It wasn’t? Well, go back and read that line AGAIN, yes, AGAIN! …and this time, answer OUT LOUD “AWESOME!” and if you don’t SOUND like you MEAN it…guess what!! DO IT AGAIN!
I want YOU to convince YOU that AWESOMENESS is lurking just below that surface that you show to the world and you show to yourself. YOUR awesomeness is right there…you know? Some days you KNOW it…and some days you’re just not so sure.
Well, I am here to tell you that your AWESOMENESS is ALWAYS There! and the more you wake up and say, “Come out, Awesomeness! Come out! I want to introduce you to the world!” …the more you say that EVERY MORNING…the more mornings you wake up EXPECTING your AWESOMENESS to appear…the SOONER it will just BE that YOU are ALWAYS AWESOME to everyone in your life.
Pretty soon, EVERYONE will see it.
You BELIEVE it and you…YOU …Yes YOU can CHANGE THE WORLD!!!!
EMBRACE that soulful and beautiful YOU. Do it Now!
“What are you? Glory. Mercy. Peace. Truth. You give calm of spirit. I understand it. Courage. the contented heart.”,
Terrence Mallick, Director/Writer The Thin Red Line
The scene is sounds, mostly…the sounds of dry gras fronds brushing against cloth, against other tall dry grass fronds. The images, men in camaflage walking through developed sugar cane. Silent. Blue blue sky. Cobalt blue. Gorgeous sky. Unfair blue when the men come upon a scene. It is two blood-bathed bodies, lying in the talk cane. One is shirtless and his legs have been taken. The other is a jumble of face and torso and blood. One soldier covers his mouth and nose.
Next Scene: Voiceover as Private Witt, played by Jim Caveziel with blue eyes so expressive. His thoughts:
“Maybe all men got one big soul. Where everybody’s a part of. All the faces of the same man, one big self.” Private Witt, “Thin Red Line” Writter/Director Terrence Mallick
Private Witt continues in voiceover thoughts: “Everyone looking for salvation, by themselves. Each like a coal -drawn from the fire.”
The sounds are just his thoughts and the score that was composed for this movie. Powerful, impactful, soft, expressive music. The scene itself is muted. Private Witt is a stretcher bearer. He is walking through a dirt patch that is blanketed with the bodies of the dead and of the wounded. It is a veritable symphony of the battle’s advance sprawled across that patch of dirt. No wonder the music plays so softly. We don’t need much to tell us what’s going on here.
Transformation in film is a tricky business.
Poetry of the soul, of the human spirit, of fear transformed, of courage, of death, resilience,
A baby bird falls out of its nest in the shaking of all the artillery shelling and gunfire.
Blue sky, lofty fluffs of clouds frame the scene.
And the ‘enemy’ seems untouched, up on their hill, under cover.
the sounds of grass, buzzing of bugs, crickets, bullets whizzing past, canteens clinking against gun belts. Fear hums in the air, with death and amazing blue sky and clouds.
A young, a very young, wounded soldier lies in the arms of his fellow officers. He looks up into the trees…and… he watches the light playing through the leaves. And…breathes his last.
John Savage: lifts up a handful of dirt, “Dirt…”,
he growls, referring to the hillside they have been attempting to win from the ‘enemy’ and have lost hundreds of men in the doing, so far… “…just dirt.”, his face curls in a snarl.
A pheasant flies up, suddenly, a new sound, wings beating. And grass fronds, and machinegun fire.
Images of home. Wife. Kisses. Soft light, lips, breezes through open windows…then wading in the surf together…and then, back to the blue sky battle. Birds singing in the frond-waltz-crisp-swishing sound of the soldiers breaking through the tall grass.
Sean Penn’s character says, in a quiet moment, to Private Witt: “I feel sorry for you, kid. This army’s gonna kill ya. If you were smart you’d take care of yourself…Running into a burning house where no one can be saved…(music softly up)
“What difference do you think you can make…one single man- in all this madness? If you die, it’s gonna be for nothing. There’s not some other world out there where everything is gonna be okay. Just this one. Just this rock.”
