“𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗺𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆?” - 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱 𝗠𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹

One of my New Year goals is to daydream.
For 15 minutes a day.

This isn't to do with manifestation or business goals.
It's another move towards putting craft at the centre of my working day.

For the first five minutes, there is a series of exercises (a guided meditation of sorts) that I listen to by the acting coach Niki Flacks. She describes it as 'self tuning'.

This helps me focus on the moment, my body and breath.
It's a more vulnerable and emotional state of readiness.

From there, I spend the next five to ten minutes trying to guide my emotional state in a particular way.

I might imagine specific imaginary scenarios.
I might listen to particular types of music.
I might focus on particular senses.

And while I might start with an emotional target, I don't force it.

The only rule is not to repeat what I started with yesterday.

Why do this?

Because it increases my palette as an artist.
Because I learn how different stimuli trigger me in different ways.
Because it helps me become less predictable, so that I surprise myself.

The below poem is a case in point.
I didn't start it from a sad place - but by being in a state of readiness, it simply 'dropped in' towards the end.

Not as a choice. But as a response to the moment.
Which is, after all, the artist's job.

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By Christopher Tester, British Male Voice Actor