Mayim Bialik's Breakdown - Tara Strong: These Characters Are All Part of Me

Episode Date: May 7, 2024

You’ve heard her voice! FAMOUS voice actor Tara Strong opens up about her struggles with body image, why she believes magic is real, her manifestation process for attracting positivity, her connecti...on to non-human beings and star planets, and what she thinks we can all learn from cartoons.   In this magical episode, Tara also reveals the secrets behind creating some of the most iconic characters in animation! (POWER PUFF GIRLS’ "Bubbles", THE FAIRLY ODD PARENTS’ "Timmy Turner", "Harley Quinn"....and MANY more!)   From discovering her voice acting gift at an early age to discussing her favorite roles, we explore Tara’s unique connection with "the characters that live in her head", her advice for aspiring voice actors, and her insights into the power of positivity and resilience.   PLUS Mayim discusses her own animated voiceover acting career, the "emotional freedom" technique, and how tapping acupressure points can help you through stressful situations.   Discover the science behind manifestation, self-fulfilling prophecies, the laws of attraction, and the ties between resilience and positive thinking.   BialikBreakdown.com YouTube.com/mayimbialik Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 The best story ever was this woman. Her daughter was dressed as Raven and she was talking and talking and talking and talking. And I looked over and her mom was crying and a lot of people cry when they made me. But this was like unusual crying. And she said my daughter hasn't spoken in five years. She's severely autistic. And when she heard you are coming, she has not stopped talking. Wow.
Starting point is 00:00:25 We have an incredibly famous voice actor, Tara Strong. She's Timmy Turner in the Fairly Odd Parents. She is Bubbles in the Powerpuff Girls. She's been in Benton, Dill Pickles. She's now Harley in all things DC Universe. Raven, Teen Titans Go, Bat Girl, Harley and Raven, DC Superhero Girls. You've heard her voice.
Starting point is 00:00:51 Holly Quinn on a video game might be like, it's time to kick some ass. We're so excited to get to talk to her about magic. All I want to do is spread love and light and help. Intuition. I also do believe in beings that we don't know that are helping us, many of them aren't human.
Starting point is 00:01:07 Manifesting. If you don't believe in something bigger, if you don't believe that you can try to make yourself better, it is harder to manifest good things. And also what it's actually like to be the voice of so many people's happiness. Hello Kitty's Furtle Theater's proud to present The Wizard of Paws.
Starting point is 00:01:24 Hey, nice and my, poohie's. And then there's an ogreale, but he's no same guy. That's outrageous! After this, I get to get to go. go back to my Star Planet and share everything I learned. Bealik's Breakdown, she's going to break it down for you. Because you know she knows a thing or two. So now she's going to break down.
Starting point is 00:01:46 It's a breakdown. She's going to break it down. Amazon Pharmacy Presents painful thoughts. I read somewhere that the average Americans spends 13 hours a year waiting in pharmacies for prescriptions. Clearly, I am above average. I thought being above average would feel better. Maybe I'll read some greeting cards.
Starting point is 00:02:12 Next time, use Amazon Pharmacy. We deliver. And here's to being anything but average. Amazon Pharmacy. Healthcare just got less painful. Amazing deals for every day of summer are at Nordstrom rack stores now, and they're up to 60% off.
Starting point is 00:02:29 How did I not know rack has Adidas? I always find something amazing. Amazing. Because the best deals, go fast. Save big on Mark Jacobs, Madewell, Steve Madden, and more. Plus, buy it online and pick it up and store the same day for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. Hi, I'm MyM Biallic. I'm Jonathan Cohen.
Starting point is 00:02:51 And welcome to our breakdown. This is the place where we break things down so you don't have to. This is a good one today. I highly recommend you watch this, but you will also get a lot out of listening to it because we have an incredibly famous voice actor on. Her name is Tara Strong. And you probably know who she is, maybe even without knowing who she is. She began her acting career at the age of 13 in Toronto, where Jonathan is also from. They actually went to the same high school, fun fact. And she did a bunch of TV and movies and musical theater. And she landed her first lead animated series in the title role of Hello Kitty, the first series with an English-speaking Hello Kitty, and the voice was Tara Strong people.
Starting point is 00:03:37 She ended up moving to Los Angeles after a run in Toronto's Second City, and she did a bunch of on-camera stuff, but she is Bubbles in the Powerpuff Girls. If you've ever listened to the Powerpuff Girls, she's Bubbles. She's Timmy Turner in The Fairly Odd Parents. She's been in Benton. I've worked with her in recess and detention. She's been in Rugrats. She is Raven in Teen Titans.
Starting point is 00:04:02 And also Teen Titans Go, she's Emmy nominated. She's also the winner of a Shorty Award. She is currently, she's Batgirl. She was Batgirl. She's now Harley, in all things DC Universe. If you've heard anything with Harley's voice, a video game, a show, anything. It's Tara Strong. She's currently working on, wait for it.
Starting point is 00:04:23 These are all the series she works on. Pretty Hard Cases. Raven. Teen Titans Go. Batgirl. Harley and Raven. DC superhero girls. Mama Boxing Kitty Fairy, Gabby's Dollhouse, and Marvel's hit Loki. You've heard her voice at some point in your life, and we're so excited to get to talk to her about magic,
Starting point is 00:04:44 intuition, manifesting, and also what it's actually like to have to play all these voices and be the voice of so many people's happiness and what that's like to interface with all of her fans. Break it down. Welcome to the breakdown. Thanks for having me. In reading your bio, it is worth mentioning you work on many television shows at the same time. Yes, that's true. Like, I think I counted eight.
Starting point is 00:05:17 Yeah, I think sometimes it's like four and sometimes it's ten at the same time. So you and I used to audition in kind of the same circles at the same sort of period of time. And there was a time when I got voiceover work. And then we ended up getting to do an episode of recess together. And then I stopped getting work. And I realized you were getting more and more work. By the way, we also did Lloyd in Space together. We were a two-headed monster.
Starting point is 00:05:42 We were a two-headed monster. That's right. But it's really, it's, it's an astounding, impressive resume that you have in that. You are able to have your voice on so many different platforms at the same time. time. And I have to ask, was this like a dream of yours as a child? Like, I have an amazing voice and I'm going to get to be on 10 shows at the same time. No. Okay, I knew when I was five years old that I think you're the same, wanted to be singer-dancer actress. It's all I wanted. And I knew that before I knew it was a career. It just looked fun. And that's, I came here to
Starting point is 00:06:28 perform and no one in my family was a performer except a grandfather who was a canter. But nobody knew anything about showbiz. I grew up in Toronto. My mom was a caterer. My dad was a pharmacist. We had a toy store. I grew up in this toy store. My parents were the first to import Hello Kitty into Toronto. I have a picture of myself as a five-year-old with my dad in a Hello Kitty furry costume. And like we didn't have a lot of money, but they were very supportive of me fulfilling this dream and I had lots of acting, singing, dancing classes my whole life.
Starting point is 00:07:02 My first sort of professional performance was at the Yiddish theater. I spoke Hebrew, not Yiddish, but I learned it phonetically and all the boobies called me the Wundermaidlach and it was very wonderful. And then I finally got an agent and I got my first theater production
Starting point is 00:07:18 at Toronto's downtown Lime Light Dinner Theater, which was the music man and a lot of people's first show was the music man. And my first on-camera show, which was a show with Mr. T. And my first cartoon, which was Hello Kitty. I was the first, I was the first English-speaking voice. The first time she had a mouth was me at 13.
Starting point is 00:07:36 This blew my mind. I didn't know this about you. I started once 13. And you were Hello Kitty? First series, that was the title role of Hello Kitty. First time she had a mouth. It's the first time she had a mouth. What does she sound like?
Starting point is 00:07:49 What did she sound like? Hello Kitty's Furry tale theaters proud to present the Wizard of Paws. That's exactly what I think Hello Kitty. should sound like. Yeah, she does. Yeah. So I didn't know. And in Toronto, it's a, I had a very well-rounded career. I did, I had a sitcom that was, you know, I was the kid in the sitcom. I had lots of film and TV roles, a lot of Broadway production stuff that went to Toronto that I shot and tons of cartoons, Beetlejuice, Care Bears, My Pet Monster, you know, garbage pale kids, all kinds of crazy stuff. So that when I came here, it wasn't a blank resume, right? I had a very extensive resume. But even with
Starting point is 00:08:26 that. It did take some time. I was eviction notice broke for like two years. And great story. The person who gave me Hello Kitty saved my L.A. existence and called me and said, would you be on the new Inspector Gadget show? It's called Gadget Boy and Heather. So she gave me Hello Kitty. And then she gave me the job that kept me in Los Angeles. And her name is Marcia Goodman. So she's my, she's my voiceover angel. She's your, yeah, a fairy godmother of it. So, okay, so I want to go back to what you did with your voice when you did your head. Hello Kitty voice. I can't do that with my voice. A lot of people can't do that. When did you realize you had this kind of ability to create voices very distinctive from yours? Are you sure you can't do that?
Starting point is 00:09:10 I can't do that. I think you just think you can't do that, but I bet if you had the challenge to do that, like, what if they're like, okay, we want you to play June 4A in her lifetime story and you have to practice? I bet you could do it. You're being very, you're being very humble because everybody has different vocal cords and everybody has different, different musculature in there, in those parts. Like, you do things with your voice and with your vocal cords that don't hurt your voice. Like, I can do things with my voice, but I can only do it a couple times. When did you realize that you had the ability to sort of do a variety of different sounds than most people can make?
Starting point is 00:09:48 Probably pretty young, because I did always do funny voices. My sister and I had our own little fake radio station when we record ourselves. and I was the kid at six, seven years old that would take my mom's hand and say, let's pretend we're from England in this store. Like, I loved doing accents and voices always. So it's definitely like, I think, like, look, Ma'am, you came with a brilliant brain and a gorgeous singing voice and acting abilities. There's no question.
Starting point is 00:10:15 There are kids that come that play the piano guitar. We know these kids can paint shit at, like, I don't know, can we say shit on this show? At, like, five years old, right? Like, you come with certain gifts. So I think one of mine is the ability to manipulate my voice, create characters that seem to make people feel something, which is what really matters, right? A lot of people come to me and say, oh, I really want to do voice over and that's their voice. And I'm like, have you had any acting experience, right? Because it's not about having a interesting voice or a unique voice.