Cut to: Sky now clouded with smoke…dogs on the ridge silhouetted against the post-sunset sky, scavenging at something…God knows what,
Cut to: Intimate warm, rose-colored bedroom. Window open. curtains wafting
“WE…we together…” and the frame is a man and wife, intimate, a breeze coming through the open window..in a symphony of love and ecstasy and oneness…”one being…” sighs and whispers…”flowing together like water, til I can’t tell you from me…I drink you…now…now…” end scene .
Cut to: Elias Koteas in the near-dark on Guadalcanal. “You are my Light…my guide”.
Darkness descends on the tall grass and shadows the faces. Grenades looped, shining in the moonlight, around their necks.
The full moon shines down. Sleeping soldiers on the wet, trampled, muddy grass.
Morning comes. Grim faces. John Cusack snarls at his Colonel’s orders. You can hear his thoughts, “Propoganda puppet. Glory hound.”, if you had to guess. Kinda goes with the curl of his lip when the Colonel turns his back.
One of the more up-close, human, tragic and painful scenes in the film, when the Americans make their assault on a small Japanese MASH unit and overwhelm the Japanese is followed directly by Private Witt pouring water over a tropical leaf. His thoughts return to the cheery village, the waterfall and the children:
Cut to: Off the front lines: In the scene in a tent, where the men of Charley Company have been awarded a well-deserved week-long break from the front line, the Elias Koteas character tells his men that he will NOT file a dispute against the Colonel, though he has ever right to, and that they have been “like sons to me…You are my sons”
The sky and sunset scenes, the beauty of nature throughout the film, that Mallick highlights aptly, illustrate just how war is part of what we are, our invasion upon the Earth, our place here, not always, but often violent is our contribution. Juxtaposed gorgeous skies, better seen on relaxing vacations, found in most scenes in this film.
Wonder. Beauty. Awe. Contrasted with Violence. Death. Tragedy.
“War done in noble men…turns ’em into dogs. Poisons the soul.”
Ben Chaplin’s character: “My dear wife, You get something twisted out of your insides with all the blood, filfth and noise. I want to stay changeless for you… I want to come back to you the man I was before…How do we get to those other shores…to those blue hills? Love…where does it come from?… Who lit this flame in us? No war can put it out…conquer it. I was a prisoner, you set me free.”
in a scene shortly after Chaplin’s character has this daydream of thought, he gets a letter from his wife explaining that she has met an Air Force captain and wants a divorce so she can marry him. She says, almost heartlessly, to us, since we’ve seen how thoughts of their love have sustained him, and how he’s not touched another woman nor talked to one, that he doesn’t want to feel the desire. Her letter says, “Dear Jack, I’ve met an Air Force captain. I’ve fallen in love with him. I want a divorce to marry him.”…and goes on…”forgive me..it just got too lonely, Jack.” and he laughs heartlessly, despite himself, “…we’ll meet again some day. People who have been as close as we have, always meet again. I have no right to speak to you this way, I just can’t stop myself…Oh! My friend! All those shining years! Help me leave you.” …and he wanders off, meandering, lost. It’s a heart-wrenching scene.
Witt wanders back to the blissful village he had escaped to when he went AWOL and finds it much changed. No songs. No playful children. and they were fighting. “we were a family…had to break up and come apart..and now we are against one another. Each standing in each other’s light. How do we lose the good that was given us, let it slip away…scattered, careless? What’s keeping us from reaching out, touching the glory?”
Private Witt faces his death with the calm he’d sought in the beginning of the film.
Who were you that I lived with, walked with? The brother, the friend? Strife and love, darkness and light–are they the workings of one mind, features of the same face?
“…Oh my soul. Let me be in you now. Look out through my eyes. Look out at the things you made. All things shining“
And upon that note, the credits begin to roll on what may be the most ambitious and beautifully captured film about war and the changes it may wrought upon the soul and shape of man. Beliefs, hopes, faith, imagination, hope itself, desire and, perhaps above all…sense of self, oneness, and the connectedness of all things.
