Maggie Gyllenhaal: [about her film SherryBaby] Obviously, I understood that all the things that happened in the movie were painful for her, but I didn’t let that into the work. Then all the terrible things I’ve had to go through surfaced after we’d finished shooting.

And I got over it. I don’t think I could play that part now. I don’t know that I could be okay with the things I had to be okay with in order to play her.

Continued on The Inner Actor

In her article How Much Do You Need to Know Before You’re an Expert?, career counselor Valerie Young of Changing Course describes a number of self-limiting beliefs about qualification and competence. Here are some quotes:

You’re especially prone to the Expert Trap if you mistakenly believe that competence and expertise are one and the same. The belief that, “If I were really competent, intelligent, qualified . . . I would know more” keeps far too many people from striking out on their own.

A lot of men fall victim to this same self-limiting thinking.

Yet my early research, coupled with twenty-plus years of anecdotal evidence, suggests women are more prone to equate competence with knowing it all.

[Image from Rethinking Expertise, by Harry Collins and Robert Evans.

A recent Associated Press article talks about actress, singer and songwriter Miley Cyrus and her “controversial photo” at age 15 in Vanity Fair as presenting “a great opportunity for parents to discuss how seemingly innocuous photos posted to a blog or social networking site can be misinterpreted.”

But acclaimed author Germaine Greer says, “No matter how much energy Disney - which makes the TV show Hannah Montana, in which Cyrus stars - might put into denying the obvious, 15-year-olds are sexually aware.”

Continued on Teen / Young Adult Talent

“There’s nothing wrong with doing new things, pursuing activities, exploring new countries, meeting new people, acquiring knowledge and expertise, developing your physical or mental abilities, and creating whatever you’re called upon to create in this world…

“Now the question is, Are you looking for yourself in what you do? Are you attempting to add more to who you think you are?…

“And ultimately, what is the point of it all? More information, more things, more of this, more of that. Are we going to find the fullness of life through more things and greater and bigger shopping malls?”

Continued in article The Most Important Dimension of Human Existence, By Eckhart Tolle.

“We cannot create in a vacuum of isolation: we are helped along in the creative process by certain kinds of emotional support from others that help us to be at our best and to realize our full potentials.”

Psychologist Anne Paris, PhD.

More on Developing Talent

Jamie Lee Curtis says she embraces getting older: “I actually think there’s an incredible amount of self-knowledge that comes with getting older. I feel way better now than I did when I was 20. I’m stronger, I’m smarter in every way, I’m so much less crazy than I was then.”

Continued on Women and Talent.

“Like many sensitive, anxious elementary school kids, I was overwhelmed with my day to day life.

“I thought my sensory overload, deep empathy and social shyness meant there was something wrong with me. At the same time, I felt a strong sense of these traits being very important to my future.” Jenna Forrest

On April 23rd, the new edition of Jenna Forrest’s memoir Help Is On Its Way was officially released.

See this jennaforrest.com page for details.

Also see related Highly Sensitive post: Lost in our reactions, and article: Jenna Forrest on being young and sensitive - and more articles by Jenna.

Much of this site is about how self-awareness impacts our creativity and personal development. But self-exploration can also get obsessive, or we may not find the right people to help, as Helen Mirren notes in her new memoir. Here is an excerpt:

Part of my job as an actress is to do interviews, but while I find it easy to talk about the work, I tend to frustrate interviewers by avoiding talking about myself. For the same reason I have never been to a shrink.

Actually, I lie; I did go to a shrink once. When I was about twenty-three I was very unhappy and, yes, self-obsessed and insecure.

It seems to me that the years between eighteen and twenty-eight are the hardest, psychologically. It’s then you realize this is make or break, you no longer have the excuse of youth, and it is time to become an adult - but you are not ready.

I just could not believe that anything I desired would happen, and the responsibility of making my own way, economically, artistically and emotionally, was terrifying. So I went to a psychologist.

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