Starting point is 00:10:43 It will work for some commercial careers or promo careers or like a job here and there that they have a very distinct voice that that works for. but to sustain a long career where you are creating multiple characters, you do need to have, most of us have, that can do this, a pretty normal sounding voice and can manipulate our sound to become other characters, which is what happens, right? You don't just change your voice. You, for me, in my process, I see them in my head. They live in my head when it's their turn to come down. They do, and I become these characters so that it makes people feel something when they're watching it and you know have you gone to comic cons yes you know when you go and people like you are my childhood you I you know I didn't have friends till this show I thought I was the only
Starting point is 00:11:31 person like me till this show and then when you realize the impact that you have on people it's so beautiful so I consider it like this beautiful gift that I was given to like share love and light and like I feel so lucky every time I book something even now I started when I was 13, I'm 51. Even now, I, like, dropped to the floor, hands up to the sky. Like, yes, like, because I love it. It's what I do. So when you just dropped into that character a moment ago, and you just said they live in your head, like, is it busy in your head?
Starting point is 00:12:07 Yes. It's a lot of character. Yes. It's very busy. And I think a lot of people have busy brains, but I don't know if they have them in all the different voices. I have a lot of. It's not that they're all speaking at the same time. it's that they live there in their own little spaces
Starting point is 00:12:21 and when it's their turn to come out and play, it's not like I do anything. It's like breathing. I can't really describe it. They just come out. I know when it's my, it's this character's turn. And I also know specifics, right? Like I've played maybe five, six, seven, ten versions of Harley, right?
Starting point is 00:12:40 So Holly Quinn on a video game might be like that. My NBialx Breakdown is supported by Superpower. We all know the feeling of leaving a doctor's office and kind of feeling like we didn't get anything out of the experience that was useful. Maybe they're like, you're fine, drink more water. There's no real data. There's no game plan. This has happened to me many, many times, especially on the perimenopause journey.
Starting point is 00:13:02 That's why we're fascinated by what superpower is doing. They send a licensed professional to your home or you can visit a nearby lab. One simple blood draw with over 100 biomarkers. That's way more than you usually get. It unlocks a true understanding of your body. Their app has detailed information. on heart, liver, thyroid hormones, metabolism, vitamin and mineral levels, even environmental toxins.
Starting point is 00:13:24 From disease prevention to treating that annoying brain fog or simply optimizing your gym game, superpower is the most comprehensive and advanced system out there. I've been super tired of constantly guessing or just trying to read articles online about what to do for health. Superpower gives you an actionable health plan based on personal results. It's a real game changer. Plus, they have an on-demand clinician team to answer questions. Supplement or prescription suggestions can be directly bought through.
Starting point is 00:13:48 Superpower so you don't have to go anywhere else. They also have nutritional guidance, tips for lifestyle and behavioral adjustments. You even get your true biological age that you can track over time. Superpower used to cost $499. Right now, it's $199 for the full experience, which is much more affordable than anything else out there. Make this the year you stop guessing about your health with Superpower. Superpower.
Starting point is 00:14:10 Not only did Superpower reduce their price to just $199, but for a limited time, our listeners get an additional $20 off with the code break. head to superpower.com. Use the code break at checkout for $20 off your membership. And after you sign up, they'll ask how you heard about them. Make sure to mention my and biolics breakdown to help support the show. Oh, you know, it's time to kick some ass. And she's like more like action.
Starting point is 00:14:34 And then on a kid's show, she might be like, hi, a babs, let's go out and play. And she's like really hyper. And then I've played her very dark. And so when I get a script. I want to hear dark Harley. Well, I did a very dark Harley. And she wasn't even the same. like she was like a Boston Harley
Starting point is 00:14:51 like it was like a lower like and she was very evil but what I'm saying is when I see the script and read you know the character description or whatever it's going on in the stage directions I know exactly which version of that to tap into like when we did Rugrats
Starting point is 00:15:06 right there was a baby deal and there's an older deal but he's the same guy that's outrageous Sarah like I know you and I've seen you work and every time it's It's really unbelievable to me. Amazon Pharmacy presents painful thoughts.
Starting point is 00:15:31 I read somewhere that the average Americans spends 13 hours a year waiting in pharmacies for prescriptions. Clearly, I am above average. I thought being above average would feel better. Maybe I'll read some greeting cards. Next time use Amazon Pharmacy, we deliver. And here's to being anything but average. Amazon Pharmacy. Healthcare just got less painful.
Starting point is 00:15:58 Does it ever get confusing, meaning is there ever a point when you get a script and it's like, oh, how it's sounding too much like this other one, or do they feel so distinctive? It's never confusing when it's an established character. And sometimes people are like, can you do like Timmy Turner on this show? And I'm like, no, Timmy Turner lives on the Fairleigh Ad Parents,
Starting point is 00:16:20 so we're not going to do that. But I at one point was playing like five different tragic 16-year-old girls. At another point, I was playing like five different 10-year-old boys. And each of them had to have something distinct about them or I couldn't live with myself because they're their own entity for sure. So the only time it gets confusing is if there's like a guest star. And you know how it is sometimes they're like, oh, can you do this extra character? And then somehow that extra character just comes back and you don't remember what is,
Starting point is 00:16:47 but they play it for you. Right, right. That's the only time it gets confusing. What about not in a script? Like, I'm still stuck with all these characters residing in your head. And, like, do they appear when you're not working? All the time. But it's more like I do voices all the time.
Starting point is 00:17:05 I do voice. Like, if you're friends with me, if you're dating me, you're going to hear not just this. This is what I'm the most interested in. It's like, when in your regular life are you basically processing the world and because all these characters are living in your head, certain experiences are going to draw up this personality. I'm not saying you have multiple personalities. I'm not saying that.
Starting point is 00:17:29 But I am. I think you can't help if you know these characters so deeply, they become a bit of a part of you. And how could you not? We all have these different personas that we drop into. You just happen to have a wider repertoire and they each have personalities, which I think is just awesome.
Starting point is 00:17:48 They do. And it's a very symbiotic relationship so that there's a lot of me in bubbles and there's a lot of bubbles in me. And I'm probably most like bubbles because I'm super sweet. I want everyone to be friends. And then if you piss me off, I will go hardcore. Like that's me in person, right? I'm just usually very light, positive attraction. Let's go do fun shit. Everybody come to my. house, but like, okay, I will kick your ass if I have to. That's like, right? That's me. And then there are other characters that feel very part of me. Twilight Sparkle is like super part of me. And when I first read for that part, so Powerpuff Girls was created by a man named Craig McCracken, and he is married to Lauren Faust, who worked on that show. And she created My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, which is the biggest fandom I've ever seen in my life. And it was unbelievable and so fun. But that, that character came about because she came to my house and said, hey, I'm putting together a pitch for a new version of the ponies with more depth in their characters as opposed to just selling toys.
Starting point is 00:18:59 And I think that's why it spoke to so many people. And she's, she had me read three different characters and just for the pitch presentation. And she said, as soon as she heard me do Twilight, she knew I was going to be that character. And I think it's because part of me is very similar to her. And another same thing. She's always like ready to lead the past. She wants everyone to be friends. She wants to do everything right. She loves to read. She's like, loves magic. I love magic. Like when you say, is it, you know, a part of you? Like, there is a part of me, like, let's get weird a minute. That feels like these creatures are sentient. And so, like, when someone says to me, I wanted to end my life till I met Raven and they're crying and they're hugging me.
Starting point is 00:19:44 The best story ever was this woman. Her daughter was dressed as Raven, and she was talking and talking and talking and talking. And I looked over and her mom was crying, and a lot of people cry when they meet me. But this was, like, unusual crying. So I went over to see if she was okay. And she said, my daughter hasn't spoken in five years.
Starting point is 00:20:04 She's severely autistic. And when she heard you were coming, she has not stopped talking. And so I feel like a conduit for these, You know, I know that sounds weird, but it's like, it can't just be me. Like, I feel so lucky that something I did help someone like that. And I hear stories like that all the time. So, I mean, maybe I'm a crazy person, but they feel very sentient to me.
Starting point is 00:20:29 They feel like they matter a lot of my major characters. And also, I feel very lucky that there's been so many major characters, right? Not many people can say I was Batgirl and Harley and Timmy Turner and Bubbles and Now Miss Minutes and all these characters that really touched people's lives, rave and twilight sparkle. Like, these are very important to people around the world. And when I go to cons around the world, people like, oh, you go for the money. No, the money's nice, but that exchange of light, magic, and energy is so beautiful and important to me. And sometimes people like, you know, you shouldn't hug everybody or you shouldn't do this. I'm like, how can I not hug someone
Starting point is 00:21:06 when they come to me and said, my childhood was so hard? And fairly odd parents was the only thing that got my dad to sit down with me. And can I have a hug? No. Like, no. You know, I just, it's a beautiful exchange. I just had a con two weeks ago, and a guy was, a grown man was crying to me saying his daughter was born autistic and very young. They found out she was very autistic and couldn't really connect. And he's like, I was so worried that I would never connect with her. I didn't know how to connect with my kid. And then I was feeling like a terrible person. And then we sat down and watched my little pony. And that's our thing. And we communicate through that. I'm like, thank you, and he's bawling.
Starting point is 00:21:45 There's something that Jonathan mentioned, you know, it's known as dissociative identity disorder now instead of multiple personality disorder. But it's something that even people who do, like, internal family systems work where you look at different parts of you, there are different parts of us that have different personas and they have different needs.
Starting point is 00:22:04 And, you know, in some of the really interesting research on people with dissociative identity disorder, sometimes personalities will have different blood pressure. They'll have completely different physiological things, meaning, you know, when people split into parts, it's usually because of trauma and, you know, really, really fragmented things. But the notion that there are different parts of us that live in us is not outside of the realm of understanding. And it doesn't just have to be in clinical situations.