I hope you have enjoyed this and that you will click to follow my blog.
I am submitting my application to present a talk at the G.A.T.E 3 2013 Conference in Los Angeles next month. NEXT MONTH.
I have ALSO launched my first IndieGoGo Fundraising Campaign so that I might JOIN G.A.T.E (Global Alliance for Transformation in Entertainment) and GO to the event. And, if by the grace of God and all that is kind and good, and severely, delightfully fun, silly, whimsical, valuable, glorious and happy in this World, I will be invited to present.
Wouldn’t you love that? I know I would. I know that Hollywood won’t know what they’re in for when I show up, wickedly and mischievously packing my kit bag of Laughter Yoga, merriment, and playful Laughter & Joy. Or will they? They DO have their Jim Carrey, don’t they! They do have their Golden Globe Hostesses of the Evening, Amy Pohler and Tina Fey! Amazing jobs they did tonight! They have their Hollywood family…I don’t know, perhaps you’re reading this and you’re a Facebook friend or maybe you know me-know me. What d’ya think?
Now…you know what? This has gone off in a direction that I had not planned. I’m reading it as I go…You know we do that. Writers sometimes read as they write. It’s not good for typing. You remember? Typing class? We’re supposed to look off into space, right? Or at the words we are typing. Right? Not at our hands and not at the paper. At least that’s how I remember it. (It’s late and I’m rambling now!) But I did want to share this stream of consciousness writing with you, as I fill out the application to present.
I wrote it in pink Sharpie. Pink Sharpie. Will they know that they can’t take me too seriously? I think they might! “At least we won’t have to commit to paying her!”, they might be saying. You think? Would they say that, and then accept my application and schedule me to speak after Jon Cryer? I don’t know if Jon Cryer will be there, but he might be, you know? I met Jon Cryer once. Over the buffet at a Movie Premier during Sundance Film Fest. We were both lingering over the buffet. You know how you do when you’ve talked to everyone interesting and you want to quietly scope out any new arrivals. We chatted, watched the room and chatted.
And that is my Jon Cryer story.
So, I’m sitting here, and I’m thinking about deciding yesterday that I really wanted to go to GATE…and then realizing that it felt like, well, almost like I didn’t have a choice. I’m looking at my application and thinking, “Who the hell am I to think I should be speaking at this event!”
But, then another voice speaks up…that voice from deep down inside me that says, “Are you crazy?! You are not waiting another day, not another second! You have a powerful message…you have a deep and true message to share and by God! You are going! You are THAT Heidi! YOU are Tigger! You are Ski Feet! YOU are your parent’s “Heidi Pie” –there is not another one out there to present this talk! So, doubter, shut up and write!”
And here I am, writing, at what? 3:16 on a Sunday night. Writing. Writing and watching a movie.
My next sentence is, well, follows that unexpected content for just a tick…because, well, because I just finished watching “Flight” and I am stunned. I didn’t expect…I didn’t know that “Flight”, for which Denzel Washington was rightly nominated for a Golden Globe Award…I didn’t know that this film is a powerful film about the transformation of it’s character. Now, I am not into writing OR Reading spoilers, so that’s all you’re going to get on the film-specific topic…But here came this outpouring to me, this moving film containing within it what Dr. Wayne Dyer calls a Quantum Moment. In his book, “The Shift: Ambition to Meaning”, Dr. Dyer says Quantum Moments are usually preceded by what might be called ‘the lowest of lows’ and immediately followed by a life-altering shift in awareness, in consciousness. From the book, I quote, “A person, who experiences a quantum moment, moves from an ego -driven life perspective to a spiritual balanced and more authentic life.”
So, here I am, up late, beyond a reasonable hour, especially for one who likes to wake up early to exercise…here I am and I’m watching an unexpected movie. I like these kinds of movies – Unexpected movies. I like them a lot. They wake me up. I think they wake us all up. I know for me, they trigger my desire to write stories. They send me to sleep smiling for the writing that someone else has done…the inspiration someone else had and the powerful job they and so many other members of their team did in bringing that story to the screen. To me. To others like me. We get our buttons pushed. We cry. We pause. We think. Oh, yes, we think!
