking to a person.  They were interrupted by a calling, which came from a telephone.  They answered their calling and told me to, “Hold that thought!” 

In the past, I held onto things I loved with my hands and arms.  In a pinch, I could hold onto things with my feet or even in the crook between my neck and shoulder.  I was not quite sure how to hold onto my thought though…  So I just closed my mouth.

Maybe I would be better off if I could hold a thought between my neck and shoulder.  But thoughts are not physical so I cannot hold them there.  I am not even sure if my brain knows how to hold onto thoughts.  My brain is physical.

My thoughts are not physical, but they can still speak to me.  One thought told me it was staying in my mind.  It is a pretty cool place from what it tells me:

Yeah, it’s cool, ya know?  It’s spacious and open unlike that confined space of your cranium.  I get to hang out with your other thoughts all day.  Sometimes someone else’s thought may stop by and crash.  And if I ever get bored or need something fresh, I can move and hang out in someone else’s mind.

 

“You can really pack up and go just like that?” 

There really isn’t anything I have to pack.

Woah!  My thoughts are pretty free spirited!  I like that.  Just hanging out, following their own direction, moving wherever they need to.

“I wish my body could do that,” I say.

Your body can.  Your body holds a brain, which creates thoughts like me.  Sometimes though, I will tell you the wrong things and you must listen to others.

“How do I do that?”

Well, aside from your brain, your body holds onto your heart, which creates emotions that you must also listen to.  If your heart is really telling your body to move and follow another direction, then that may be what you must do.

Your body has 1 mouth and 2 ears.  You were created that way on purpose because listening is more important than speaking.  You must remember that.

The tricky thing is: You cannot listen with just your ears.  Your heart cannot speak to you in the same way others do.

Your heart’s physical purpose is to pump blood throughout your body to keep it living.  Your heart also processes emotions and feelings.  When it does so, it changes the way it pumps blood through your body.  When your heart is afraid, it will beat faster and pump more blood through your body.  Your blood pressure rises.  You may breathe faster because your lungs are working to add oxygen to this increase in blood flow.

While your mouth uses words to communicate, your heart uses your blood.  When your heart is trying to speak to you, you must listen by interpreting it’s beat, the way it pushes blood through your body, and how the rest of your body is responding.  When described with words, this message coming from your heart is sometimes called a “gut feeling.”

“Okay.  So there’s my body, the physical.  My body holds my brain, which creates my thoughts, that are, somewhat, held in my mind, the mental.  My body also holds my heart, which holds and processes my feelings, the emotional.  All of which, are changing right now and all the time.  Isn’t there something else?”

What’s that?

“You know, like the spiritual?  What or where is my soul or spirit?  How does it communicate?  How do I listen to it?  What holds my soul, if anything?  Does my soul change?”

Well… we don’t know much about that yet.  Some of your other thoughts and I have been discussing this in your mind… But we haven’t been able to draw many conclusions...

Change Your Approach and Succeed with Your New Year's Resolutions. It's Not Too Late.

Happy New Year all!  I love this time of year:  A time to reflect on the past, a time to look to the future, a time to make change and energize the present.

I'm not a life coach, but I want to offer you some great advice to make sure you succeed with your resolutions and goals while making awesome change this year.  You can do it!  Read on!

The key to a successful resolution is all in your approach.  This entails your intentions and the perception of yourself among other things.  Unfortunately, many have not learned how to create a successful approach towards reaching their goals.  We are over saturated with poor advice coming from every facet of media, i.e. television, films, web articles, magazines at the grocery store check out, etc.

I often find you learn best from your own failures.  Our society and media often portray failures as a negative thing.  Our exposure to this can create a fear of failure that discourages people from trying something new.  FORGET all of that right NOW.  Failure is a great thing!  It makes success feel greater!  And as long as we can learn from failure, it is always positive.  Michael Jordan would agree.  Read some of his quotes on failure.