Starting point is 00:22:33 But there's something you said that I really want to, since we're getting deep, there's something I want to dig into a little more. You said that you understood from a young age that you could manage. manipulate your voice. And I wonder if that ever felt like also an emotional ability, not to be manipulative, but to be able to change. I mean, as actors, that's what we have to do. We have to make you believe something. We have to make you feel good. We have to make you comfortable, right? And for me, I had a lot of that in my home of origin. I don't know if you did. But the notion of maybe that's part of this sort of gift, as you said, is that when you're giving you,
Starting point is 00:23:12 the ability to be a performer, to make people feel something, it really is the ability to change where you are for other people's, in some cases, comfort. And sometimes that means for their enjoyment or their entertainment. But I wonder if you can talk a little bit about if you noticed that kind of outside of your artistic abilities. I know, like when you said that, the first thing that felt true was to make people laugh. I really liked that, especially with my mom, My mom was my kindred spirit, and my mom was very heavy, and her whole life was bullied, and I never saw her eat to excess. She's first-generation Russian Jew grew up in a catering world where I'm sure they made
Starting point is 00:23:56 not great choices growing up, but she wasn't like someone that over ate, and every one in her family had thyroid and diabetes and problems, right? And she was in a tremendous amount of pain, both physically and emotionally. children would laugh at her, adults would laugh at her. Kids would come to me at school and say, your mom's the fattest person ever. And I would see her cry and I would hold her hand and tell her she's the most beautiful person I've ever seen. And she is. And I miss her so much. Like, I miss helping her. You know, like, I miss being an arm for her. In her later life, she had horrible osteoarthritis. She used to say it was like stepping on a knife. And like the fact that
Starting point is 00:24:32 she had to endure people making fun of this beautiful soul made me so sad. And when I made her laugh, When I made this very sad human laugh, she took such joy in seeing me perform on stage, on a show, on a cartoon, whatever it was, in person, making voices, doing funny things. My mom's laugh was like my external success for sure, for sure. So probably to bring joy and make people laugh. And also, like you said, to make people believe things. Like, over COVID, I did an on-camera series in Toronto. that was basically, if Harley was a mom, that was this character. And it was a wonderful part because I usually play like, you know,
Starting point is 00:25:13 cute teacher or bitch slut, whatever. Like I have roles that I tend to book. But like third on the call sheet at 49 was kind of awesome. And it was with Adrian Moore for Orange is the New Black. And it was for Netflix Canada. It aired here on like IMDB TV, so I don't know where you can find it. But to play this like terrible person, person that was basically like, you know, using her daughter to date some kid to sell drugs.
Starting point is 00:25:40 Like, it was like really crazy. And I don't know that I looked so beautiful, but it was a performance that I was very proud of in terms of acting and believability and making people feel, because when you can make people feel empathy for the villain and the bad character, I think that's like a really wonderful thing. And so I do think there's something about making people feel something and making people have empathy. for other people. Like, I'm a very, very empathetic soul. I think most real actors are, right? We know how other people feel. We care about how other people feel. And we want to help portray that and help that. When I was doing a Rugrats episode, you know, like, whenever the Rugrats would go into
Starting point is 00:26:21 adventures, you'd see the adventures. And there was an episode where the kids were at a car dealership, and they said, let's pretend we're under the sea. And all the fish were people. And this heavyset lady walks by and, you know, Tommy Pickles is like, look, there's a whale. And I stopped tape and I went to the producers and I'm like, can we make it a muscle man so that we don't perpetuate that hatred? And they're like, no problem. So like a big part of me is wanting to keep perpetuating that. I wonder if you can talk a little bit more about that, you know, I think, you know, our culture kind of goes back and forth with how we feel about, you know, clinical discussions. of obesity and BMI and all these things. I wonder if you can talk a little bit about,
Starting point is 00:27:09 you know, sort of what you see in terms of like, what is body positivity? You know, what does that look like if you think about, you know, kind of your mom's experience and especially being the child of someone, right, who's receiving all of this hatred and bullying. I mean, it's not even bullying. It's, you know, it's ignorance and it's horrible. I wonder if you have any sort of reflections, especially as your career is so much about appearance. Like, it has to be for us, even if you're a voiceover actor, right, as your primary, you know, work. That's so true. It's so true. It's so important because also sometimes they want you to do press. Also, they draw a character to look like you a little bit more or create a character for you. So it is an important piece,
Starting point is 00:27:52 and I do remember as a child watching a movie of the week and saying, oh, I want to be that girl. I want to be on a movie. I want to be in Teen Beat magazine. I want to do all that. I mean, I was a huge fan of yours, by the way. Oh. The moment I saw you in beaches, I was obsessed. I think I told you that the first time I met you. Like, you're a super magical, talented, insane being. And also, by the way, I grew up with a sister who was very different mentally.
Starting point is 00:28:21 She had a brain injury at one years of age and comes across, like, someone on the Asperger's scale and was also bullied her entire life. and I would have her back at school. So I had the experience of watching someone different and someone obese and what that looks like in terms of being mean for no reason, right? These are very, very good humans. These are sweet, caring humans that would do anything for you. And I think it did give me a base and an understanding
Starting point is 00:28:53 that maybe someone else wouldn't about why you shouldn't say that to someone or be mean to someone or make a judgment call, right? Like I said, I never saw my mom over here. You look at a big person, like, oh, they must eat all day. But we all have that friend that's this skinny that can eat French fries and cake all day and never gain weight. And they don't realize how lucky they are because there's a million different bodies. When you go to the beach, there are not two bodies the same. I've definitely struggled with borderline eating disorders, starving myself,
Starting point is 00:29:24 believe me, anything to feel like I look good enough for the camera. And it's very challenging. and if I say today I don't struggle with it, I'd be lying. I don't feel good if I don't work out every day. I like to feel good and look good and keep inside and outside healthy, so it's a very big part of me. And I also saw growing up what happens if you don't take care of yourself and exercise young, right? You can't just start at 60 and, I mean, maybe you can, but it's harder, right? Like, it's better to sort of try to maintain. And I don't have a perfect body. I've, like, never loved my legs, you know?
Starting point is 00:29:58 There are girls that could go out with a little mini skirt. It's never been me. I just, I danced when I was a kid. I'm five foot two. I've got, you know, bigger size. I've got a Jew booty. I'm like, I'm not a waif, right? And I never like, I don't want to be. I'm more happy in my skin now and go, this is me. I, you know, I'm pretty happy with them. But I do appreciate the women who put themselves out there at all sizes to make people see beauty comes in all sizes. And thank God, like what I find beautiful isn't what someone else. I mean, sometimes it is, but like, you know, some people really like people with a lot more meat on them. Some people really like people more slender. So, like, thank God that's open. Like, love everybody. Let everyone do what they're going to do. Don't judge people. I just, I despise bullying on such a big level because it's ingrained in me in my, it's in my bloodstream, right?
Starting point is 00:30:49 Like, to be mean to people for no reason to hate an entire group of people. Like, all of that where you hate an entire group, you hate, fat people. You hate LGBQ. You hate black people, Jewish people, Muslim people. You hate Asian people. You hate whatever you hate. To hate an entire group is for the one same reason. Do you know what it is? There isn't one. You can hate someone who wronged you in business and love. You can hate someone else okay. But to hate an entire group, to have a judgment against an entire group makes zero sense and shouldn't be tolerated and everybody should learn that we are all one. person and should love each other and see each other and help each other. That's what we're here to do.
Starting point is 00:31:32 I love that. I wonder if you'll talk a little bit more about moving away from Toronto. How old were you when you came to L.A.? I was 20, 1920. I had always wanted to come to L.A. Always. Like, I knew I would always come here. And I got into college. I got into Amda, New York, and a college in to when I booked three movies and I had to choose. And I chose movies. And I had three callbacks for Toronto's Beauty and a Beast for Bell. And I didn't get it. And I was so devastated. Then I'm like, I'm going to L.A. And I came and I didn't really know anyone. I knew the guy that played my dad on a sitcom who has now passed, he was a comic named Mike McDonald and his wife Bonnie let me stay with them in Glendale. And I was there for a few months. It was so sweet of them.
Starting point is 00:32:27 Big earthquake was my second week, 94. Gosh. Yeah, and it was very, very hard to leave my mom because, you know, I was there for her so completely, both physically and emotionally, and we are so close. It was very, very hard to leave. And my sister and my dad and my friends and a career that was consistent. It was hard. But I knew that's what I had to do. There wasn't ever a question on that.
Starting point is 00:32:51 And I think, you know, after that, the only other person I really knew well was, also from our same high school, Jonathan, Nev Campbell. And we got an apartment together. She moved down. Yeah, and wore my shirt to audition for Party Five and booked it. So I think it's the shirt. I think it was the shirt. Amazon One Medical Presents
Starting point is 00:33:12 Painful Thoughts. I've been on hold to make a doctor's appointment for 23 minutes now. The automated voice has told me 47 times that my call is very important to them. Hmm. I'm starting to think that they do. don't think my call is important at all. With Amazon One Medical 24-7 virtual care, you'll get help fast without having to remain on the line to make an appointment.
Starting point is 00:33:37 Amazon One Medical. Health care just got less painful. How long after you were here until you were able to kind of support yourself? Because I'm always curious about sort of, you know, we see you with this incredibly impressive resume now and you're a grown-up and, you know, you have two grown kids. But I'm curious if you can talk a little bit about what. it was like when you were young and what those doubts were like? Or were you afraid that maybe you made the wrong decision? Or were you kind of on a role and just kept going? Well, I always knew this is what I was
Starting point is 00:34:11 here to do. There wasn't a black backup plan. There wasn't anything else I would try or do. Like, I always knew that was what I had to do. And like I said, we didn't have a ton of money. We were fine. I didn't have a shower in my house. I shared a room with my sister until I was 16. I wasn't someone that came from a lot of money. We were fine. What do you mean there wasn't a shower? I mean, there was a bathtub and, you know, it wasn't like a big cool house. It was like, wash in the bathtub. It wasn't until I was like 16 that I kept begging that we finally got a really shitty shower put in.
Starting point is 00:34:42 It was like trickle, trickle. And I always had long hair. It was terrible. And then when I moved to L.A., I was super broke. Like eviction notice broke. And I remember at one point crying in my apartment by myself thinking, like, nobody knows I'm here right now in this moment. You know, when you have those moments where, like, nobody knows this little sphere that's around me of sadness right now that I'm sitting in. Nobody knows that I'm here. Nobody cares. I can't pay the bills. I can't keep asking my mom and dad to send me money.
