Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - Do The Brave Thing w/Rachele Brooke Smith

Episode Date: September 13, 2020

"One of my mantras is 'do the brave thing.' It doesn't matter the outcome because I have no control over the outcome. But if I take action, I win." I this episode I sit down with actress, dancer and model Rachele Brooke Smith to discuss topics such as her journey to Hollywood, dealing with rejection, achievement vs enjoyment and much more. You can connect with Rachele here: https://www.rachelebsmith.com/

One of my mantras is to just do the brave thing. It doesn't matter the outcome because I have no control of the outcome. But if I just take action, I win. That's it. Literally, because I'm up my whole life experience. You know, I was like, how'd you do what you do? And I was like, I literally just kept doing the brave thing, even when it was terrified. Welcome to the Your World Within podcast.

I'm Eddie Pinero. And in this episode, we have my friend Rachel Brooke Smith. Rachel is an actress. She's a dancer. She's an entrepreneur. She's a speaker. But most importantly, like all guests on this podcast, an incredible human being, just doing so much for the world and we'll leave this place better than she found it, no doubt.

Rachel's been in numerous feature films and television shows. She's been in nice guys, Iron Man 2, burlesque, as well as leading roles in center stage. Turn it up. Bring it on, fight to the finish. And the list goes on and on and on. She's also founder of the disruptive movement, which is her platform to help others move towards their goals, find the courage to step into that dark, mysterious unknown,

like she did when she was a young girl living in Phoenix, Arizona, making her way into the entertainment industry in Hollywood. So just a lot of powerful content here. And I'm sure you guys will love it. So without further ado, here is Rachel Brooke Smith. Rachel, it is so great to have you on the podcast. How are you?

Man, I'm so happy to be here. I know. We're just saying this has been sort of a long time coming. A lot of people, you know, they know you, Rachel, as, you know, a very successful actress and dancer and entertainer, but, you know, you have a passion for motivation, inspiring people as well. It's a big part of what you do.

So, you know, it's been fun to kind of watch you do that from afar as well. Well, and I've just been such a huge fan of your work. Your work is what I wake up to most mornings. And it's helped me get through so many, you know, the ups and downs of being an actress and an entertainer. You know, all the, you know, creator, speaker, you know, all those things, any career choice that you choose that you have to put yourself out there and deal with the ups and downs of creating something and hoping that it goes well. And then realizing that, you know, a lot of times those creations don't always do as well as you thought they would. and all the feelings and all the stuff that goes along with that, you know, and I get asked a lot. They're like, as an actress, how do you deal with rejection that, you know, that goes along with being actress?

And I've always said, you know, if I viewed it as rejection, that I wouldn't be able to be an actress anymore. You know, it's really just the lens, the perception in which I'm viewing, quote unquote, rejection as. So, well, first of all, thank you. That's quite the compliment. And I'm grateful that I've been able to help you in any way. But the rejection thing, I think it would be fun to talk about. I reference actors and actresses a lot because this dawned to me. I was reading Brian Cranston's book. And it just made me realize it's like baseball.

It's like more often than not, you're getting an L. You're getting rejected. You're not getting the part. And just mentally how tough and how strong you have to be to keep coming back and believing yourself, well, hey, that's not indicative of me or what I can do. I'm going to be there for the next one, you know? And yes. So what has that been like?

It's sort of evolving into that. Yeah, it's such a great question because like I remember when I, earlier on in my career, when I would get auditions, I would have this extreme amount of anxiety. And also just like I probably changed my outfit a thousand times and I did my hair a certain way and that it wasn't good enough. And I'd always end up, you know, pushing my time even to the point where I got there. And there's all these different things that I kind of learned later that were a little bit

of self-sabotage. because one, I love this quote so much. It says anxiety has no creative power. And if I'm showing up and trying to be a creative person in any capacity, meaning of like, you know, I think I look at life as, I've learned to look at life as this, each day is this creative process, you know, that we're all creative beings that you're not just, you know, it's not just the actors or the artists that are creators.