It’s magic. When it all comes together, like that, it’s magic. And wouldn’t we all love for it to come together even more? I think we would. I think we’re aching for it to come together so much more often. WE like Magic! We, humans, we love a good story and a story about a powerful transformation of the human soul?…that’s like manna from Heaven, as Marianne Williamson said in her address at G.A.T.E. 2, last year. And we are responsible for it. You know what?? We, the theater-goers, we are part of the team. OHhh yes, we are!
We are the demanders. Who holds the purse strings in Hollywood? Who do you think? We do!
Think about it: They don’t write movies for people who don’t go to movies. They write movies for us, the people who love movies. They write what we enjoy paying money to see. We are movers and shakers in Hollywood. The only difference between us and the ones wearing the flashy suits and driving the shiny cars? There are more of us! WE control the market. We pull the lever, we push the button, we make the ATM withdrawals that keep them in their shiny car cars and flashy suits! Who else is more responsible!
Our role, as Demanders of movies is one that if we began to pay attention to what we are asking for, could and will change the face of the movie industry. We love hearing about the unexpected success of a seeming underdog! We love someone from a low place rising up to triumph. WE like seeing kids from destitute backgrounds decide to turn their lives around and succeed and even thrive in their lives. WE LOVE movies that make us applaud when they are over, but we don’t ask for them, do we! We don’t. Because we think that loving triumph and transformation makes us seem weak, right? So we cast our dollars before violence, thinking it empowers us, but it doesn’t, does it? It leaves us feeling more separate, more fearful and less secure.
It’s the transformative films that thrill us really! And I think Hollywood is starting to listen. Movies like “The Shawshank Redemption”, “Good Will Hunting”, and “The Matrix”, why do you think we lined up to see those films? Because they had good acting? Maybe some of us. Because they had big stars? Maybe, again, some of us. The real reason is because these movies shine a light on the strengths of simple, average every day people and shows us how we can be so much more. We see in “The Shawshank Redemption”, the power of Andy, a bookkeeper. His strength is in his intellect, his understanding of human nature and his patience. With a little properly applied human science and a little patience, he shows us we can win.
We like movies that help us to stretch our personal boundaries, and help us to see what’s right in front of our noses. How many of us began to look at the whole world and wonder, “What if society, as we know it, or think we do, IS one giant Holodeck, like in “Star Trek: Next Generation”
And this is where I break to sleep. It’s 3:30
If you’re interested and you’d like me to finish, just like the post and follow my blog.
See you in the morning and THANK YOU for READING!!!
OH! One more thing before shut eye…if you’re interested in reading more about my campaign to get my glorious laughing butt to G.A.T.E 3 on February 2 in L.A…OH wow! I just realized! That’s GROUND HOG Day! A “Ground Hog Day” happens to be One of the BEST Transformational Films EVER! I am sure that’s no accident! 🙂
So, if you want to read more and consider contributing either by donating or by sharing the Link to the Campaign! EITHER is welcome and appreciated!!! …anyway, if you want it, here it is: http://www.indiegogo.com/LaughterAndJoy/x/1887429
Your First Question: ” You can’t be SERIOUS!!!….LAUGHTER….in the OFFICE????”
My Answer…a BIG resounding”Ha Ha Ha…. YES!!!”
Imagine for a moment, the people that you work with…Laughing for Twenty Minutes before the start of every day at the office.
Are you picturing maybe that everyone gets along better when they are laughing?
Are you imagining that the result may be that people are less tense…and we all know that when people are free of stress they get an awful lot more work done.
Are you following my chain of thought?
WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT IT?
Improved immune system? Check!
Stronger arteries? Check!
Lowered Blood Pressure? Absolutely!
Stronger Heart? You think not? You’d be Wrong!
Improved Lung Capacity…
AND lowered Cortisol (nasty stress hormone!) and Lowered Adrenaline (also has adverse effects on the body when in a sustained excessive supply, such as under stress and tension throughout the day.
