Scott Schutzman, M.A., MFT #P82480

Fill-Line

2012-02-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

The fill-line
openly exceeds.

A dusting grants flight.

Scented breezes emerge
settling the scores
of wistful sentences;

allowing
cradling.

Nothing is futile
in the abode of dreams. - Scott 2/16/12

Central Role

2011-06-23T21:01:00.001-07:00

“No matter what he does, each person on earth plays a central role in the history of the earth. And normally he doesn’t know it.” – The Alchemist

Creation, Destruction, Rebirth

2011-06-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

Without an understanding of myth or religion, without an understanding of the relationship between destruction and creation, death and rebirth, the individual suffers the mysteries of life as meaningless mayhem alone. --Marion Woodman http://www.mwoodmanfoundation.org/

Creation destruction rebirth

Is the cycle of life, it is a circle

That is unbroken and at any point

Along the circle the man can find out

Exactly where he is

Any time. All the time.

With time.

Without time

It does not matter

It is all matter

There is no matter

Or chatter

Just scatter the ashes after destruction

No need to peel the onion

Pain brings a bunion

On the toe

Painful

But it will heal

And a new peace wlll come

Like a salve

Or salvation

And walking becomes easy once again.

Till the next time

On that point in the circle

Of life.

- Scott Schutzman

Project-a-me

2011-06-08T06:45:00.000-07:00

Everybody has an opinion....

Everybody has a projection!!

I project a-you - you project a- me. I see everything through my own personal lens.

Good projection - Bad projection.

It depends on our own experiences in life.

Most people project positive elements on winning and negative traits to losing.

Hence: America is filled with addicts, criminals, undereducated, depressed, obese individuals. Because the pressure to fulfill that projection (false idol) breaks the hearts and souls of people when they do not achieve what is supposed to look like "winning".

What is winning?

We are conditioned to believe that winning looks like this:__________
and that if we do not have this:_________ then we are blighted and messy and weak and ugly .....etc.

But when we realize that winning looks like something else, when winning looks like inner understanding....when winning is not even the ultimate prize..then our expectation change. Kevin Spacey said "there is no prize out there...the only prize is in here" and he pointed toward his heart.

When our expectations change, our reactions change. And we can look at each interaction from a different perspective.

This is the development of the self, of inner dignity.
So if you find yourself criticized for your opinion in a way that was cheap, and undignified...... the person was having a projection.

Transcend

2011-06-06T07:08:00.000-07:00

"It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion. It is easy in solitude to live after your own. But the great man, is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

We see all around us those in the midst of chaos, doubt, fear and even passion, anger, and loss. That person can, through a deep connection with their own inner world, transcend that which is surrounding him.

The following story illustrates this:

There was young man of about 16 or 17 who grew up in a home filled with poverty and abuse. The child escaped into the world of books, of fantasy, of stories. It was through these stories that he connected with his imagination and to his inner soul. The young boy transcended his surroundings, later going to college and becoming a successful writer himself.

Man and his mind have the power to transcend...they just need to use it.

Life of an Adult

2011-05-27T05:13:00.000-07:00

Joseph Campbell talks about the importance of ritual in our lives.

SMART Goal-Setting

2011-05-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

Be SMART make your goal

S - Specific: I want to read two books per month.

M- Measurable: The number is 2

A- Attainable: 2 books a month is something I can attain

R- Realistic: 2 books a month is realistic

T- Timely: I have a time frame of a month to work with so I can stay focused.

SMART goals keep us focused.
SMART goals are more often achieved.
SMART goals give us confidence to achieve more.

Imagination

2011-05-24T07:27:00.000-07:00

Imagine you are in a stressful situation. A traffic jam or the DMV or you have just received an overdue notice in the mail or your ex just "drunk texted" you.

Take a deep breath. Close your eyes. You are sitting under a waterfall, you feel the water spraying on your head, down your back, engulfing your chest and legs. The temperature is cool and refreshing. And there is the moon shining down on you, surrounding you with light. The smell of lilac from a nearby bush tickles your nostrils. The water, the moon, the smell. You have entered your own personal oasis, away from the irritation and stress.
You are using your Imagination
During this time you have actually lowered your blood pressure, The adrenaline that was created by the stressful situation has receded.
You are now prepared to face whatever you need to face from a place of calm and with the realization that nature is bigger and more powerful than anything you have to face in this moment.

