charisma

Some people seem to have more charisma than others.  You know the type – they walk into a room and everyone watches them.  The whole geometry of the room will adjust to make that charismatic person the focus of attention.  And those people, often, are the ones who have a gift for stage performance.  It’s easier for them to command attention, and they have a natural charm that gives them a big boost in developing rapport with an audience.

I realize people don't come to this blog for self-help information, but I will tell you that I've been trying lately to be "present in the moment" as Eckhart Tolle puts it in The Power Of Now. In the moment, nothing is lacking.  The mind is quiet.  When I succeed at being present in the moment, I have an amazing sense of well-being, calmness and clarity.  I think it's the same thing that Bhuddist monks achieve in meditation, or very nearly so.

Anyway what I've realized is that performances are always "in the now."  When you're up on stage, if you're doing your job well, there is no past and there is no future.  Your brain is taken up with *right now* for the duration of the performance, and following the well-established truth that the audience will be thinking about whatever is on your mind, they will also be present in the moment.  As I've said before in this blog, perhaps that's why we humans love to witness performances, to be entertained - it takes our minds off our awkward pasts and scary futures for a while.

I feel it's that shared presence in the now that creates all the performance energy that we play with.  If we or the audience get distracted by thoughts of the past ("I screwed this up last time...") or thoughts of the future ("geez I hope I play this next passage right for once"), the energy goes away.  The performer blanks out, and the audience loses interest.

In fact it may be impossible to maintain an intimate sense of relationship without a shared sense of the present moment.  That's what people are talking about, when they suggest that you "really listen" to your partner.  Be there, in the moment, and don't allow your mind and your ego to distract you with self-talk.

Possibly, the ability to be in the moment and in relationship with a roomfull of people goes by another name: Charisma!

Being in the moment, it would be nearly impossible to experience stage fright.  If there's no past and no future in your focus of attention, what is there to be nervous about?  Of course it's the same off the stage - you can't be anxious if you're focused on the moment.

Try right now to get into the present moment.  Close your eyes and wait intently for the next thought to come, like a cat waiting to pounce on a passing mouse.

OK try it now.  I will wait.

Most people are amazed how long it takes for that first thought to come up.  Your being present in the moment put you into the now, and shut down your "egoic mind" briefly.  The trick is getting into that present state for longer periods of time.

Artists will be intrigued as well to find that creativity always springs from somewhere deep within you - a part of you that is only present in the moment, and is generally obscured by thoughts of the past and the future.  I tried this out a few days ago.  While falling asleep, I focused myself intently on the present moment.  After I came up with solutions for a half-dozen problems that had been on my mind, I had to get up and write them down.  If I was that productive every day, I would be on top of the world!