We're gonna learn how to make a successful resolution approach by breaking down a failed approach to one of the most common resolutions every year:  I WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT.

Tip 1:

How you phrase your resolution and every single word of your resolution is VERY IMPORTANT.  Empower yourself with your word choice.

When you study your words carefully, they describe your intentions and self perception along with your attitude of whether or not you think you will succeed.  You must STOP wanting and trying and START willing and being.  Although it's still not the best approach, you can improve the above resolution by changing the words to:  I WILL LOSE WEIGHT.

I recently read a very common resolution from a woman via Twitter/Facebook:  I want to lose 10 lbs this year.  This could possibly be a worse choice of phrasing for a similar goal.

Tip 2:

Make a concrete resolution that has tangible steps and goals that you can possibly see or measure.  Do not phrase your resolution with abstract words or ideas.

The idea of losing 10 lbs is somewhat abstract.  Sure, you can measure 10 lbs.  But you really don't know what the loss of 10 lbs is gonna look like.  And why 10 lbs?  Why not just a few pounds.  You can lose a few pounds by fasting without food and water for a couple days.  You may be severely dehydrated but you reached your goal right?  This is logical but sounds crazy.  It's crazy because you lost a few pounds, you succeeded with your resolution, and yet you still don't feel right.  Maybe it's because you're dehydrated now, or you forgot why you made this resolution in the first place, or the result doesn't match your original intention.

Tip 3:

Ask yourself, really, why are you making this resolution in the first place.  The why will help locate and describe your intention: Your reasons and actions for making change.

People often fail at resolutions when their intentions are misguided due to negative feelings, attitudes, and a negative perception of themselves.

For example, I'm going to guess that one reason you might make a resolution to lose 10 lbs is because you're not feeling happy with your body image.  This feeling may have come from self destructive media that portrays celebrities, athletes and skewed versions of health, beauty, and perfection.  Negative feelings of self perception often result from this media exposure.  Although these feelings are not good for you, they're really good for an economy where people want to make money off you by selling you gym memberships, athletic products, food and supplements, 'beauty' products, and a host of other things that, most often, do not make you any healthier or feel any better.

Tip 4:

Make your resolution about YOU and ONLY YOU.  Although it may have a positive ripple effect on others, you should be the primary one to feel the success of YOUR resolution and no one else.

Now, you're starting to realize that your intention to lose 10 lbs was not to look better for anyone else because you don't really care about them.  YOU CARE ABOUT YOURSELF!  

Tip 5:

Tell yourself that you LOVE and RESPECT yourself and THANK yourself for this love and respect.  Say it in the mirror. Say it out loud.  Say it all the time.

You must tell yourself, "I love you."  If you think it's not true, then you're letting the negativity of media, others, and your own self doubt speak for you.  Saying it is the first step to believing it and when you believe it, you will be empowered to create the change you want within yourself and the world.

Tip 6:

While making decisions, remember that you love and respect yourself.

You care about yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  Your love and respect of yourself will promote a healthy mind and body by influencing your decisions.  You realize that the earlier resolution to lose 10 lbs is actually not about losing weight.  It's about caring for yourself, primarily the physical.  It's about creating a healthy body that you love.  It's about empowering your body and enjoying your body which is only one part of enjoying yourself.  When you enjoy yourself, that energy radiates to others.  It's positive.  It's beautiful.  It's attractive.  It will most likely attract more positivity.

Physical health is not a secret.  However, with the great amount of poor and negative marketing and misinformation today, it may seem that way.

Physical health is comprised of 3 core ingredients:

-Good Nutrition

-Good Exercise

-Good Sleep

Obtaining great physical health involves a healthy balance of these components.  When thinking of balance and health, remember this:  Everything in moderation is NOT necessarily healthy.  But, everything healthful in moderation, IS healthy.

Now that we have clarified our intentions in a positive and healthy way, we can now rephrase and create new successful resolutions and approaches that will likely yield the same result to the original resolution: I want to lose weight.

