RYAN HOLIDAY ON HIS BOOK "THE OBSTACLE IS THE WAY"

Among the core principles of my Art of Connecting course is "The First Principle" from the Enchiridion by Epictetus. The essence of that passage is how to achieve happiness with a focus on those things that are in one's own power to control. 

The focus of my course are actions that lead to an excellent connection with oneself and others. 

"The Obstacle is The Way" is a book that I have come across, recently. It is one of the most practical and uplifting books about working Epictetus' "first principle" that I've ever read. 

Just like when I read Epictetus over 30 years ago,"The Obstacle is The Way" is having a transformative effect on my life, for the better. 

Its 27 year old author Ryan Holiday is featured in this video    

on THE ART OF CONNECTING WITH ONESELF

"Our actions may be impeded ... but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting." - Marcus Aurrelius 

"... use what really exists" (use everything) - Sanford Meisner

ON DAILY PRACTICE

On Daily Practice: 

The road to extraordinary results is not "business as usual." 

"A drum teacher once told his student, 'if you can't do it effortlessly in performance, you haven't practiced enough.'" 

Listening deeply and with empathy to another human being takes practice. If we cannot do it in life, how are we to do it in art?

Practice in life. - José Angel Santana 

AN ACTOR'S DAILY PRACTICE

The focus of the actor's attention on achieving "mutual understanding" in daily life with others, is the same as how the world-class writer, painter, and musician each engage in private daily practice to achieve there excellent works. Each engage in conscious and focused daily practice of the skills required to achieve excellence in their craft. - José Angel Santana

The first prerequisite of stage presence is the ability to control our own attention, to use our will-power to focus our attention on the object we have selected." - I. Rapoport, in Acting: A Handbook of the Stanislavski Method

"What is the essence of the actor's work and the theatre itself, inasmuch as the actor constitutes the essential part of the latter? The basis of everything is action...However, the very fact that these truths enter our consciousness does not assure their proper assimilation...A purely intellectual mastery of these ideas does not add anything to the actor...he will not be able to understand it unless he makes this knowledge a part of his living organism, unless he comes to feel it in 'his hide'..." - I. SUDAKOV, in Acting: A Handbook of the Stanislavski Method