….not to mention sustained Laughter is ALSO a GREAT abdominal workout!
(and also..ONE MORE THING…you think FAKE LAUGHTER won’t be good enough?
OUR BODIES ARE GULLIBLE!
If you fake laugh…your body doesn’t know the difference, it believes you. So…if you laugh and breathe and clap like everyone else in the class, you will get the SAME BENEFITS AS THEY DO! EVEN IF IT’S NOT GENUINE LAUGHTER!
WHERE ELSE WILL WE FIND FIFTEEN MINUTES OF SUSTAINED MIRTHFUL, JOYFUL and CHILDLIKE LAUGHTER?
Where else but in a Laughter Yoga session!!
Mirthful and Unconditional Laughter…It’s not found in comedy shops. Think about the jokes you usually hear at Comedy Shops…Are they making fun of someone? Of Something? IS your brain active? Do you have to think a little bit, sometimes?
UNCONDITIONAL laughter that requires no brain engagement…no making fun of anyone or anything…in fact, someone can participate who doesn’t even speak the language and still get the same immune response and all the other benefits. Without even understanding what the Leader is saying….
You’re thinking of a Group…Maybe of the people at your Office..and then you think, “Nah! This would never fly!”
Well, I invite you to imagine…imagine your colleagues, employees, staff, team, faculty…what have you, all experiencing these benefits together!!
…Laughter Yoga can help measurably REDUCE the devastating EFFECTS of STRESS whiles also INCREASING PRODUCTIVITY and MORALE in your office!!
Now those aren’t such bad side effects, right? In fact, we generally call them BENEFITS!
WHAT IS LAUGHTER YOGA?
Well…first of all…YOGA…the word all by itself basically means “Unity Through Breath”…it’s the Word that comes BEFORE Yoga that tells you what kind of exercise you’ll be doing when you are breathing together, as a class.
In this case…it’s Laughter Exercises. Exercises that inspire Childlike, Playful, Joyful, Mirthful Laughter…the kind you see kids in hysterics with…Ask them what’s so funny and they double over, laughing even harder.
Remember those times!?? I bet your smiling just thinking about those times. That’s because Laughter feels so good! Just laughing, for no reason is a relaxing, joyful and healing moment…Imagine a whole hour of it! And yes! It’s as good as it sounds!
Laughter Yoga combines aspects of Yoga with aspects of
1. Mirthful, UNCONDITIONAL Childlike, Playfulness, (recalls happier, and much more relaxed times in our Lives)
2. Breathing, (helps to Oxygenate the cells) Clapping,(Clapping stimulates the acupressure meridians in our palms)
3. Light (VERY Light) Stretching.
4. Eye Contact
5. Limiting Participation of the Thinking Brain. (The less we THINK during Laughter Yoga, the BETTER!)
No Jokes.
No Comedy.
Just Laughter!
Sound Silly?
It is!
I mean…think about it….can you answer this Question….WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOUR FACE AND STOMACH ACHED FROM A PROLONGED and SUSTAINED BOUT OF LAUGHTER? When was the last time you laughed uproariously at work??
Even Oprah’s old curmugeon make-up guy, Reggie, was changed after his experience at a Laughter Yoga session!
(from Oprah.com) In 2007, Oprah sent makeup artist, Reggie Wells, the biggest complainer she knows, to a laughing yoga class. The result? Reggie was enlightened by the new experience. “It was very goofy in the beginning, … but you can’t fake a laugh,” Wells says. “Once you get into it, … the stress lifted from my soul. It lifted from my body.”
Your First Question: ” You can’t be SERIOUS!!!….LAUGHTER….in the OFFICE????”
My Answer…a BIG resounding”Ha Ha Ha…. YES!!!”
Imagine for a moment, the people that you work with…Laughing for Twenty Minutes before the start of every day at the office.
Are you picturing maybe that everyone gets along better when they are laughing?
Are you imagining that the result may be that people are less tense…and we all know that when people are free of stress they get an awful lot more work done.