Starting point is 00:35:16 They don't have a lot of money. Like, maybe I should go back to Canada because at least I know I will work there. They know me there. And it's a much smaller pool of actors in Toronto. And I've been working since I'm 13. Maybe I should go back. But I really wanted to stay. Also, the weather is so much better.
Starting point is 00:35:34 I really, really want to stay. And like I said, Marsha Goodman called me and asked me to do gadget. Gadget was it what kept me here. What kept me here is I had a few little on-camera things. And then I booked the Powerpuff girls and Batgirl, which was huge. huge alongside Kevin Conroy and Mark Hemel. And also 100 episodes of 101 Dalmatians, which never happens. Back me up here, my. It was a guarantee 100 episodes. No, that's not even a thing. Yeah. So those three happened at the same time and then Hollywood was like, who's this girl?
Starting point is 00:36:08 Wow. And that's what kind of kept me here. Those three. Yeah. And this was before you were married, like you were still just, wow. Does that feel like divine intervention to have that all happen in that moment. I've had a lot of moments that felt like I had helped for sure. One of the most, I think, important ones to me just because she's so important is, like I said, when I was doing like all these tragic girls, like that girl was like my own voice, right? She was very real and not like a perky, you know, she was sort of serious and on the darker side of a teenage girl. I was also playing Kylie on Extreme Ghostbusters, very dark character. Shereena Wicket on, uh...
Starting point is 00:36:53 Detention. Yes. Detention. Thank you. I was on detention with you. Yeah. I did detention. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:36:58 And so I thought, well, I'll probably book Starfire because the character description said she was a grown-up bubbles. Hello, I'm a grown-up. I am literally bubbles and I'm grown-up. So I'm going to book that part. And they still want to be to read for Raven. So I read it just relying on my acting skills, putting myself in those moments. And, of course, it sounded like Batgirl, which was for the same people.
Starting point is 00:37:21 I'm like, oh, probably I got to get that. And I'm walking past out of the recording studio to where producers, writers, casting, engineers are in the bay. And I look at Andrea Romano, and I'm like, can I try something else? And she's like, sure. And I don't know where it came from. Godshot, Angel Shot, whatever you want to call it. I just had this idea that she had a weird role whenever she spoke, which, by the way, doesn't hurt my voice. And one other people came to visit.
Starting point is 00:37:44 They're like, wow, Tara, you're working really hard on this show. But that is what booked apart. Is that like, I didn't know before I was going in that I was going to do that. Same thing with 101 Dalmatians. I was auditioning for a chicken that thought she was a dog. And the character description was, she was like hyper and gets flustered. And right before I went in, right before I called my mom, I'm like, I have this crazy idea. She's like, what?
Starting point is 00:38:08 I'm like, would it be funny that like since she's so hyper that every time there's like a bee or a pee, she gets caught and she starts clucking? She's like, what do you mean? I'm like, you know, I can put up with the grilling jokes, the shake of bake references. Even you're asking me why every time it crass the ropergeck. She's like, yes, do that. I mean, that's like a level of, it's a level of independent creativity that I think a lot of people don't think about when they think about, you know, the actual performance level of voiceover actors. And, you know, I've gotten...
Starting point is 00:38:34 I want to hear that part again. I've gotten asked this question because I used to do a lot more voiceovers when I was younger. And, you know, I used to get asked that. And I always had to see a picture. I always had to see a picture of it. If they didn't have a drawing, if they didn't have anything, it was, I mean, it wasn't impossible, but that was what gave it, like there was usually physicality that went to it. And it's not unlike playing a character role, which not every actor gets character roles,
Starting point is 00:39:05 meaning if you're more of a classic leading lady or leading gentleman, you often don't play character roles. You play like the handsome lead or you play like the pretty girl that everybody wants to date. But for those of us who have like character roles that we do, it's much more similar to me to voiceover because you really have to craft that. I wonder if you can talk about like manifesting and, you know, kind of the positivity that you have. There seems to be this kind of running theme of you having a sort of confidence that feels like
Starting point is 00:39:38 it comes from somewhere else. And I wonder, does it feel, does it feel like intuition? Does it feel like you're able to harness something? What is manifesting for you? Well, like, thank you for saying that and seeing that because it feels true. And at one point, my ex-mother-in-law showed me the movie The Secret. And I was like, okay, oh, I already know this. I do this by nature.
Starting point is 00:40:11 I already know this. I've known this my whole life. I knew when I was five, I was going to move. to Los Angeles and be a successful actress. I knew I'd have a house with a shower. I knew I wouldn't worry about money. I knew I'd make people happy. I always knew these things. I've never been someone to worry about money. And I think that's a really big thing, right? When you start learning about the laws of attraction, they tell you, don't worry, don't say, I wish I had. I want to have. Because then if you replay that in a year, what's the message? I wish I had. I wish I had.
Starting point is 00:40:40 The laws of attraction are feeling like you already have it, not just saying it, thinking it, feeling like it, and then trying to parlay that energy into your daily life. And let's pretend it works 50% of the time, 40% of the time. That's better than never, right? Right? People that are constantly thinking, everything bad happens to me. I'm always unlucky. I'm always sad. They are. And they keep bringing that on themselves. And I feel bad for people. stuck in that. I've been stuck in depression. I've been stuck in doubt. And then this part of me that knows I'm here to spread love and light resurfaces. You are here to do this. When I feel insecure, I let the strongest parts of myself take the wheel. I'm going to let Harley handle this situation. I'm going to let someone else take this for a minute. And then that'll bring me back into my highest version of myself. But I'm a very big believer of checking in with yourself. I listen to meditations all the time that I love. I can send you some of my favorites. That put me in a place of feeling good and inviting the best things that we have on this planet to you. I really do live that
Starting point is 00:41:53 way. And I just, I don't know, I rely on it a lot. And it's important to me to keep thinking positive and spreading love and light. That's what we're here to do. And I just, I want to clarify, because I don't think you, I don't think this is what you meant, but I just want to clarify. The notion is not that people, I mean, I guess there's some element of, you know, what are we attracting, right? What are we creating? But I think also, you know, for people who are struggling, right, with depression, things like that, the notion is not you did this to yourself. Absolutely not.
Starting point is 00:42:33 I have a really big problem. I have a big problem with that. I don't, first of all, everyone, not everyone knows everything. You could sit with someone who's like, I speak to ghosts and I know this happens when you die and they could still be full of poop, or that's their experience or whatever it is. Nobody here on this planet right now knows everything. We're here to learn. Nobody knows what happens when you die or how, whether or not the laws of attraction work or whatever. And there are a lot of people putting out videos that I think are very destructive. I do not think you invite bad things. I think that should be removed from
Starting point is 00:43:06 that information. I don't think you asked for your husband to have an affair. I don't think you asked for your kid to have a disease. You're not talking to me specifically. No, no, I'm talking to people in the world. And I do think sometimes people that are like obsessively believing in whatever video they've seen that, oh, I must have brought this bad unto myself. No, you did not bring bad into yourself.
Starting point is 00:43:29 I do believe that positive thoughts have more power. And maybe you can speak to this because they say they've scientifically tested this. that positive thinking seems to bring more energy. And I just think that if you don't believe in something bigger, if you don't believe that you can try to make yourself better, it is harder to manifest good things. But I don't think anyone should feel like they brought on a bad situation, unless you physically did something bad.
Starting point is 00:43:54 But I don't believe that. No, I don't know what that is. I don't understand it and it's heartbreaking to see someone you love suffer, but I don't think they brought it upon themselves. Yeah, that makes sense. And we know that the brain just has a better capacity for resilience when it is geared towards positive thinking. I mean, that's literally what, you know, science is proving that's consistent with what a lot of people like you intuitively knew, right? When you say there's more power to positive thinking, it's because it causes the ability
Starting point is 00:44:24 for expansion, for more synaptic connections, like for your brain to literally access more and in particular to access more of, you know, the sort of chemistry that then perpetuates more positivity. Another way of saying that, and I think it's a very good clarification, is when we say resilience, what we're saying is like you have more problem solving ability. Right. And right, if you're suffering and you know that side of you exists and I have suffered, not to say everything's been beautiful for me. There's been very hard times. I've had moments where I get why people want to and things. I've been stuck in cycles of sadness, depression. But I think if you have that piece of you to hold on to, I want to get back to that feeling, that person, that mental state, I think it's
Starting point is 00:45:09 helpful to anchor yourself in the best case scenario rather than the worst case scenario, right? When you don't feel well and you go to WebMD, you're dying of everything. Like, automatically go to the worst case scenario. If you try to every day, automatically, every day, go to the best case scenario, I think slowly you can pull yourself from those things. I feel very fortunate that I had a strong base to pull myself to, to get myself out of hard situations. Is that what you meant, Jonathan? Well, yes, and I think it's important to clarify the science of manifesting, or at least part of it. You know, what does it mean to actually put good into the world and good will come back? Because I saw the secret.
Starting point is 00:45:54 I saw many of these teachers, and some of it, I think, is botched, as you said, that we bring things on ourselves. But what we know, and in other experts that have come on this show, for example, Susan David, she talks about how when we are facing distress, we have cognitive narrowing, meaning that we default to the most uptight, constricted parts of ourselves. It's very hard to find solutions in that space. We have a lot more black and white thinking versus when Mime is talking about resilience. What resilience means is actually having a lot more cognitive flexibility. That allows us to see it's not this or that. It may be somewhere in between and that in between might be the solution. So like for example, and I'm just, you know, I don't know what happens for you in a moment
Starting point is 00:46:43 where you find a character or you find a solution. But for example, if you were in the booth and you, you saw something like the overweight character and you just tensed up, you wouldn't have the resources to find the solution. Versus if you are channeling that part of yourself that knows there are resources, that knows that you could say something, that there holds the possibility of a solution, therefore you manifest a solution because you are bringing more of yourself.