You now have perspective. You can smile at the bill, the traffic, the text.

This is what the artist can do, she creates reality using her imagination.

Albert Einstein said that “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

Much bigger.

Please share your experiences using imagination. It will be helpful for us all.

Thank you and "Imagine" today.

Scott Schutzman, M.A.
Performance Coach
http://www.actingtruth.net/

Peak Performance: Art-Ternative Medicine

2011-05-23T19:49:00.000-07:00

Peak Performance: Art-Ternative Medicine: "Why wait any longer for the world to begin You can have your cake and eat it too Why wait any longer for the one you love When he's stand..."

Art-Ternative Medicine

2011-05-23T15:49:00.000-07:00

Why wait any longer for the world to begin
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why wait any longer for the one you love
When he's standing in front of you - Bob Dylan

A beautiful poet. Why wait....? What is the use of playing it safe or riding the easy fence of limitation? Look here: Beauty, poetry, art, truth are right where you are at the moment.

Open the eyes. Open the ears. Open the heart.

The mind is so busy sometimes, that people have to go to a Dr. to receive many different medications.

Art is medication, try to ingest as many milligrams as possible at regular intervals throughout the day.

Scott Schutzman, M.A.
Performance Coach
http://www.actingtruth.net/

The Prophet

2011-05-19T07:06:00.000-07:00

Pain

And a woman spoke, saying, "Tell us of Pain." And he said: Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief. Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity: For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen, And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.

Kahlil Gibran

2011-05-18T20:17:00.003-07:00

Pooh

2011-05-16T16:14:00.000-07:00

"Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.”

Repose

2011-05-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

re·pose: Temporary rest from activity, excitement, or exertion, esp. sleep or the rest given by sleep.

Good Morning,

Here in Poughkeepsie, New York there is a slight drizzle and you can see a layer of water on the rooftops from my 3rd floor window.

So what does the drizzle represent in terms of Peak Performance? It tells me that today we are in a moment of repose.

In order to reach peak performance, there needs to be repose, there needs to be a natural ebb and flow.

One client of mine said to me once "I do not understand it, I work harder than anybody I know. Yet I don't seem to be getting the results I want."

Lack of repose. Everyday cannot be eighty degrees and sunny. Everyday cannot be a huge massive success. Nature has a part in all of this: It is a teacher. Watch nature, it works at Peak Performance all the time.

Even today with the light drizzle it is at Peak Performance.

Repose

Scott Schutzman, M.A., Counselling Psychology
Performance Coach
310-384-2500

M.C. Escher

2011-05-14T23:27:00.001-07:00

Inner Voice

2011-05-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

Standing alone at the break of day
Handling things along the way
Opening mail with open hands
Received in my box from foreign lands
A steak
A potato
A cup of red wine
Here and there I travel on
Finding friends along the way
remembering the right words to say
hearing the inner voice that understands
what can't be expressed merely
dearly
fearless to the night
the shadow
simply stand there and listen
and stand
stand there and share and care
be fair, as much as you can for now
dont' worry about how.

Mining the courage within.

2011-05-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

"We must always base our commitment in the center of our being". - Rollo May

Often people look to the outside world for satisfaction. And it is alluring at this time in history to be pulled in by the forces outside of our center.
Now more than ever there is an abundance of distractions masquerading as authentic connection. One must work diligently to turn their attention to that place within where one seeks a communion with their personal truth.
With truth, courage can be found, it can be mined, it can become a tangible thing to be used for us to create meaningful purposeful lives. Lives that when we are old we can look back on with satisfaction.

http://www.mythosandlogos.com/May.html

Desire in Harmony

2011-05-12T08:23:00.000-07:00

Socrates:
O beloved Pan and all ye gods and goddesses
of this place, grant to me that I be made
beautiful in my soul within, and that all
external possessions be in harmony with my
inner man. May I consider the wise man rich,
and may I have such wealth as only the
self-restrained man can bear or endure.

Do we need anything more Phaedrus?
For me that prayer is enough.

Phaedrus: Let me also share in this prayer;
for friends have all things in common

Socrates: Let us go.

From Dialogues With Plato

Humanity...where?

2011-05-10T18:26:00.001-07:00

It is indeed very painful to look at a country where people constantly react impulsively with anger without being able to think in any kind of rational way before they act.

