Use the Difficulty

 

This is a great video from a great actor - a man who has stayed relevant and genuine in a career spanning more than 7 decades and over 160 films (and counting). He knows what he's talking about.

I found this video so interesting because it speaks to the heart of what we need to consider on our paths. All of us, every single one of us, experience trauma. We all have emotional wounds that can carry long-lasting consequences if left untreated.  This trauma can haunt us forever, or it can be used as a fuel to feed our fire for growth. We can become paralyzed with fear or turbocharged into action. It's up to us.

An actors' job is to convey various emotions to an audience through their portrayal of a character. The better they are the more we believe in who they become. The better they are the more we forget they are anyone other than who they portray at that moment. The best actors do much more than deliver a performance based on a script. They bring a humanness to the role that is unique and memorable. Method acting uses these powerful emotions to help actors create convincing characters.

Likewise, we can (and do) convince ourselves by the personas we create for ourselves. That's why it is very important to use the difficulty we have in our lives: the obstacles, the pain, the hurt, the sadness not as excuses to be stuck in place but instead in order to fuel our progress to something better.

Note that Michael Caine allows that difficulties can be used not just for dramatic purposes but also for comedy. Anyone who has been around me for any time at all knows my black humor - a coping mechanism I developed to face my many years in foster care. I laugh a lot because if I didn't I'd cry.

And as he says, "avoid difficulties if you can". True indeed. When you can't avoid the difficulty, USE IT.

Train hard.