Starting point is 00:47:10 You are bringing that energy to be available for this scenario and you're able to interact and find a solution. Yeah. I think that's true. Also, I meant to say yes, say yes, that's true to you too. Yes, that's true, Jonathan. You only say the Canadians are saying two things. I wanted to also give you a yes, that's true on, because I forgot to say this earlier, visualizing, a visual representation of the character. If I have an audition, and I do all my auditions right here, I'm in my
Starting point is 00:47:41 little home studio right now, I'll put the character side by side and look back and forth. And we do get physical in the booth. We do have a physical thing that happens. And so, Jonathan, back to your point, when you visualize yourself out of a situation, I see, I do sometimes see those characters. I do have a physical thing that happens to me that can help me. And I'm, I'm lucky that that part of me is so strong. I'm lucky. I'm not saying this is what I'm saying, but I'm going to be this person just for the sake of argument that's like, that's naive and like, Lucky you. Like, you were gifted with this positivity and like, I, what if I wasn't? And what if my chemistry is like, no, no, like downward spiral? I think you can work on it. It's hard.
Starting point is 00:48:25 I think you can work on it. I think mental. And we know, right, we know that medication is not the only way to work on it, which used to be what doctors told you. Like, oh, you're not feeling like Tara is today. We're going to give you this pill to make more terra hormones, right? We're just going to like increase the serotonies. Are you coming up with a mark? marketing idea right now? No, but I think what we're now learning and a lot of what Jonathan and I do try and talk about and emphasize on this podcast is there are ways to get outside of yourself. And it doesn't just have to be with pharmaceuticals. And it also doesn't just have to be with psilocybin. Like you live in L.A. Everybody's like microdosing. That's why everyone's in such a good mood.
Starting point is 00:49:04 But, you know, the notion that meditation, that, you know, law of attraction stuff or, you know, I was just, I've been revisiting the emotional freedom technique, right? Even though I'm in a hard place, I'm still loved by something bigger than all of this. And I'm like saying it to myself and feeling like a ridiculous person, right? But those are ways that we don't necessarily need to just turn to a pharmaceutical or turn to psilocybin and be like, look, I'm all better. But how can I, you know, create my own little manifestation circle in my own brain? And I think, like, you, know this, I think it's a daily practice just like if you want to dance, you're probably going to be dancing every day. If you want to be fit, you're going to work out every day. And all of your muscles
Starting point is 00:49:51 and all of your body parts need some kind of attention every day. And I do think if you're just like, I'm going to feel good today and not tomorrow, not work on it. Everything's terrible. Everything's terrible every day. And not work on bringing yourself to a different place. It makes a difference. I think it's, and for me, even, for me, it's daily work to put myself in. in a good headspace. If I see something sad, if something bad happens, I have to work on it. I have to put on one of my meditations. It's not just like, hey, let's feel good and everything's wonderful. I think it's work just like, like I said, if you want to be a singer, you're going to take singing lessons. You're going to work out your voice every day. It's like another piece of you that has to
Starting point is 00:50:29 be worked on every day. That's a great point. Tara, I want to circle back to a word that you use that I, that struck me, you use the word conduit when describing, receiving these characters or almost, you didn't use the word channeling, but that's what I conjured when you use the word that you were a conduit. Do you have a sense of being plugged into the universe? Do you have a sense of that these characters exist? You know, Rick Rubin talks about the artist being downloading and having the work is, you know, fine-tuning one's antennae to receive information and then translate it. I'm wondering if you could, how does that strike you? I mean, yes.
Starting point is 00:51:17 Like you guys are going to let her go. She's crazy. Oh, no, he's asking because we know that we believe this. We're just trying to see if you do. Heck yes. Heck yes. I am tuned in. Those are my people up in the stars.
Starting point is 00:51:33 After this, I get to go back to my star planet. shared everything I learned. Where did you, when did you realize that this, like, is this something that your parents instilled in you? Or did you just always feel like you are one with the universe in ways that don't need drugs? No, no, no, no, they didn't. That was not part of, the, the thing that I had that was important for who I am from my children, from my parents was unconditional love and support, right? We all know the person that wanted to be a performer. They're like, no, you're going to be a doctor, like your dad and everyone else's a dad. No. So I always had that support and that love. And, but they did not teach me about, um, the laws of attraction, although my mom was super magic.
Starting point is 00:52:10 My mom's twin, who was like a second mom to me was also super magic. And we used to have like, uh, well, we did, um, uh, my, my mom's twin liked a lot of, uh, sort of wick in, like, uh, either not so much ceremony, although a lot of the Jewish ceremony felt to me like that. Like, my favorite holiday has always been Passover. because I love all the little things that you do. I like anything in any religion that brings people together and you do ritual together. I love that. We lit the candles every Friday night.
Starting point is 00:52:45 We'd say prayers together. There was a summer when I was 10 that I was literally woke up one day, went outside and broke out into rash and my entire body. And we went to the doctor and I was allergic to the sun. I was allergic to the sun at 10. couldn't play with my friends at school. I was the kid sitting under a tree while everyone was having a good time. And my mom came, she, my mom told me this later that she came into my room one night and said, I'm your mom and I have mommy magic and tomorrow you're going to wake up and not be allergic to the sun and I wasn't.
Starting point is 00:53:22 What? Yeah. So we believed in magic, but I don't know that it was portrayed to me as a laws of attraction or that thing. But she definitely believed. She was Russian, Jewish, and that you. definitely believed in. Yeah, we're Hungarian and there's witches. I mean, like, there's, there's amazing bizarro stories for pretty much all the Hungarian women in my family. Yeah, I love reading, like, ancient Jewish wikin stuff, too. It's very fascinating, like,
Starting point is 00:53:49 magic and cabala and I find it all very fascinating, but I'm definitely a believer in magic. Did you experience that? You know, you have two sons who I knew and they were little. They're now men. Did you experience any of that kind of intuitive stuff when you were a mom? I mean, I think probably she was more magical in some ways, but me and my boys do a lot of magic stuff together. They're very magic. Like, we all, like, I have these in my studio at all times, and I'm like, oh, I'm going to do Raven today. I'm going to play with the purple crystal. Like, I like things and traditions and ritual.
Starting point is 00:54:24 I like, I like it all. I'm not going to, like, go put a curse on someone. but I like, I don't know, I like that stuff. And my kids like that stuff. Huh. My kids think I'm bat-shit crazy. I got crystals everywhere and I'm like, hold this. You're feeling agitated.
Starting point is 00:54:42 Hold this. No, that's crazy. I blame their father. But no, I think that's wonderful that you were able to access that. But I absolutely did feel separate from my ex-husband. I absolutely felt a different sense of connection to the universe once those humans exited my body, meaning, oh, I grew this person. They experienced everything I experienced and also everything my mother experienced,
Starting point is 00:55:11 because that's when the eggs that made them were actually born, was in my mom's belly, which, sorry, guys, that's the story. You get all of it. But I definitely felt, I mean, to put it plainly, I felt like, it was a magical experience to grow a human in my body and it was on the outside. Like, that's miraculous. It felt very divine to me. Super magical. Also, I had many experiences that made me know magic was real growing up and as an adult. My dad was obsessed with World War II. He was a child during World War II. And he had in our basement a World War II museum set up that people would
Starting point is 00:55:55 come see. And I have it now. I'm just trying to figure out what to do with it because I don't want to just sell it off. But he has like signed Hitler documents and over 100,000 postcards and things from the Holocaust. And he had a school room set up. He has early edition of every comic and magazine. And it was very fascinating. And at one time when I was feeling quite rebellious and didn't have my own room, I decided to sleep downstairs, even though all that stuff was right there. And I got out of the shower and I was standing naked for a second. And I hear, Sorry, I can't whistle. It's the one thing this voice bitch can't do. But I heard like a, you know, cat call whistle. A cat call. And there is no windows in this room. It's super dark and creepy. And it kept going. And I ran upstairs and didn't go do that again. I've had like enough for sure. And also since my mom passed, like her letting me know she's here. Happens all the time. When I'm having a hard day, my mom went by Lucy. She was born Lily in, but she went by Lucy. So that's my like magic name. If I see that anywhere.
Starting point is 00:56:55 I'll just ask for it, and it'll show up. It'll show up. I was asked for it the other day. I was at a table read for a really cool movie, really cool, like, camera movie. And the girl was telling the story that her car had been stolen, and she's like, there goes Lucy down the street. Her car was named Lucy. And then there was a Lucy in the script.
Starting point is 00:57:11 I'm like, okay, thanks, Mom. Thanks for checking in. Yeah, I'm a pretty big magic believer. So, like, we're on the same side. So you believe in magic and some things that. that we don't think sound crazy. But what about... A lot of people talk about angels,
Starting point is 00:57:31 like being protected by angels. Is that a thing that is in your wheelhouse? First of all, when my mom died, I was at her house in Toronto for the funeral. I had a two-month-old Aden in my hand. And a two-and-a-half-year-old Sammy. And my mom had a, what they called, a mini heart attack two weeks before she died.
Starting point is 00:57:53 And I had a brand-new baby. week old baby. And she said, I know you know what this means you don't need to come. And I was like, how can I not come? Like, what if God forbid? Excuse me, you have a week old baby, you don't need to come. And a week later, she was dead. And I was so heartbroken. I was like screaming at her, why do you tell me not to come? And I kept feeling like she was saying it wasn't my time. I didn't know it was my time. I didn't know it was my time. And my ex had left early. It was just me and the kids in her bedroom. And my mom had one of those old computers with the printers with the perforated pages, you know, the holes. And my son had been playing with it. And when the morning that we left, the paper
Starting point is 00:58:34 from that printer was on the floor with a pen beside it. And there were two words on that piece of paper. And it is undeniably my mother's penmanship. And it said time, Tara. And I took it to mean two things. One is she really didn't know it was her time. And two is that time is so precious on this planet. It's so valuable. You have to love every moment you can. You have to live every moment you can. Tell people that you love them. Like it hit me in a very profound way. And that was the first appearance of her, but I've had many from her. So I think someone that you feel very kindred to can come. But I also do believe in beings that we don't know that are helping us. Many of them aren't human. You can meet them in meditation. I've met a few. And I think, I think when you keep putting out love into the
Starting point is 00:59:25 world, we're not perfect. We're all going to make mistakes. That's what we're here to do. We're learning. But when you keep trying to be good and put out good in the world, I think you get rewarded with little nudges and little help from your angels that are doing the best they can to help guide you learn everything you can while you're here. That's beautifully said. That's really beautifully said. I wanted to open up, I mean, since we're, you know, talking about your mom, Jonathan has spoken on this podcast pretty openly about his brother who had a traumatic brain injury when he was 17 and Jonathan was 14. And Daniel's a very, very special person, very special part of our life and Jonathan's life and obviously his entire family. But it's something that when he talks about it, we get a lot of really interesting comments.
