BEING THE BALANCE

So I am on set of a lovely little spiritual film. It’s an interesting ride today.

It’s a story of a family, and a mother who needs to walk a very fine line holding the peace between her husband and daughter.

It is, fortunately, a story I never had to play out in real life. My husband and I were always united in love about what was best for our daughter and the family. But this mother, like so many, has to wrestle between her husband’s authoritarianism and her daughter’s heart wishes. And sometimes, there is unbearable friction and heartbreak.

The interesting thing is that this dynamic started playing out on the set between the actors playing the roles. We began taking on the definitions of our characters.

It happens more than you might suspect.

I know when I did the movie,”10″, I wrote letters to my mom that my character, Mary Lewis, had actually penned. She showed them to me years later. I was stunned.

As we are making our way through these challenges on set, it occurred to me how often we do this in life.

We can be given a suggestion, accept it, allow ourselves to be taken over by it, and succumb to what isn’t our authentic selves at all. People who follow blindly any kind of cult leaders demonstrate this every day.

And following blindly the teachings and modelings of our families that are not in harmony with our authentic selves is also taking on a role to play. We were “given a role to play” and it took us over.

Blessings, Dee