Questions from my Family: Inspiration, Motivation, and Music
I’m writing on my new blog every day for thirty days straight. This is the twenty-seventh one. I asked my family and friends for questions about my career that I could answer during these thirty days. Today I’m answering some more in an attempt to really fit a lot in before this 30-day challenge ends.
Debbie, my seester, asks the following several questions:What do you do to inspire and motivate yourself?To inspire myself? I try to slow down. I look at the beauty in just being alive. My acting teacher told our class something a Zen master told him once, “when I am drinking tea, I am drinking tea with all of myself.” I took that to mean that he tries to live and appreciate each moment. I can slow down and be inspired by the smallest detail in a streetlamp, a dog’s bark, or a blade of grass. In Henry Miller’s words, “The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass itself becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.” Slowing down in Mother Theresa’s words, “We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… we need silence to be able to touch souls.” Like the philosopher Jason Silva, I try to sustain a consistent state of awe at the beauty of life around me - and I do that by being quiet and paying attention to what's around me right now. All this being said, I think this is my biggest weakness.To motivate myself? I start small. Procrastination is tough to fight. I read a cool article this past year that was describing how to fight procrastination by using Newtown’s laws of motion. So part of Newton’s first law states (paraphrased) that an object in motion will stay in motion. So the article gave for an example if you want to run but are finding it hard, just put on your workout clothes and it will become much easier. If you want to floss, just tell yourself you’re going to floss one tooth – and then you’ll probably end up flossing your whole mouth. By taking small steps, I can usually find myself making progress much easier than it seemed I could merely seconds before. All this being said, I am currently in my workout clothes and have no intention to work out before bed.Name a trait of each one of your siblings that you most identify with.It’s hard to nail down one for each of you guys. But here’s what’s on the top of my head. Sarah, enthusiasm. Jennifer, sense of humor. Scott, passion. Debbie, being down to Earth and kind (you get two because you asked the question). Bobby, simplicity. Aww, isn’t that nice?Is there a particular movie soundtrack that you enjoy? What are you top 5 movie song picks?I’m such a fan of movie soundtracks, I would say that recently I’ve been loving everything that the composer Johann Johannsson has been making. He composed the scores for the Theory of Everything, Sicario, and where I found him, a documentary called the Miner’s Hymns. At times beautiful, at times haunting, always inspiring. Other notable mentions – Michael Giacchino and Hans Zimmer. Here’s my top five movie song picks:
- “Farewell “ from Spider-Man by Danny ElfmanI can’t tell you the number of times I listened to this track as a kid. Every time I would pretend that I was walking away from the girl of my dreams to become a hero. It still gives me chills. Watch the scene here.
- “Forth Eorlingas” from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by Howard Shore Again, as a kid, I used to play this song on repeat and pretend that I was charging down a steep hill on a horse (right after the 2-minute mark), probably to my death – but as a hero.
- “Lawrence of Arabia” from Lawrence of Arabia played by the BBC Orchestra No shame - as a present-day adult, I play this song and pretend that I’m T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) come back from war - a changed man.
- “Their Pie” from Nebraska by Mark OrtonListen to this song, watch this movie. It was nominated for an Oscar this past year. It’s so beautiful.
- “Caravan” from WhiplashWatch this movie, and then you’ll have context for why this song sticks with me.
Talking about motivation and inspiration - I have a playlist named "Inspiration" with all of these tracks in it.
Three more days. I'm hurtling towards the end at the speed of 80wpm.