Starting point is 01:00:12 And so I wondered if you might talk a little bit about your sister, about what, it's like to advocate for someone who's special. And I don't know, Jonathan, do you want to add anything else to the, to the sibling conversation? Yeah, for me, I was the younger brother. And when he had his accident, he was, you know, extremely disabled. He had to learn to walk, talk, recognized family again. The prognosis for him was that he would be a vegetable this whole life. And he slowly fought against that and relearned all of the things that I just mentioned. But one of the hardest parts was as he became two and a half-ish years post-injury, he tried to go out in the world and continue to be a young adult.
Starting point is 01:01:02 And by that time, I had sort of caught up in terms of what I was going through. I was in high school and going to parties and meeting people. And then sometimes my brother would be there. And, you know, he was very socially, well, unequipped, basically. Like people couldn't understand him. He had a very intense speech impediment. He had physical disabilities, so you could see that he was different. And, you know, as he would try to connect, I would feel very protective of him.
Starting point is 01:01:30 He also had no filters based on his head injury. So, you know, he hit on every woman, said very inappropriate things. But also they couldn't understand him because of the speech impediment, but I knew exactly what he was saying. He's clear now when he tells me he doesn't like what I'm wearing or how my hair is or what my face looks like. And he's extremely extroverted with no filters, and I'm this very shy, reserved, very cautious. And so I'm being placed, I'm mortified a lot of the time. But I'm also very protective of him and trying to come in,
Starting point is 01:02:03 make sure he doesn't piss anyone off, make sure that the woman he's hitting on doesn't have a boyfriend who wants to destroy him. So I know what it's like to sort of have someone. that you're looking out for a lot and feeling that they need that extra support. I love that. I think when you have someone like that, and many people do, it gives you an empathy for it, right? When I see a kid at a con who obviously struggles in social situations and you see the look on their mom's faces that they're so proud of them that they're speaking or
Starting point is 01:02:37 they're so sorry that they're doing this or whatever is, you know what that mom's gone through, that dad's gone through, siblings gone through to make sure this very special being is protected, not bullied, and not getting themselves in trouble, like you said. Sometimes they say things that aren't awesome, you know. And I think it gives us an empathy for people where people who don't grow up with it don't have that base understanding of it and can be off put or say something mean that then makes that person's heart hurt. And I think that's what we want to protect at all costs. Since my mom died, my sister's completely agoraphobic will not leave the house. So social interaction is not that important in terms of in the outer world, although she does
Starting point is 01:03:23 like to be online a lot. If it were up to me, she'd be in my house, in a guest house. She'd come with me at all the cons. This is her people. She loves those people. I'll FaceTime her and let her meet her favorite Star Trek person or whatever. I pay for her whole life. I help her every single day. She does not want to leave Toronto. So I got her a place there and I send her food every day. And I make her do yoga with me on Zoom every day. And I try to make her feel special, loved, scene beautiful as much as I can because the world's cruel. World's cruel. Parents are cruel. Children are cruel.
Starting point is 01:03:59 A lot of people. The Internet's cruel. They're cruel. So you want to protect them. So I get that. Same. And our world is really strange where, you know, it's so easy to just not have a place. Right.
Starting point is 01:04:11 And that's true for people who have any kind of. thing that makes them different from someone else, as well as A-list celebrities. I have so many friends that have, what do you call that thing? Imposter syndrome? And I'm like, you're so-and-so, you have an Oscar, you're this. Yeah, but we still get it. Everybody, everybody. I think that's the thing, too, that when people are attacking celebrities online,
Starting point is 01:04:39 especially X, Twitter, that we are not people and have emotions and feel bad and feel sad. Yes, we do. are people that are successful in this line of work. And it hurts our heart if you say something mean. So I think that goes for people who aren't well equipped to handle as well as someone who's wildly successful. I think we all struggle with. Do we belong? Do we deserve this spot? This feels like a good segue to kind of dip into social media. You know, something that didn't exist when you and I started auditioning. Being, you know, being a character on a voiceover show was often a very anonymous way to actually get work and make money. And, you know, I think I don't want to speak for you,
Starting point is 01:05:20 but I know for me there were times when that was really my income, you know, was voiceover stuff. And there were, I mean, at that point, we thought there were so many animated shows before there were 6,000 networks. But still, it felt like there were more shows that you could do voiceovers for than, you know, be cast in. And especially, you know, I talk a lot about what it was like being an actor in the 80s. Like, if you didn't have, like, blonde hair. blue eyes and very tiny features and look like generic, whatever all-American was supposed to look like, it was harder to get roles. Like, that was what most of the roles were. I like to say I grew up watching television of like attractive people hooking up with each other, like generically
Starting point is 01:05:57 attractive people having sex and different permutations was a lot of the show. So voiceover work was this like really safe haven. And it was a place where, you know, kids would know that you were doing it or, you know, some adults would be like, oh, my kid likes to watch that. But there was no real, like, fame or notoriety. Cut to this last, you know, I don't know, it's 20 years or so. I mean, I think when I had my first kid, I didn't even have a smartphone. I think when I had Fred, my second one, I didn't even have a smartphone when he was born. So in the last, you know, 15, 20 years, your role has been not just as an actress and a voiceover, you know, performer, but you've become, you know, a social media presence for publicity, for all of these shows.
Starting point is 01:06:43 That opens you up to a lot of people knowing what you look like. And I would imagine it also opens you up to a lot of ridiculousness on social media. Ridiculousness. Yeah, I'm kind of curious, like, is this a double-edged sword? Yes. Do you feel like, do you manage your own stuff? Like, I would imagine there's a lot of creepy. I'm going to say creepy dudes because it's an expression.
Starting point is 01:07:04 I'm sure there's creepy ladies as well. but what is that kind of attention like? How does it change how you sort of conduct yourself? That's a good question. And you're so right. Since the internet, people go like, oh, who's the voice of this? And then they know what they look like. And so, yes, I get recognized in my real life,
Starting point is 01:07:22 not as much as someone who does primarily on camera, but I do. And it's usually very sweet. Most of my fans are very sweet. And sometimes, like, there's, you know, good things that happen. to you. Like, I was going a little fast to a job and the police officer pulled me over and his kid's a really big Powerpuff girl's fan. He's like, I can't give a ticket to a Powerpuff girl. Wait, did you have to say to him like, guess what? No, no, he knew who I was. I'd be like, hey, in case you didn't know, do you happen to have children who are fans of a television show that
Starting point is 01:07:55 I'm a voice? I'm not saying I haven't done that in scenarios. But I was at the Apple store in New York, maybe six months ago. I had dropped my phone under the seat. And they know, you know, know how they tell you don't move your seat. I moved my seat. It was trashed. And I went in and they're like, we don't have an appointment until tomorrow. I'm like, ah. And then the girl goes, hold the phone. Your miss minutes. We cannot leave miss minutes without a phone. You're going to go upstairs to this other area and get taken care of. So sometimes. Oh, there's a special area at Apple we didn't know about. Sometimes it's, I mean, it isn't really. It was just like away from everyone else so they couldn't see that I was getting special treatment. But sometimes it's nice.
Starting point is 01:08:35 I haven't had too many terrible experiences in person. Sometimes guys, like we talked about, get weird, but I have people around me to help me. The weirdest was a guy who tried to sort of touch himself at my table. That was pretty terrible. He tried to what? He tried to touch himself at my table. Hold on second. A certain part of himself?
Starting point is 01:08:58 Yeah. You mean he came up to you and was like, because I'm looking at you, I need to touch my penis? Yes. Was it the sound of your voice? Now I need to know. Or it was just, did he know that you were you? Or was he was just like, you're a pretty lady. He knew I was me.
Starting point is 01:09:17 He was in my line. He was a very large teenage human with a dad that was already holding him in place. He was an unsteady human. And he asked me to read a character that he created. So I read it and he put his hand in his pants and started to touch himself. And his dad was like, No. And they were like, we're so sorry, we're so sorry.
Starting point is 01:09:42 I'm like, I mean, that happens to me at the supermarket, but I didn't expect it was going to happen to you like that. Yeah. So, yeah. So anyway, that's like the worst. But normally in person, people are kind and awesome. And I think, I think animation fans are the sweetest in the world. I love them. Social media, I love to connect with them in that way.
Starting point is 01:10:03 I have spoken to depressed people. I'm not lying with guns in their mouth. I like to help people. I like to raise money. I've raised millions of dollars on Twitter for kids with cancer, various animal rescues, someone in need. I like helping people. I like promoting shows that I'm on. I like making jokes. I like making people feel good. I like that element. I do not like the bullying. And I think X is the worst. I think of all the social media platforms. You mean for that kind of conversation, not that it's the worst platform. Yeah, I think Twitter X is by far the most bullying, rampant,
Starting point is 01:10:41 hey, it's free speech so we can tell you to die, bitch, if we want to place. I find it very hard on my heart of all the places. And I just wish, I don't know why everybody can't be kind to each other. I don't understand this piece, but I do know that there are a lot of mentally disturbed people on these platforms. There was a girl that told me I should have been aborted during the original Trump stuff that was going on. I was very vocal and, like, put out this tweet that I should have been aborted. All my fans went after her, and I was at a con, and three very frail girls came up to me. I mean, probably one of them had cerebral palsy.
Starting point is 01:11:22 That's the level I'm talking about. They were not solid, confident humans. And this girl said, Ms. Strong, your fans were really mean to my friend. And the girl was this big. I was like, oh, my God, I'm arguing with you. My army of fans are going after you. I don't want that. I don't want anyone arguing with you.
Starting point is 01:11:40 And so you have to be very careful when you engage. Because sane people don't want to go on the internet and ruin someone. That's not what sane people do. So let's, I'm going to parlay this into something that is a delicate conversation that shouldn't be. The Tel Aviv Institute posted a very interesting discussion of something that recently happened to you. And they post the Oxford Dictionary definition of Islamophobia, which is the dislike or unfair treatment of Islam or Muslims. And the reason that they felt the need to define Islamophobia is that you were accused of going on an Islamophobic. binge on Twitter X.
