The Imperfect Impulse w/Bree O'Connor

Today’s episode is all about my experience with memoir work, how it started and how it grew. To date, I have written my own solo show and am in the process of editing my memoir, plus I have helped others develop their own books and solo performances. Memory contains powerful secrets that can be uncovered and understood through the process of excavation, examination with an honest lens, and editing...

When emotions are at the core of your work (Hello, American-trained actors) it can be fairly common to run into an emotional experience that can upend your daily life. Don’t panic. Your emotions (yes, even the big ones) are not the enemy. You don’t need to suppress, exchange or ignore that big experience. In fact, doing so could lead you to unhealthy coping mechanisms and risky behaviors (see damn...

Today’s episode was recorded on a walk with my dog, Momo: Please pardon the wild audio! I will return to a protected sound environment next week. This week, we are talking about the power of weird little moments that insert themselves into your work and when good collaborators find patterns that you cannot see for yourself. I hope this summer walk inspires you to look for connection, patterns and...

In Robert Fulghum’s 1986 book, All I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten Fulghum has a section where he remarks upon all of the time saving devices of the modern era that fail miserably at saving us time. The microwave, the washing machine, the crock pot, and their ilk promised us oodles of free time that would have normally been taken up by lowly and distasteful tasks of survival. We lived i...

Listen, we all need to check out every once in a while. Whether we indulge in true crime, cults, bro-comedies, or reality TV, we all know what it is like to switch our brains off and go along for the ride. That’s ok. It serves its purpose. There is nothing wrong with “guilty pleasures”. Unless your entire leisure time diet is guilty pleasures. If that is the case, you may find your creative mind s...

I talk a lot about the benefits of taking the smallest increment of time each day to hold on to a creative practice in a busy, busy life. But what if you take your 15 minutes and cannot decide what to do with it? Anyone who has ever scrolled through Netflix with an indecisive friend can relate to the frustration of watching your “indulgence time” slip away from you with indecision. The key to focu...

I have been thinking a lot about how we compartmentalize business, art, and life as a way to survive the difficulty of seeking money and acclaim to justify our involvement in art. We all need to define our relationship to the work because the world only gives us a narrow commercial space in which to operate. If we can’t fit in that narrow space, we can experience pain, self doubt, and feelings of...

We all want to be seen and heard, but do we have the desire to see and to hear? On today’s episode we contemplate the true effort of listening. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit breeoconnor.substack.com/subscribe

Today I’m all over the place. We start at RRR and make our way to nationalism, propaganda, news, effective communication, talk backs, and moral and artistic integrity. You may need a safety harness and a crash helmet for today’s episode! It’s a journey! For those of you who are interested, here is the Vox article about the politics of RRR that I reference in today’s episode. As always, if you find...

Low Stakes Play is a foundational concept for my theatre company, Playful Substance. We use it to program our season, relate to our audience, cast our shows, develop our plays, and structure our working sessions. Low Stakes Play is not always easy to achieve, but it is essential for open and honest work. For those of you who want to hear the .38 Special song that I reference, check out the video b...

Today’s episode is all about using our mental state as a reason to not show up. Unfortunately, you do this too many times and you will find yourself losing connections and collaborators. I come at this topic as a person who struggles with task initiation, focus, and an intense fear of rejection, among my Chief Demons. We all have them. I am going to argue that having them isn’t the problem. Dealin...

I am having a low-focus day and need a bit of fun. You will need a piece of paper and a writing implement to get the most out of today’s frivolity. Just roll with it. If you like today’s episode (Or ANY of our episodes!) please feel free to share. These episodes are free. If you are interested in becoming a paid subscriber, please know that your subscription helps support Playful Substance, a deve...

Social media offers a lot of instruction on what NOT to say, but offers very little guidance on the other half of communication. Listening. Sure. We are told to listen, but how? It is just assumed that we know. That we inherently understand that… DUH… listening is important. But listening is quite complex. It’s way more than hearing the words and judging them as “right” or “wrong” and responding....

Slow cooking. Man, that is a thing! Flavors develop a rich complexity and textures shift from firm to tender. Responses to art can do the same thing… if you allow yourself to be open… stew in it. Sit with it. Let your responses develop and mature. If you can practice some slow thought, nearly every work of art you encounter will have something you can apply to your own creative endeavors. It’s ok....

Gentle and practical thoughts on "getting started" with your creative practice. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit breeoconnor.substack.com/subscribe

If you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship, there are resources available. The National Domestic Violence Hotline can help you find resources and information. For those of you who are interested in learning more about recognizing coercive tactics, here are a few terms to get you started: Love Bombing Breadcrumbing Gaslighting Not all relationships that trip your internal alarm system...

In my brain, the term “loose social ties” has taken root despite “weak social ties” being the predominant nomenclature. I think my mind resists using the term “weak” for something I visualize as anything but weak! I’ve got some resources for you this week- including a much more in-depth explanation of this concept from Hidden Brain. If you haven’t listened in, Shankar Vedantam provides beautiful,...

Your third grade teacher told you to USE YOUR OWN WORDS. It turns out, this is really important life advice. This week's creative challenge is to explore borrowed terminology, how often you use it, why you use it, how you have internalized its meaning and how others tend to receive it. Thanks for checking out the first episode of The Imperfect Impulse. I hope you'll keep coming back to see how thi...