It's every human. That's like your human gift is that you're creating, your day every day for your whole life. And so seeing this life as this active creation, co-creation, if you will, that we're all doing, you know, whether it's like creating your meal to creating the email you're going to write, to creating the video you're going to produce, or the conversation you're going to have, it's all this active creation. And I think when we can get and look at life through that lens and this quotes, you know, that anxiety has no creative power, or at least, if anything, it definitely lessens our creative power.

Because I don't know about you guys, you know, anyone listening, but like if I'm feeling this feeling of anxiety, I definitely don't feel very powerful. You know, I feel like this feeling of like less, like, it's not an expansive feeling, you know? And so when I really started to wrap my head around that, it was like, okay, I have to do something to disrupt this. You know, in my language, I love this concept of disruption.

Of like, there is something that's going on. and I can use my creative power to disrupt it or evolve it or change it in some way. And it was all about learning this like perception. You know, like I was viewing each audition as like, I have to be perfect. I had to be the best. I had to get the job. Otherwise, I was a failure. And if I have that narrative running, if I have that story, of course I'm going to feel anxiety.

Because like it's just, you know, as an actress, I mean, it said, like learning for different people that have done it, like Merrill Streep and Will Smith and some, of people that I really look to, you know, you get a hundred knows for everyone, yes. So it's like, you have to look at, you have to rewrite the narrative that's creating the emotion. So I learned to rewrite the narrative of like, I'm not trying to get the job. Like I'm literally when I'm auditioning, I let go of the concept of, like, it's difficult sometimes, even though it can get really exciting, especially as you get closer and closer to a role. But it's really like letting go. Like, I'm not trying to get this job. All I'm trying to do, all my intention is, is to

show up and be the most free, authentic, creative version of myself that I can be to be able to tap into and create this character or to tell this story. And that lens alone. And then, you know, if I don't get the job, then I don't fail because that wasn't my intention. And I also, because my only job is like my job, my intention is, you know, to book the room, if you will, to create an impression to come at life and auditions and this full. capacity, you know, and I think as an actress, you know, more and more, I'm just like, gosh, there's so many amazing life lessons that come in in this life journey that I love sharing with people. And some of the most amazing life lessons I learned have come from being an actress.

I'm like, wow, this really relates to life in such a huge way. And what I love about acting and filmmaking and playing characters in general is it's the study of human behavior. You know, it's the constant challenge to master yourself or to understand a different human in a way that you would have never been able to understand them prior. And so I just have a love and passion for it. That's so amazing. And it's incredible how much overlap there is for everybody in that regard. Because, you know, if you take looking at life like an exam or like for you, it's an audition, right? And so for me, it would be like standing on stage doing a. keynote or something like that. Like if you look at it in this like right or wrong thing,

it's way different than thinking of it like, how would you describe it? Like this is a game or this is it's an opportunity or something fun. Like it's when you realize life's just not that serious. Yeah, I've never think the wise so serious, you know? Like it. Yeah, exactly. It really is. And I think, you know, as humans, we love to overcomplicate everything. You know, we love to make things a lot harder than maybe they actually are. And I just keep going back to it. It's just always the story or the narrative that we thought something was. And the most amazing gift I think we can realize as humans is that this power of choice that like I, the power of choice to me is just like, oh, it's the coolest thing. You know, the fact that I don't, like imagine a world where you

had to wake up every day and you didn't get to choose what you got to do next or that you, you didn't get to choose different. You didn't get to choose a different meal. You didn't get to choose a different job. You didn't get to choose nothing. Like there was no power of choice. And I think this power of choice is just this superpower that we all have. And I don't know that we understand or grasp the power of it.