Then in a way that is pure bullshit, they apologize, they do not mean the apology, but they apologize anyway. Perhaps because they are told it is the right thing to do.

“that is not the way I was brought up” bullshit. If it wasn’t the way you were brought up then what was it? I will tell you, it is a lack of taking responsibility for somebody just beating your ass, to accept that you were less than in that moment.

But that speaks to a society that has no patience or glory for losers, for 2^nd place. What that creates is actually a world, or a country wherein humanity is crushed. A relentless pursuit of perfection as the commercial tells us, is more important than a relentless pursuit of respect, of caring, of love, of humanity.

I see it all the time in my practice, people unwilling or unable to take responsibility for the choices they have made because to do so would admit imperfection, weakness, defect of character…apparently things so unbearable perhaps only death could be a worse fate for them.

Ducks in Hudson

2011-05-10T07:07:00.000-07:00

I was walking down the path today, along side the Hudson River. The sun was shining and a cool breeze was blowing. I was surrounded by two bridges. In the water 3 Ducks floated together, sang little songs back and forth and seemed perfectly content.
My dog Misha frolicked in the grass and at a certain point I had to put my leash on her and pull some old chicken bones out of her mouth. (she adores chicken bones).

I started to think about life and how much beauty and simplicity there is around us. And how that beauty infuses me with gratitude and motivates me to do my best, to contribute to the world as best as I can.

Your Role

2011-05-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

Scott Schutzman, M.A.

Performance Coach

If you were a character and your life was a film, what role would you play?

Do you like the role you are playing now?

Are you playing it to the best of your ability, to its Peak Performance?

As a Performance Coach with a Masters in Counseling Psychology, it is my goal to help you define the role you choose to play and to bring about your Peak Performance.

Life is a series of actions. At every moment whether you are doing the dishes, writing a report, making love or watching television, you are engaged in action. These are actions we choose whether we know it or not.

Am I performing the role of my life at Peak Performance?

Do I like the role I am playing?

The brilliant songwriter/performer Stew writes “Did you ever wake up one day and realize that your entire adult life was based around decisions made by a teenager?”

You have a choice. Starting right now.

Scott Schutzman, M.A.

Performance Coach

310-384-2500

http://www.actingtruth.net/

Engage with family

2011-05-07T06:24:00.000-07:00

Engage with family, find joy in connection and learn about people you don't know.

Scott Schutzman, M.A. Counseling Psychology

2011-05-06T18:34:00.000-07:00

Scott Schutzman, M.A. Counseling Psychology / Performance Coach

A successful actor over 20 years.
Director
Writer
Acting Coach
Mentor
Motivator
Addiction counselor
Relationship Therapist

Working with clients internationally in order to reach peak performance.

ScottSchutzman@gmail.com
310-384-2500
http://www.actingtruth.net/

"Courage is not the absence of despair; it is, rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair."

Rollo May

What is your Peak?

2011-05-06T18:23:00.000-07:00

I am always asked by my clients, "How do I know what my Peak Performance is?" And my answer is always the same: "It is when you have engaged your heart, soul, mind focused your energy and acted with complete committment in the moment of creation."

Our goal as creative beings in this world may be to experience as many of these peak experiences as possible.

One must first create a foundation of truth. This means a deep understanding of one's inner motivations and outer actions. A person may say they want peak performance, but their inner motivations and outer actions can prove to act in opposition to peak performance. Undermining their heart, soul and losing energy and focus in the process.

In working with actors, writers, singers, lawyers, therapists, dancers, sculptures, and artists I encourage the use and understanding of the 4 C's

CORE - CONFIDENCE – COMMITMENT - CHOICE

Learning to engage their Core one uses the best part of themselves, the source and energy at the very center of their being.

Using their Core provides one with great Confidence in order that they can and will do whatever they Choose to do.

The creative individual must have the highest level of Commitment in what they are doing at the moment in order for their performance to excel in any situation.

Life is a performance. Every day. Every moment. You are doing, you are being you are in motion. This is performance, it is not something fake, false, inauthentic. It is a constant search for the truth, the truth within each individual.

Addiction, depression, despair, depression, have roots in lack of connection, loss of relationship to soul and loss of relationship to one's inner experience.
Our work attempts to re-connect that inner experience creating the foundation for one to begin working; moving slowly up the mountain toward their peak.