Example:

I will love myself and my body.  I will take care of my health with proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep.

This resolution has a positive intention and message that you can remind yourself of everyday.  You will likely empower yourself and reach success with this resolution.  If you use the old resolution and you remind yourself everyday that you want to lose weight, it will likely promote negative feelings of body image which will hurt more then help you.

Again:

I will love myself and my body.  I will take care of my health with proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep.

This resolution also provides direction for creating sub-resolutions and small steps towards your health success: nutrition, exercise, and sleep.

Some examples of sub-resolutions:

-I will eat a fruit or vegetable I've never tried before (every week).

-I will check out a book from the library each week about nutrition.

-On Sundays: I will wake up without an alarm clock.  I will not do any work.  I will rest.

-I will join a recreation sports team, meet new people, and have fun.

-I will dance in my room or outside for 15 minutes a day.

Tip 7:

Make your resolution FUN!

If you make your resolution or sub-resolutions fun, you've already succeeded.  This is especially important for exercise.  Many people who make resolutions to lose weight also dread exercise.  If that's the case, you need to make it fun!  Or make it a game.  Get creative.  If you're a theatrical person, maybe find a rabbit costume to wear along with a friend who will wear a turtle costume.  Chase each other around town.  Perhaps if the turtle wins, the rabbit must make them a healthy lunch.  You will be exercising, having fun, and spreading laughter and joy to others while indirectly reaching your goal to lose weight.  But again, remember that the goal should not be to lose weight, but to love and care for yourself and your body.

Tip 8:

YOU are ultimately responsible for YOUR OWN HAPPINESS.  No one else.

Be conscious of the decisions you make regarding your health and know that you are responsible for the results.  You have the power to make better and better decisions everyday.  Since you are establishing a love and respect for yourself, it is likely that you will automatically make better decisions which will likely result in improved health and an improved sense of self.

Tip 9:

When approaching your resolutions: Always be positive, and never be negative.  Congratulate yourself on your successes while learning from and forgetting your failures.  Guilt must NEVER be considered when pursuing a goal or resolution.

This is very important on the day to day basis while pursuing a resolution.

Here's one common example: Say you made a healthy resolution and are achieving success.  You've joined a fun sports recreation team, you're exercising, you're learning about nutrition and preparing delicious healthy meals... then one day you breakdown and you try a little bit of junk food.  You feel like you failed.  You feel like you disrespected yourself.  You allow that negativity to sink in and then you don't care anymore.  Perhaps you forget that you care about yourself and you gorge for the rest of the day in bed on junk food while feeling sad.  You feel that it's hopeless.

You must remember that you have made a resolution to yourself and that you are making better decisions and getting better everyday.  That doesn't mean you're never going to make a bad decision.  Bad decisions happen.  They are natural and healthy when we learn from them and move forward.

Again, congratulate and support yourself on your good decisions.  Remember that you love yourself.  Remember your intention.  When you slip up, don't feel guilty and dwell on your bad decisions.  Move forward.  Get better and better.

Tip 10:

A resolution is a change.  A change of actions, thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, ideas...  Change is a transition that takes time.  Make sure to enjoy each moment of it!

Tip 11:

It's never too late.  Only seven days of the new year have passed.  It's nice to make resolutions at the beginning of a new year but really, you can make them whenever you want.

Congrats on reading thus far!  I wish you love, joy, and success while you empower yourself, better yourself, and make change with your resolutions.

---

If any of this resonates with you, I always appreciate comments and feedback.  It's nice to know that I don't write these posts to an oblivious internet.

  

Change Your Life with Choices: Top 5 Regrets of the Dying

The article below is a great reminder of how important health and freedom are in pursuing our dreams and happiness.

Read the Top 5 Regrets of The Dying

http://www.activistpost.com/2011/11/top-5-regrets-of-dying.html

I will remember to keep my life simple.

I will maintain my good health and freedom.

I will listen to my heart while making choices.

I will choose a life full of love and happiness.