And I think the more and more we can really grasp that, it's just, it's a superpower. You know, that we, it's so easy. We're creatures of habit and we create these habits that create who we are. And if we're not careful, those habits that are creating who we are and the stories we're telling ourselves are creating a life experience that we're not happy with. And so there's this power of choice to say, like, I can choose different. You know, it doesn't matter if I've done the same thing for 50 years. I can decide tomorrow that I can make a different choice. And I can literally like, I love, I think Mel Robbins says this a lot, but you're one decision away from a completely different life.

and I just love that, you know, but so much of our emotions in the way that we view the world are these stories that we're running in our head that we got told from somebody or that we started believing when we were five years old. And I just love to, you know, consistently challenge those narratives that I'm telling myself, you know, that like my old narrative was like I had to be the best at everything. And that narrative caused a lot of anxiety, like to the point where I was like physically sick a lot because I lived in so much fear and anxiety growing up. And because, because of that narrative. So it's this unlearning of, you know, changing these narratives to create just better stories, better narratives that empower you rather than disempower you.

Yeah. Most important thing you can do to change your life is realize you have control over it. Yeah. You know, it sounds, it sounds obvious, but I can look back to, you know, to a large period of my life. And I wasn't thinking like that. I was really in the box. And you talk about that a lot. I've heard you mention, you know, being driven. by achievement versus being driven by enjoyment as something different. You want to talk a little about that? Like what about about and how is it like changed?

I love that. Thank you for that question. Yeah, this was a huge shift for me. You know, because I grew up a really competitive gymnast. Like I said, I grew up in a lot of fear and anxiety because I was always afraid of getting hurt or getting yelled at or, you know, not being the best. And it caused, it caused a lot of drugs. right like I had a lot of drive to achieve a lot of things because if you have this story that like

I've got to be the best and I got to achieve and I got to do then you it will help you do those things but it comes at this cost of your your physical wellness you know because it'll either be burnt out you won't do as well as you could have because you have so much like stress and anxiety that are actually it's limiting your power and to fully show up and to experience life to the fullest and to create to your fullest. And, you know, I, I ended up manifesting, you know, I was about 14 years old and I was so unhappy and unhealthy as a competitive gymnast. And I remember this point in time when I, you know, I shattered my hand. I was in a competition. Shattered my hand. And I remember being relieved that I, that happened. And it was this moment of like, oh my gosh, I'm happy that my hand is broken,

you know, and that I'm in so much pain because that was like a way out for me, you know, that I had unconsciously learned this really unhealthy behavior that like if I could get sick or get hurt, then it was like a way out of dealing with life. And, you know, at 14, obviously, you're super young, but when you're 14, you're still, you're 14, you feel like you're, you never, you always feel like you're big, you know, whatever that, whether that word is. And I just remember, it was a huge wake-up call and I finally, you know, just got up the courage to quit, which is very challenging for me because it was my identity, it was my, my, my family, you know, my mom's life, my friend's life. And when I quit, it was like, I didn't know who I was

anymore. My mom didn't want to talk to me. My friends didn't want to talk to me. It was very traumatic. And I saw this film that just lit me up, changed my life. I was like this, like, it was the first dance film I ever seen. And I was like, that's what I want to do. I want to play those. I want to act. I want to dance. I want to inspire. And I was so driven. I was so driven to make that happen. And I got really loud about that dream. And everybody, of course, told me that I was crazy and you know and it was this like I would just do anything to make that happen and crazy enough it kind of did like I actually played the lead in sequel to that same film so I saw a movie when I was 14 I was like that's what I'm gonna do everybody told me I was crazy

I figured out some way to actually make that happen which is a whole other long story that's unreal yeah it's like it's just crazy and all those things right the things that I thought were the worst things that ever happened to me, end up being the best thing that ever happened to me, because it put me at the right place at the right time with the right skill set to actually play the lead and the sequel to the film that I had been dreaming of and watching and putting vision boards of. And, you know, so I actually had to play the lead role in the sequel to the film that changed your life. As a little girl was just phenomenal. You know, I still sometimes, like, look back and I'm so happy that there's actually footage of me doing that because I don't even

know if I would leave it if there wasn't. It feels like a dream. Um, you know, and after that film continued, you know, to did a film called Bring It On and, you know, several other, you know, big films and TV shows. And there was just a point recently in my life when I was like, gosh, I've been so driven my whole life. But, and it's led to amazing things. So I'm not talking about, like, drive is amazing. But I was so driven by achievement that it came at this cost of relationships. You know, like I had, I've had terrible relationships because I never was fully, maybe present with those relationships. I never learned how to have great relationships because I was so driven to accomplish and accomplish and accomplish. And accomplishing is great. But if it comes at a

