In this series about rehearsal using the five senses, we’ve talked about using sound, taste, sight, and touch. This last rehearsal prompt, invites us to use the sense of smell in rehearsal. There is a wonderful saying in the movement practice, the Nia Technique: “smell the moment.” As speakers, in that liminal space just after we’ve rehearsed and warmed-up and just before we open our mouths to speak, we take a breath and smell the moment. We look into the audience, read the room, take in the faces, the space, this specific, particular, unique, exact moment. This is perhaps my favorite moment, when we are ready, alert, and waiting, peeking over the precipice, through the curtain, our hand on the door before turning the knob. I remember waiting back stage in that liminal space. I was listening to the audience, their chatter and laughter, the programs murmuring, the chairs scraping, the ushers ushering, the expectation and delight. One of the actors asked if I was nervous. I said...Read on.

Last week I wrote about my son’s New Year’s Eve pronouncement that he wanted to invite more risk into his life. I blurted, “I want that!” When we see something we want—a behavior, a talent, a career, a promotion, a book published—we can either stew in the wanting or take action. In the book Wishcraft by Barbara Sher, the author talks about seeing jealousy and envy as guides, sign-posts telling us to “Go that way!” This re-orientation to comparison has had an enormous impact on my life. As a professional actor, every audition, every acting class, every movie, play and TV show I watched, was a breeding ground for comparison, envy, and jealousy. Like a seething cesspool, these feelings can keep us stuck. And quite unhappy. Maybe even bitter. Barbara Sher’s advice set me free to see the wanting as a gift, telling me more about my own desires. As envy revealed my desires, my desires became my goals. And once I was clear about my goals…Read on.