Starting point is 01:12:34 For statements that, objectively speaking, had nothing to do with Islam or Muslim people, you were responding to the terrorist organization, Hamas. And you were not just let go, fired. I hate to use the word. I don't know why I'm so afraid to say it. You were fired from a job that also was part of a Is it a Kickstarter?
Starting point is 01:13:01 Kickstarter. A Kickstarter that essentially, you know, utilized your power in the industry to sell a project. And you were released with them making a statement. It was Bandit Mill Animation saying this was not a difficult decision. They felt very, very secure. And when I looked through a variety of your tweets, what I saw is that you were praying for peace. you were expressing concern with all suffering that occurred. A lot of people don't know about half of the remaining survivors that we estimate are alive of the hostages
Starting point is 01:13:42 are actually from Thailand. They're from Nepal. Some hold, I believe, Mexican and French citizenship. So there's a lot of people being held that you expressed concern for. the, you know, the notion that that's standing with Israel, which was, you know, one of the hashtags that many of us were using, the notion that that was interpreted as Islamophobic and as an extension had you lose a job is pretty astounding. And I wonder, yeah, I wonder sort of what that feels like also to be comfortable being open about it, to say, I'm a person who's a humanitarian who prays for peace,
Starting point is 01:14:24 who is devastated at the suffering that the people of Gaza are experiencing, and also at the same time to be accused of Islamophobia, which is a horrendous thing to be accused of because it is horrendous to hate Muslims or Islam. Yeah, I wonder if you, if you, I'm not asking you to defend yourself. I don't think you need to defend yourself, but I wonder if you can speak to it in terms of the larger context of what happens in the forums of social media.
Starting point is 01:14:52 This is why Twitter X is dangerous. These interpretations and things that people run with and then get people to run with and then press runs with. That can be devastating. So I'm going to go back and say how this happened. Like I say, I like helping people. And this guy came to me on Twitter, sent me a DM and said, hey, we're doing a Kickstarter for a pilot. I'm such a big fan. I'd love to have you play this character.
Starting point is 01:15:22 And I don't typically do things from fans because I don't know who these people are, but he was very sweet and showed me some of the art. And I recognized that he was working with some people who did have some good experience in the business. And then he told me it was non-union. And I said, I really appreciate this. I wish you all the best, but I cannot do a non-union project. And he came back to me. He's like, the team's willing to go union to have you. And we had a dialogue.
Starting point is 01:15:51 We had a online friendship going. I was like, great. I hook him up with my agent, arguably the biggest animation agent in the world, spends half a day helping this kid learn about SAG, how to get a low-budget Screen Actors Guild contract, all these things. It was a very collaborative process. I do the job for less than I would do something else for. Like you go to SAG less rate, whatever they call that.
Starting point is 01:16:18 I go on their Kickstarter. I help them raise money. I'm all in. October 7th happens. October 7th, and this fight is something very important to me that I've been in for a very long time when I was a kid. There was a swastika sprayed on our synagogue that my mom was there for, that my dad was my grandfather was the canter, my parents, my mom and her mom ran the catering business. This was our synagogue, and it said die-ju pigs. And when I was 16, I went on the march of the living. We had stone thrown, stones thrown at our bus. We had a swastika drawn on our bus when we were going to Auschwitz, Mindenic. It was still quite anti-Semitic,
Starting point is 01:17:00 although there were beautiful moments. We were dancing at a synagogue outside and this old man walked by and he said it'd been so long since he'd seen the Jews come home. It was very beautiful. But it was also still anti-Semitic. Went to Israel after that, had the best time. I was singing in the choir there for peace, for understanding. I came back. I sang for Ronald Schwarzenegger for peace for understanding. I've been working for over a decade with an amazing org called Children of Peace that brings Arab-Israeli families together in Israel. This is something very important to me. I am a human, as I said before, that shares light and love, and I don't want anyone to suffer anywhere. I don't understand how this planet still has wars. I don't
Starting point is 01:17:43 understand. We've learned nothing. No one should ever be unalive for some, like, narcissists' cause. That's just insane to me that we still have wars. I want to ceasefire around the world. I've sent thousands of dollars to doctors without borders. I've sent thousands of dollars to help people in Gaza. I pray for them every day. I have family there. I have 50 family members and friends in Israel. Like, these are my people. This is important to me. And this fight for freedom for everybody to be respected and together and live in love and peace and light is important to me. And that day was devastating. And I tweeted, they were smart to start with the people love to hate because there were celebrations. People were in the streets quoting Hamas statements.
Starting point is 01:18:29 All over the world. It was a beautiful day. They want to see this happen over and over. So I say it was smart for them to start with a country people love to hate. And that kid retweeted it. I don't even know if he's a kid. I don't know how old he is. Retweeted it and said, this is disappointing.
Starting point is 01:18:45 I'm like, what's disappointing? I'm speaking about Hamas. I'm speaking about a terrorist org. And then they were saying, no, I was speaking about Muslims. And the press bought it. But there's evidence that tweet was on the 10th of October. Israel didn't go into Gaza on the 10th of October. And also, Gaza isn't a country.
Starting point is 01:19:06 I said, is a country people love to hate. But they took my words and they spun it. And also on that day, or a few days later, there was a tweet that said, Hamas is ISIS, and I liked it. And I also liked a tweet that said, thank you for speaking up for the children. And then about 20 minutes later, I'm like, oh, I didn't read the entire tweet. And it said something about, like, Islam, you know, is a problem or something.
Starting point is 01:19:29 So I unliked it within 20 minutes. I was like, oh, my God, that's not. Like, I just read it too fast. Happens when I'm doing a script. I'll read, I've got a script in front of me. I'll read something completely different. Sure. And they took that and a picture I posted of Shawnee Luke
Starting point is 01:19:43 from my friend who is a Muslim activist, Loe, Do you know him? He's amazing. I'll send you his stuff. He and I have been friends long before October 7th. And he posted a picture that said, this is not freedom, meaning the rape of these women. And people came at me, even though it was a Muslim post. And they took that to the press. And the press bought it, which was heartbreaking. By the way, the rest of the tweet that said, thanks for standing up for our children, the rest of that tweet was that the Jews are killing. That was up for two days with my like on it. Nobody said anything. Didn't make the press because it didn't fit the narrative that I was a terrible person, right? And I do think,
Starting point is 01:20:22 now that I know how the press operates, right, you can say, oh, the Jews run Hollywood. There's a lot of Jews in Hollywood. Well, we certainly don't run the press, right? You see how much negative there is. And unless you're a Jewish person saying, I don't want to be Jewish anymore, you're an Islamophob, right? You can't say anything without them attacking you, even though I, this is an important thing to me. I'm sending them money. I love all people. It doesn't matter. Your entire world is defined by you accidentally liking a tweet. If you accidentally like the wrong tweet, and that makes you a terrible person, we are all in really big trouble. Trust me, when you die, they're not going to be like, which tweet did you accidentally like? Right? I, it's just, it was so
Starting point is 01:21:07 heartbreaking to see so many people coming at me when I, all I want to do is spread love and light and help. it's all I want to do. And it's still there. People are so mean. You can't tweet anything now without people going, you know, you're a Jewish genocider. Right. You're a genocide. Yeah. And I think that's, yeah. And I think, you know, sort of what my experience has been is, you know, anyone who's listened to me for any number of years or decades before October 7th knows that, you know, I've been an advocate for Palestinian rights, for Palestinian dignity, for a restructuring of many policies of the Israeli government. but when it comes down to it, if someone has a problem with the fact that I believe Israel should exist, we're going to have a fundamental problem because I can hold both of those things. I can hold love
Starting point is 01:21:53 and space for both people in my heart and in a geographic place. And for me, I think what you're talking about is really people showing their cards to a certain extent. You know, if their fundamental issue is that you believe that Israel should exist, then unfortunately it doesn't matter, right? It's insane. Like, these people who I think you're right don't know that the things they're chanting, the Hamas-based chance, you are asking for me to be unalive. You're asking for me and people that I love to not exist. It's so crazy to me that people are so outwardly, vocally, blasphemytic. And they say, no, we're not. Yes, they are. Antisemitic crimes are up over a thousand percent. Like you said, it's at every college.
Starting point is 01:22:40 It's online every day. Every single day in my inbox, I get Die Zionists, see you next Tuesday. Every day. It doesn't matter if I say I'm pro-peace. I want everyone to have love. I want everyone to be on my little pony. Like, that's how my brand works. I want everybody to, you know, and cartoons were way ahead of that game.
Starting point is 01:23:02 Rugrats had black family, Jewish family. Cartoons are all colors of the rainbow. They worship everyone. They love whoever they want to love. and we all love each other. We could all learn from cartoons, actually. We could all learn a lot. Coexisting is, you know,
Starting point is 01:23:17 there are beautiful, beautiful orgs in Israel, hand-in-hand schools, where kids are together, Muslim, Jewish, everyone's together. The fight should be against terrorism from everyone. There should be no justification for terrorism. There should be no justification for rape. You should be able to say,
Starting point is 01:23:38 I'm praying for these children, children to be returned to their parents without being called a Zionist to you next Tuesday. If a kid was kidnapped in your neighborhood, there'd be signs everywhere. People wouldn't be tearing them down. The fact that people hate Jews because they're at war is insane. Around the world, they don't hate Christians because America's at war. Israel has Jews, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, everybody. It's a country. You can hate the way Netanyahu's done things. You can hate certain policies. But to hate an entire group of people is stupid. I don't. Nobody should. And the fact that there's all this very vocal hatred for Jewish people is terrifying. I don't understand why there are more arrests
Starting point is 01:24:22 at some of these rallies where people are causing pretty terrible vandalism. A guy died. A guy died in California. You know, it used to be when Black Lives Matter was at its peak, we knew to share the mic. Now it feels like not only do they not want to share the mic, they want to take it from us and hit us over the head and kill us. Look, that guy got killed by a megaphone. Like, if I'm saying this feels anti-Semitic, believe me, I grew up with this. It's in my blood. My grandmother escaped the pogroms at 16. She put all her family on a boat. Her mom said, if I die, it's her fault. She saved a generation. This is in our blood to any Jewish person today is alive because your ancestors survived being hunted. Period. Don't hate Jews. You can hate a policy. You can hate a war.
