In an industry full of rejection, and in a town where who you know can feel more important than what you know, it is easy to lose our creative spirits! As LA actors, we can get lost in the business side of acting and forget to feed the artist within us that made us become a performer in the first place. Well we are here to remind you to take care of your creative spirit while hustling and bustling for your next gig. Here are more of are favorite ways to REIGNITE YOUR PASSION AS AN LA ACTOR, Part Two!

Free write. Set your clock a half hour ahead every morning and get up and write. Put the pen to the paper (no laptops please) and get to long hand writing. These 3 pages of stream of consciousness should be unedited by you, incorrect grammar, bad spelling and all. They aren’t supposed to be clever, though sometimes they might be. You don’t even have to read them once you are done. It’s simply a matter of getting outside some of the clutter in your head o free up that brain space for more creative things. So if you writing is whiny and boring, no worries. Get it out now and you’ll have head room for the more important issues you need to tackle later that day.

Treat yourself to a piece of nostalgia. Is there a favorite food from your childhood you have access to? How about a favorite scent? Can you buy it, make it, or order it? For me, nothing is more comforting than a home made egg sandwich on an english muffin. My mom used to call them Egg McMegans. For scent, I love the lemon scented candles that smell like the lemon cleaner my grandmother used to clean her counters with. Takes me right back to sunny Sundays spent playing cards with her. When you’re feeling down in the dumps, the sense memory of a great childhood treat can lift your spirits and give you a momentary break from your current conundrum.

Declutter something fast. Cleaning out your closet, that junk drawer, or your acting folders can sometimes be the weight lifted that frees our creativity back up! It’s a small thing we can do to encourage big shifts in our artistic lives. Ever notice how you can breathe more deeply in an organized rehearsal space or write more freely at a decluttered desk? If you creatively blocked, take a moment to see where you may be physically blocked. Our physical and emotional space are often times very connected.

Listen to some music and dance. The chatter in your head too loud? Play your favorite iTunes playlist even louder. Dance like a fool in your apartment. Shake it up, get out of your own head. The freedom we feel when dancing (you know the cheezy phrase, “dance like no one is watching!”) is revelatory. Dance breaks are a silly and surprisingly powerful way to silence the critic in us and get our creative minds flowing more freely again. Treat your inner artist like a small child, and it will reward you with brilliant response, not rebel like a caged animal.

Hang with the champions of your creativity. Who are the people that are a constant source of inspiration to you? For me it’s my genius director friend Braden LuBell. He always has enlightened, encouraging words to share or an exciting, innovative project idea that gets me feeling inspired again. List the creative champions in your life and schedule a time to hang with them or chat with them. In a city where we spend most of our time alone in cars, keep the crazy makers and killjoys far away from you, and make the effort to stay close to your most passionate teammates.

Break legs!
Megan Manzi