Life lessons come from the most unexpected sources

I’m a great believer in fate and it happened again during a recent trip to Sydney. I had been excited at the opportunity of a side-trip down to Canberra for the Renaissance exhibition. Here were paintings of exquisite beauty from the likes of Raphael, Botticelli and Titian right on my doorstep – many of which have never before been seen outside Italy.

However a number of circumstances conspired against me so that I missed out on getting down to Canberra. I’m an optimist at heart though and so I figured this gave me a damn good reason to visit Italy in the future! And then fate stepped in one morning while I was having a lazy start to my day watching Sonia Kruger and David Campbell on morning TV.

There was a story about the American actress Ellen Burstyn visiting Australia to conduct acting master classes. I have always liked her and greatly respected her as an actress and a person. The story ended by advertising an evening with Ellen Burstyn at the Chauvel Cinema where she was to be interviewed by Noni Hazelhurst. In my mind fate had struck again, and the ticket cost was exactly what it would of cost me to go to Canberra!

It was one of the most amazing evenings I have ever experienced and has the potential to be life changing, depending upon the decisions I now make.

Ellen Burstyn was an inspiration! Examples of the quality of her character were her decision to refuse a part which she and the director suspected would win an Oscar, because she didn’t think the role suited her. The declined role won Cloris Leachman an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1972. She also chose to not attend the Academy Awards in 1975 because it would of meant being absent for a Broadway stage performance. Her ethical compass told her it wasn’t right to disappoint patrons who had paid good money to see her perform, so she could possibly receive an award for a long since completed performance. She won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

My goal is to live my life and to work for and with people with the same moral compass.

She also spoke of the value of acting classes in teaching anyone who commits to them to learn to be in the present and to minimise the negative impact of ego. She gave a powerful example of having to pick up a glass of water on stage. Common thoughts are “my hands are shaking and the audience can see it”, “what if I spill it or how should I hold it” which are examples of ego and not being in the moment. When in fact the only thing you actually need to do is……….. pick up the glass of water!

My goal is to take acting classes (a recurring thought over the past 20 years that I have never followed through on).

Ellen finished the evening by selecting a poem to read, When Death Comes by an American poet Mary Oliver. On the face of it this could be seen as a depressing choice however nothing could be further from the truth. The poem spoke of living a life without regret so that death can be experienced with curiosity rather than fear.

My goal is to have lived my life embracing every opportunity.

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