Starting point is 01:25:05 I hate all wars. Most Jews do. No Jew wants genocide. No Jew wants an innocent person to suffer. We want to invite you over for matzabal soup, period. Thank you, Tara. It's such a pleasure to get to talk to you about such a variety of things from, you know, from your voiceover career to the magic that you bring to your love for all people. And it just, it seems so fitting that you get to live this life, you know, where you are creating. characters that bring so much joy to so many people. Where can we tell people to find you? Where do you like to direct people? What can we plug for you? Well, I'm still on all social media platforms, believe it or not. I still believe people are good. I'm still going to keep pushing for all of the
Starting point is 01:25:55 charity work that I do and helping people and making people feel good and seeing an important matter to me. So I'm still there at Tara Strong. I'm also at Tara Strong on Instagram and on TikTok. and I'm going to be for the first time releasing a class with all of my secrets because at every single con someone says, and online, how do you get into voiceover? I really want to get into voiceover. And it is not a simple one-answer question. And I've never taught before because it is such a small group of people that find success that I didn't want to take someone's money and not be able to offer a reward.
Starting point is 01:26:33 And I can't guarantee myself my job, let alone. anyone else. So I didn't do it before, but at one point my boyfriend's like, you get asked this all the time. Why don't you tell them what you can and make it a community? So I've been working on it for over a year. I recorded hours and hours of dialogue, sort of like masterclass with all my secrets. There's a lot of weird shit too, a lot of magic shit of how I create a character, what I do, everything you need to know to get in. But it's going to be a community where we all get to see ourselves and hear ourselves animated and work together and I'm here for people for auditions and blah blah blah so that's be coming out soon it's all done and edited and I'm like so happy with it
Starting point is 01:27:13 because it's like I said it's not guaranteeing you work it's teaching you all of my little secrets and what I do and I'm just sharing what's in my crazy brain with everybody where will people be able to find that I'll announce it on all my social platforms I don't want to say the name yet because it came to me kind of like a godshot and it's kind of fun oh I can wait to hear okay yeah So great. It's really, really. It was so great to see you. And also really appreciate you sharing, you know, not just everything going on, but specifically what's been going on regarding Israel's stuff. So thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks for having me. I know what you're going to say, Jonathan. What am I going to say? You can't believe that I know someone who believes in so many awesome things like crystals and magic. And I never told you about her. I've been keeping you away from her.
Starting point is 01:28:02 What I was going to say is she has her life mission of spreading light and love. You could spread light love and science. Why do you have to make me competitive with Tara? You don't have to be competitive. I'm just saying, you know, as a motto to live by, I think a lot more spreading light and love. I'm into it. I used to have a email when I was seven. There's a lot of what was your email.
Starting point is 01:28:29 No, I'm not telling you. Now you're going to tell us. No, I can't. I'm embarrassed. We love to embarrass you. What was your email? Was it like... You know, if there's a few people in Toronto that know what that email was, it was a hotmail account.
Starting point is 01:28:45 Ooh, a hotmail. And, you know, I feel like in my late teens, early 20s, I had... I mean, I was a little naive, but I was unabashedly pursuing that type of, like, leading with love and positivity. I was like the world just needs all of that. And then I decided I had to make a living somehow and, you know, practical reality set in. And I feel like I lost some of that. I mean, I think it's my foundation.
Starting point is 01:29:20 And I believe her, I believe that when you come back to a place of love and, you know, we've spoken about this on the show. And even if you come back to the science of what does it mean to actually lead with love? Oh, are you asking me to explain it? Well, I think it actually ties back into some of the stuff we were talking about in terms of having more cognitive flexibility. I think that positivity, positivity gets a bad rep, you know? Because there's toxic positivity, which is not what we're talking about. No, there's toxic positivity, which, I mean, that feels a little judgy.
Starting point is 01:29:53 But, yeah, there's toxic positivity. There's also lip service. You know, a lot of people give lip service to a lot of this stuff. And the fact is once you can like buy the slogan on a tea towel, you know, that you can buy in T.J. Max, which is a place that I happen to love. I'm not disparaging T.J. Max. But once you can buy that slogan on a teet towel at T.J. Max, it can definitely lose some of the depth and the nuance and the power behind it. But if you'd like to have a happy saying on a tea towel, by all means, go for it. But the larger and deeper notion, which in some ways makes it a smaller notion because it literally starts. starts just with you, right? It's what's between your two ears. This notion that what positivity feels like to your brain is an opening and it's more choice and it's more flexible and it is open. And the opposite of that, that small-mindedness, you know, it's a buzzkill. It's a joy kill. It is a closing. I've been dealing with some health stuff recently.
Starting point is 01:30:59 and I can't tell you how many doctors are like, we're going to figure this out, and I need you to believe that. And I'm like, but I just want to feel sorry for myself. It's like, yeah, but if so many people are telling me and I think you're on to something, right? We have to have an openness for hope, and the brain knows what that feels like.
Starting point is 01:31:20 The way that positivity gets a bad rap is that when it's shallow, when it's surface, people are like... No, it gets a bad rep when people don't want to hear, it. Yeah, but people will say it's so easy to be loving and positive when all of your problems are taken care of by someone else. Or when you don't have to deal with the hard reality of life and difficult choices that we have to make, then it's super easy to just be like, oh, I love everyone and it's all going to work out. Like it's seen as trite sometimes. Well, and I think also for people who are feeling negative, which I sometimes am, it's very easy to say, well, because
Starting point is 01:31:56 they're skinny, because they're prettier, because they have more money, because they have a bigger house. I mean, we as humans can make up any reason, you know, to turn inward and to not be open. But this is one of the things that, you know, having an instructive meditation practice teaches you is that that is all about how you frame things. It is as easy to not go there as it is to go there. It's flipping a switch, right? So the question is, what do you replace it with, you know? So this is where I want to go, because what we replace it with doesn't necessarily need to be, I know what the solution is. Right. Holding hope that it is not going to be the darkest part of our psyche that surfaces. Even though I'm going through something difficult, even though I'm going
Starting point is 01:32:47 through something difficult, even though I'm going to be okay, right? She's tapping. For people who are only listening. Mine was doing that and she was tapping different parts of her body. What were you doing there? Yeah, I was tapping on, there actually acupressure points, but yeah, there's a technique where you're, you're acknowledging that you're in the middle of something, but you're holding out hope that God loves you, you're taken care of, you're protected, and there's a whole system that goes with this kind of, you know, tapping technique. It's a reassessment of how you feel about it when you're done with a sequence. And often it means you have to go deeper and find out what's beneath, you know, the fear or what you're going through. So it's kind of a portal, you know, to try and learn
Starting point is 01:33:33 more about something that you're feeling despair about. We also know that the brain will pull reality in the direction it thinks it will go. So when she talks about having positivity, we will look at to reinforce what we're thinking and feeling. It's a sort of placebo effect for your brain. That works. That works. And sometimes the placebo effect is like, oh, it's not actually working.
Starting point is 01:34:00 But we know that if I'm sitting in this interview being like, no one wants to hear anything I'm talking about, I will read your facial cues that may be totally unrelated to anything I'm saying and then project what I believe onto you. So then I will create the reality that is happening in my brain. So if we do have more openness, if we do have more hope, if we hold the possibility that things can get better, that there are solutions to be had. And sometimes that is,
Starting point is 01:34:30 that a part of that is holding onto or connecting to something greater than ourselves because we can't figure out what the solution may be, then it tends to go in that direction. It tends to get better by programming ourselves to believe it will. there's a Cherokee story that I reference frequently. A boy goes to his grandfather, and he says there's two wolves fighting inside of me. You know, one is darkness and violence and destruction, and the other is good. I mean, I'm mangling this as I say it, but, and the other is goodness and joy and hope and peace and love, and they're fighting. And he says to his grandfather, you know, which is going to win?
Starting point is 01:35:16 grandfather's answer is the one you feed, right? That's literally, that is this, what you feed. And, you know, there's actually, there's a story in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous about a man who's very upset with his wife. And he said that the more that he focused on the things he was upset about, the larger they grow. And when he started focusing on the positive aspects of her, those grew, right? And so when we're in a relationship with another person, not just a romantic relationship. When we're in any interaction with another person, that's what we're constantly doing. We're constantly filtering. And, you know, if I want to believe that the interview is going well, I can look to your face. And if you look like you're distracted, instead of thinking he's upset with
Starting point is 01:36:03 what I'm saying, he doesn't like how this is going, I can think any number of things. Maybe he's making an editing note. Maybe he saw an upsetting message come up because he didn't turn off his do not disturb, for Mesda, it could be any number of things but doesn't have to be me. That's what it means, you know, and then I will seek that. You know, I will continue to do things. And that's the notion of self-fulfilling prophecy, which there's
Starting point is 01:36:25 been some research, a little bit hard to test, as you can imagine, it's hard to have a control group for a self- fulfilling prophecy. The self-fulfilling prophecy of the study is that the study turned out to be super good. That's right. But that really is a very similar notion. So I really enjoyed talking to Tara about so
Starting point is 01:36:41 many things and she's so articulate and expressive and I just love talking to her. What we didn't get to do, and I want to have her back, is just feed her a series of prompts and just have her go nuts with all the different characters she has in her head. And I just want five-minute mash-up of that. But until we get that, I just want to hear all the voices that you have in your head, maim. Maybe that will be our next episode. Mostly the voices say make sure to subscribe. Like us. Leave your comments. It helps us. Hit the little bell icon on YouTube and get us anywhere you get podcasts. And from our breakdown to the one we hope you never have.
Starting point is 01:37:15 See you next time. It's MyM. Beallix Breakdown. She's going to break it down for you. She's got a neuroscience PhD or two. One fiction. And now she's going to break down. It's a breakdown. She's going to break it down.
Starting point is 01:37:31 Amazon Pharmacy Presents painful thoughts. I read somewhere that the average American spends 13 hours a year waiting in pharmacies for prescriptions. Clearly, I am above average. I thought being above average would feel better. Maybe I'll read some greeting cards. Next time use Amazon Pharmacy. We deliver.
Starting point is 01:37:55 And here's to being anything but average. Amazon Pharmacy. Healthcare just got less painful.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.