By Guy Camilleri
If you are in Venice, you may be reading this under grey skies, a cool breeze swaying the palm trees and maybe just a hint of sunshine peeking through the clouds. The start of summer in Southern California wouldn’t be summer without some June gloom upon us, right?
And yet, summer in Venice Beach is a thing to behold! Think about it, a sunrise before 6 a.m., a sunset after 8 p.m… more than 14 hours of daylight to revel in and soak up. This very fact is one of the reasons we live here in California, not to mention how fortunate we are to live in Venice Beach!
So, what will you do with your days this summer? Will you start a new exercise routine, or maybe just change up the time of your routine? Perhaps a 7 a.m. Yoga class in place of your usual 9 a.m. class, followed by a walk on the beach, and then before you know it, you are done by 9 a.m. with 11 hours of light left to bask in.
Or maybe, right after work, you will head to the tennis courts, or play paddle tennis on the newly renovated beachside courts, or go for a golden hour surf, walk or jog on the beach. Or, if you are hungry, why not tailgate with friends and some Keto inspired food (if that’s your thing) or In-n-Out burgers (that’s a thing too, you know).
What will make this summer stand out from last summer?
With the added hours of sunlight, there is an opportunity to carve out time for YOURSELF and notice what it feels like to have these added hours of light to your day. One way to go about this is to plug in a simple meditation program into your day, or as I like to say: NOTICE MORE, THINK LESS.
A few moments of noticing more (including the meaning the mind is making about your noticing) has a short-term and long-term benefit built into it. With practice, you will begin to experience a new-found sense of clarity, joy and maybe even a sense of ease about life and the mind’s interpretation of what you should or shouldn’t be doing with your life!
Not to mention, that meditating allows for a more profound sense of belonging to the world and gives you permission to get in touch with what you want back from the world.
You can’t get it if you don’t ask for it, right?
But, even though noticing is free and you find yourself dialed into a moment, you might notice that your mind will still find a way to make some kind of meaning out of what you see and feel. This meaning that the brain makes along with what you notice is another opportunity to decipher what is worth using and discard what sounds like chatter.
“If it sounds like chatter in the mind, more than likely it is chatter in the mind.”
To keep it light this summer, here are three things notice. These are especially helpful when you aren’t sure whether to react or respond to the moment you are in.
1. What is happening outside of you.
2. The sensations you notice in your body.
3. The thoughts going through your mind.
Guy Camilleri is a Venice-based actor, acting-life coach, and screenwriter in Venice Beach, CA. His classes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at the Electric Lodge are packed with actors, writers, directors and creative people from all walks of life.
His private coaching specializes in building undeniable characters for film, television, stage, auditions, self-taped auditions, original material, solo shows, reels and self-expression in any field of interest. To register and/or audit a class or to book a coaching session, visit www.rawactingstudio.com. Follow Guy on Instagram and Facebook.
