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May E-Track Meeting:
Diana Divine on
"Green-Lighting the Script For Your Own Life"
by Alana Garrop
(May 2001) |
"Are you getting what you really want in life?" asks Diana Divine, Infinite Possibilities Coach. "Are your scripts being produced as you intend? Are you receiving abundant compensation for your work? Do you have the relationships you desire?"
As an Infinite Possibilities Coach, Diana helps individuals identify and implement what they really want in their lives. "I assist people in moving forward in action with what they say is important to them, rather than just talking about it," she says. "We have the ability to co-create what we truly desire from the infinite possibilities available to us. Today, I want to give you the tools to do that by green-lighting what I call, 'The Script For Your Own Life.'"
Diana brings a unique perspective to the screenwriting field from a professional coaching POV-besides working practically every job on the motion picture studio circuit in town, she's also an author (Wage Slave) and film and television features writer/reviewer (Film Threat, L.A. Weekly, Chicago Tribune). Her formal training includes stints at the Coach's Training Institute (Bay Area) and the Life Fulfillment Foundation (San Diego).
The purpose of personal coaching is to teach individuals to take charge, or "dominion," of their own lives. Personal professional coaching started in the 1980's, when high-powered executives hired consultants to get an edge on their competition. Although rich in cash flow, these execs soon discovered they were poor in personal fulfillment. Coaching helped uncover what was meaningful for them, which resulted in many life changes. In the last ten years, personal coaching has rapidly expanded past the privileged suits to anyone who wants to live their dreams.
Good professional coaches share the same qualities. According to Diana, "specifically, coaches ask you questions to determine where you are and where you want to go, hear your concerns and help you make effective choices, provide a shoulder to lean on when you falter or get discouraged, hold your hand and guide you through the steps before you make the leap, and, finally, walk you through an agreed on action plan. Most of all, a coach has the heart to want to help you succeed."
"As an Infinite Possibilities Coach, I have only one agenda-to uphold yours," says Diana. "Spouses, relatives and friends have a certain bias. We already have a relationship with these people. As a coach, it doesn't matter to me whether you write Screenplay A or Screenplay B, or if you work with Director 1 or Director 2. What does matter to me is that you are fulfilled in moving forward with your vision."
No surprise here, but culturally we're trained to use the analytical, reasoning (left) side of the brain. That's all right, according to Diana. Use that side for the grammar and spelling checks. But use your creative (right) side of the brain first, jumping in with your heart and writing that first draft from your intuition. Learn to work with your intuition to make up for the cultural bias.
"When you take dominion of your life, taking dominion of your script automatically follows," Diana states. "Your intuition, higher power, inner muse, universal intelligence, inner knower-whatever you want to call it-already has a plan or script for your life. You need to tap into and take action from this 'inner knower' in order to take dominion of your life. As scriptwriters, this means connecting to the 'wisdom within,' and letting that wisdom reveal a great screenplay, then watching your screenplay get made into a feature film, TV show, or TV movie."
"A great script comes from a scriptwriter's rich inner life," Diana continues. "When you look at great scripts, notice that the material emerges from the depths of the scriptwriter's soul, through the main character and onto the screen, where it resonates with us, the audience. A great script comes from who you be, and not so much from what you, as a scriptwriter, do. Surrender to your inner wisdom and focus on the screenwriting process itself-not on the final script. The script is a by-product and not the main focus of the creative process," she insists, paraphrasing from the book Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement With Everyday Life (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi).
Surrendering to the flow requires present-moment awareness. So how do we "be" in the present moment? How do we connect to our inner wisdom? Through daily periods of meditation, according to Diana. "Call upon your inner knower when writing The Script For Your Own Life, or when writing a script, period." In fact, Diana recommends that we connect with our inner knower in every conscious moment we can. "You'll be in tune with the universal intelligence that keeps the planets aligned in the heavens, while it simultaneously pumps blood to your every cell without any effort on your part. The human brain with its built-in ego is simply no match for this inner wisdom," Diana reminds us.
And by committing to quiet times on a regular basis with our inner knower, we also get creative much sooner. "That's because there's no procrastination in waiting for inspiration to find us. Instead, we are being open to receiving it on a regular, steady basis. The script gets taken care of by your inner knower, rather than your ego. Don't worry or concentrate about how you have to finish this dialog or that scene," Diana says. "Don't worry about the how. Instead, concentrate on being still and listening to the inner knower within. When you are in a state of conscious awareness, when you are aligned in the moment, miracles happen. Learn to trust your inner wisdom, your intuition, and you'll be in the flow, where creativity is effortless and dynamic," Diana suggests. "The main thing is to be willing to listen and trust the process. And not to struggle."
We all have our own best answers, but a personal coach is trained in providing the best questions for us to arrive at our responses. Diana prepared the following list for us to ask our inner knower when entering meditation:
- How do I see me cast in The Script For My Own Life?
- What is my particular mission in The Script For My Own Life?
- Apart from writing and selling scripts, what else am I to do in The Script For My Own Life?
- What do I need to know about my romantic interest in The Script For My Own Life?
- What are the obstacles to the mission in The Script For My Own Life?
- What is the satisfying resolution to the mission in The Script For My Own Life?
- What is the ultimate purpose for me in The Script For My Own Life?
- What is the logline to The Script For My Own Life?
- What is the next step for me in The Script For My Own Life?
Another tool for green-lighting The Script For Your Own Life is to become very conscious of what you think and say. Diana suggests creating positive affirmations-statements that are worded to express what we choose to think about ourselves or what we desire to have in our life. "I am a prosperous and successful scriptwriter," is a good example of a positive affirmation.
"Good scripts come from the combination of a rich inner life and a well-balanced life," Diana adds. "It's important to become conscious of how balanced your life is in areas outside of scriptwriting." Diana asks scriptwriters to rate, on a scale of 1-10, how life currently looks in an illustration called 'The Life Balance Wheel.' The Life Balance Wheel is a circle segmented into eight areas: profession, finance, physical well-being, primary relationships, other relationships, personal development, physical surroundings, and rest & relaxation. Using this tool, we can gauge how balanced (or out of balance) our lives are.
"I know that every one of you has a brilliant script within you," Diana finishes. "The world is ready to embrace you, as well as your words. I'm looking forward to reading about you and your scripts, and seeing you at the Academy Awards®!"
For more information about Infinite Possibilities Coaching, please contact Diana Divine at (310) 966-0696.
Network member and recovering technical writer Alana Garrop is now a freelance writer/editor/proofreader looking to add even more hyphenates to her job description. Any suggestions? You can reach her at agarrop@aol.com.
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