All the World's A Stage

I am currently rehearsing the role of Rosalind in As You Like It with the Living Willow Community Company and what a gift of a part she is too; mercurial in her wit, passionate in her love, wise in her understanding and active in her desire to help others. She also spends most of the play pretending to be a boy which is an education in itself…….

For a long time now I have recognised the spiritual significance of my acting hobby, aware that becoming another person for a short time taught me about the roles we play in life, the illusions we maintain for public presentation, the importance of compassion for those in different circumstances than ourselves and most of all our incredible capacity to change and become anything we wish to be. I have sometimes arrived at rehearsal tired after a long day at work, only to find myself lifted by Rosalind's infectious joyfulness as she embraces fully each moment life offers her. Living her story I have experienced that self-awareness is vital and happiness is literally a choice. She herself says to the incurably melancholy Jacques, "I had rather have a fool to make me merry, than experience to make me sad."

It is easier to embrace life with all its ups and downs if you look at your life as a play - you the eternal soul are an actor in this play, and your personality and body are the costume you have adopted. The material accessories you surround yourself with are merely props (prop suggests that "things" are useful temporary supports but shouldn't be permanently relied on…….perhaps that's another article)! Don't like your hat? Go to the costume cupboard and find one that suits the character you're playing or feels more comfortable to wear. If you're brave enough, drop all the costumes and make-up and choose to perform as the real you!

What is even more amazing to realise, is that not only are we the actor in our own play but we are also the script-writer, director, location manager and casting agent. We choose everything that happens to us and if we don't like the way it's going at the moment we can effect a wholesale rewrite! Just bring into focus a clear picture of what you want to create in your life and then make it happen. It really is that simple.

A fantastic exercise to help you with this ancient understanding (you may have heard it called manifestation, cosmic ordering or the law of attraction) is to choose a situation in your life that is currently unsatisfactory for you. Now, imagine that you're the director for a movie of this situation and you can make the story happen exactly as you want it to. Where would you be? Who would you be with (we'll allow an endless supply of Jonny Depps and Sandra Bullocks for the purposes of this exercise)?! What would you be doing or saying? What would happen? How would you feel? It has been scientifically proved that the brain cannot differentiate between what is real and what is imagined so if you imagine it, it's true! Write it all down and read it once a day for three weeks. It's very interesting to notice the developments in the situation at the end of this time.

The dictionary describes play as: "occupy or amuse oneself pleasantly, move freely, have fun, romp, be flexible, join in." They sound like good ingredients for a happy life. Now, what's my next cue?