The key question to ask yourself when you are frozen in fear or gripped in anxiety is “How do I say something real right now? What is the most authentic thing I can say now? What is true for me at this moment?” Stage fright, fear of public speaking and performance anxiety are caused by the…
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My public speaking students ask, “What if I speak to an audience that is hostile? How do I deal with that?” This question usually comes up after they have transformed a great deal of stage fright and are feeling very comfortable at the center of attention in their class group. The implication of the question…
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I was approached to write a talk, Taming the Dragon: Facing the Fear of Change for a non-profit organization. Saturday I delivered the talk twice and did well enough. As I drove away from the event, I realized that the talk was as much for my own healing as it was for the audience of…
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This week, Tuesday night, marks the re-emergence of my acting classes at Self-Expression Center. Acting as an art form, for its own sake, has long since lost its luster and attraction for me. I am after much more important results from acting! I think all the art forms are really for the purpose of healing…
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My blog has been featured in this month’s Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog Carnival edited by James Feudo! This is a fantastic collection of blog articles by many people. You can view the carnival at http://blog.jvf.com/2008/06/23/public-speaking-and-presentation-skills-blog-carnival-june-2008-edition/.
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Everyone has a unique message to deliver that is exciting and compelling. Every life has a theme that is based on a major lesson that is being learned through the human experience. Your unique message always comes from your struggles. Struggles build soul. What you are wrestling with in your life becomes the gift…
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It is empowering to identify your own universal message that you want to deliver. It will energize your presentations with passion for what you are saying. A contributing factor to stage fright is the fact that people leave out their most deeply held beliefs and values from their presentations. They tend to edit out…
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The thrust of my entire life has been about working through insecurity to develop self-confidence. The main thing I have learned is that authenticity fosters confidence. As an actor, I trembled at auditions. As long as I fought my tremors and made myself wrong for feeling afraid, I tensed to protect myself from showing…
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Right after the final night of American Idol, I posted this comment. It did not seem to show up on my blog, so I am reposting it. I was so taken with the quality of talent this year, but when a real professional singer performed the last night, the difference was palpable. Forgive me if…
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John Tesh just posted a blog called Taming Fear on which he shared that one of his biggest fears was stage fright. He was wonderfully honest about his fear and shared his experience of getting help from a therapist named Dr Hart. What pleased me so much was that Dr. Hart’s approach to healing stage…
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