Are you following my chain of thought?
WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT IT?
Improved immune system? Check!
Stronger arteries? Check!
Lowered Blood Pressure? Absolutely!
Stronger Heart? You think not? You’d be Wrong!
Improved Lung Capacity…
AND lowered Cortisol (nasty stress hormone!) and Lowered Adrenaline (also has adverse effects on the body when in a sustained excessive supply, such as under stress and tension throughout the day.
….not to mention sustained Laughter is ALSO a GREAT abdominal workout!
(and also..ONE MORE THING…you think FAKE LAUGHTER won’t be good enough?
OUR BODIES ARE GULLIBLE!
If you fake laugh…your body doesn’t know the difference, it believes you. So…if you laugh and breathe and clap like everyone else in the class, you will get the SAME BENEFITS AS THEY DO! EVEN IF IT’S NOT GENUINE LAUGHTER!
WHERE ELSE WILL WE FIND FIFTEEN MINUTES OF SUSTAINED MIRTHFUL, JOYFUL and CHILDLIKE LAUGHTER?
Where else but in a Laughter Yoga session!!
Mirthful and Unconditional Laughter…It’s not found in comedy shops. Think about the jokes you usually hear at Comedy Shops…Are they making fun of someone? Of Something? IS your brain active? Do you have to think a little bit, sometimes?
UNCONDITIONAL laughter that requires no brain engagement…no making fun of anyone or anything…in fact, someone can participate who doesn’t even speak the language and still get the same immune response and all the other benefits. Without even understanding what the Leader is saying….
You’re thinking of a Group…Maybe of the people at your Office..and then you think, “Nah! This would never fly!”
Well, I invite you to imagine…imagine your colleagues, employees, staff, team, faculty…what have you, all experiencing these benefits together!!
…Laughter Yoga can help measurably REDUCE the devastating EFFECTS of STRESS whiles also INCREASING PRODUCTIVITY and MORALE in your office!!
Now those aren’t such bad side effects, right? In fact, we generally call them BENEFITS!
WHAT IS LAUGHTER YOGA?
Well…first of all…YOGA…the word all by itself basically means “Unity Through Breath”…it’s the Word that comes BEFORE Yoga that tells you what kind of exercise you’ll be doing when you are breathing together, as a class.
In this case…it’s Laughter Exercises. Exercises that inspire Childlike, Playful, Joyful, Mirthful Laughter…the kind you see kids in hysterics with…Ask them what’s so funny and they double over, laughing even harder.
Remember those times!?? I bet your smiling just thinking about those times. That’s because Laughter feels so good! Just laughing, for no reason is a relaxing, joyful and healing moment…Imagine a whole hour of it! And yes! It’s as good as it sounds!
Laughter Yoga combines aspects of Yoga with aspects of
1. Mirthful, UNCONDITIONAL Childlike, Playfulness, (recalls happier, and much more relaxed times in our Lives)
2. Breathing, (helps to Oxygenate the cells) Clapping,(Clapping stimulates the acupressure meridians in our palms)
3. Light (VERY Light) Stretching.
4. Eye Contact
5. Limiting Participation of the Thinking Brain. (The less we THINK during Laughter Yoga, the BETTER!)
No Jokes.
No Comedy.
Just Laughter!
Sound Silly?
It is!
I mean…think about it….can you answer this Question….WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOUR FACE AND STOMACH ACHED FROM A PROLONGED and SUSTAINED BOUT OF LAUGHTER? When was the last time you laughed uproariously at work??
Even Oprah’s old curmugeon make-up guy, Reggie, was changed after his experience at a Laughter Yoga session!
(from Oprah.com) In 2007, Oprah sent makeup artist, Reggie Wells, the biggest complainer she knows, to a laughing yoga class. The result? Reggie was enlightened by the new experience. “It was very goofy in the beginning, … but you can’t fake a laugh,” Wells says. “Once you get into it, … the stress lifted from my soul. It lifted from my body.”
Heidi & Co - Joy Injection 