Every movie has the thing it's about, and then, deep down, it has this thing that it's really about. 'Star Wars' is not really about a space opera, action, and the galactic quest. It's about self-doubt.
To live a spiritual life we must first find the courage to enter into the desert of our loneliness and to change it by gentle and persistent efforts into a garden of solitude. The movement from loneliness to solitude, however, is the beginning of any spiritual life because it it is the movement from the restless senses to the restful spirit,l from the outward-reaching cravings to the inward-reaching search, from the fearful clinging to the fearless play.
It took me a while to understand that I do have a voice, and I can use it to help people.
That's pretty much how I feel on stage, like I can let go of all kinds of baggage, or even disappear and change outfits. I want to remind people that they can grant themselves the license to do the same.
'Better Than Home,' the song, is about getting out of your hiding place and having the courage to live as loud as possible. It is about feeling the life that has been given and has been waiting for you all along.
When I stopped hiding who I am, I started writing hits.
The very cave you are afraid to enter turns out to be the source of what you are looking for.
I wouldn't wish it on people but there is a positive side to a near-death experience. People used to ask me do you fancy doing this or that - and it was like I had a file of reasons in my head for not doing things. I would riffle through it until I found one. But I've dropped that.
For 'Chapters', I decided to let go of my insecurities, found myself some talented R&B producers, and worked with them.
The reward is in the risk. You can’t stay hidden inside Grandpa’s overprotective cloak forever. You’ve seemed like you needed to grow out of that for a while. Mom and Dad going away, and the red notebook, these things just helped. Now it’s up to you to
I was a painfully shy person in my pre-acting days.
I wish I'd known from the beginning that I was born a strong woman. What a difference it would have made! I wish I'd known that I was born a courageous woman; I've spent so much of my life cowering. How many conversations would I not only have started but finished if I had known I possessed a warrior's heart? I wish I'd known that I'd be born to take on the world; I wouldn't have run from it for so long, but run to it with open arms.
I remember my first night in L.A. I was sitting outside, looking out at the city and thinking, 'I don't know anyone.' I just approached it as a big adventure. I still think of it that way.
It was hard for me to find my voice because I was, for so long, absorbed in my own world.
After heart surgery you can go two ways, you can kind of get scared, shrink on to your sofa and keep yourself safe, or you can engage with life again. I probably was in danger of taking the first option.
I was very, very thrown by the fact that I had to make some big changes in my life in order to be myself, but under this kind of movie-star banner.
I always knew I wanted to act, but I never knew when and what would be the right time.
I never would have thought, when I was 23 and first stepped foot in that ring, that it would give me a platform to use my voice.
I found my voice was a reaction to all that voice stuff.
I see myself as a flashlight in the dark. I'm not trying to be overlooked anymore.
Don't help me or serve me, but let me see it once, because I need it. Don't work for my happiness, my brothers — show me yours — show me that it is possible — show me your achievement — and the knowledge will give me courage for mine.
You take yourself to a place where you've got absolutely nothing left and then you find out you have to push yourself one more step. That's a tough place to be in.
If I'm tapping anything, it's the frustration of people who have something to say at work or home or in some social setting and just can't do it. I do it for them. I don't take prisoners.
I felt voiceless for so long, I wasn't ever able to say what I felt out loud. I didn't know how to say it. Posting online presented itself as a comfortable medium. I could say what I wanted to say in a way I still felt comfortable. Whenever, however I wanted to.
You only really discover the strength of your spine when your back is against the wall.