cost of, you know, your relationships, your health, your wellness, you know, if it comes at a cost of you becoming, you know, physically sick all the time or like not being able to handle life in general, then what are we doing? You know, like that? And so it was this moment recently when I woke up and I was like, gosh, I was like, what if I could change the narrative and be driven more by enjoyment than achievement. And in doing that in the past, you know, couple, you know, years I would say my whole life just got astronomically better because it was this concept of like I was no longer trying to be the best or even achieve a bunch of stuff. It was like my whole life's mission changed. It went from, you know, like having to achieve a lot to I, you know, I have a thing

where I like write out my life's mission statement and like the mission statement is like to fully experienced life so that I can fully elevate others. You know, that if I'm not fully experienced in life, how can I ever hope to really elevate or help others do the same? And so this concept of like, I really do think enjoyment is a powerful place to put your intention on. And I'm not always talking about like, there's some hard things that you have to do as when you're trying to, you know, create something and bring it into the world.

And or if there's like very hard topics, like, I'm really passionate about helping, you know, helping change things and, you know, difficult things, you know, whether it's like people that are starving around the world or like, you know, just the big world problems. Like there is, you know, when I say the word enjoyment, there's this, this, you know, I'm not saying everything's going to be awesome all the time. You're going to be just loving it all the time. We're happy all the time. But this enjoyment of the process. And so I realize that, you know, like if you're trying to help solve world problems, you know, whether it's, you know, whether it's human trafficking or world hunger or, you know, these huge things that are very

complex and very hard to even handle sometimes because there's a lot of just, you know, bad stuff that goes along with it. There's still this thing that like if it's lighting you up, if it's moving you forward, if it's filling your life with with passion and purpose, you know, in my lens, I still view that as a sense of like I'm enjoying this process where I'm getting to help people and serve people and change things. So I'm not saying, just live happy all the time. You know, it's just, you know, if you can change the narrative so that you're more driven

by the enjoyment of the process than the achievement of the thing, then you'll result in a lot more fulfillment because you have a lot more, you're able to, I don't want to say, you can only control, you can control, and you can really only control how you're showing up. And so if I'm showing up in a vibrant,

uh, fullness of life, then, then I win. You know, like, and then I win. And I'm not putting all my hopes and dreams into something that I can't control. Yeah. That's a really good point. I guess there are a lot of successful people that are quote-unquote dead inside, you know? I mean, it's just a reality. And that's what I looked at. I was like, gosh, when I look back on my, somebody asked me the question, though, like, Rachel, when you, if you're on your deathbed, are you going to be worried about, you know, that you didn't send another email or you didn't do this other work thing you had to do? And I'm like, no, I'm going to be thinking about like, did I enjoy my life? So I love the people.

while I was with. Did I have a good time while I was here? Did I make a difference? You know, and so I think it's really like those hard questions of like, what am I going to, how do I want to be remembered? You know, I really want to be remembered as like a person who really enjoyed her life and helped others do the same, you know, because I think it is in, you know, I love this quote of like people won't remember what you said, but they'll remember how you made them feel. And I've just, that's been so true in my life that, you know, I don't necessarily. always remember everything that someone said. Like even I'm listening to your beautiful audios.

Like I don't always remember everything that you said, but I remember how they made me feel. It made me feel freaking awesome. You know, they made me feel like I could achieve something even though I felt really discouraged. You know, they made me feel like I could,

I could change things and I could keep moving forward, even though I felt super sad in the moment. So I think if we're human beings, not human thinking, you know, or human sayings, It's we we do words are powerful, but those words are only powerful because of the emotion and the feeling that they bring. Yeah.

Well, I think that's one of the reasons I gravitate and a lot of people gravitate to you and your work. Like if you look at your YouTube channel or all the charity you're involved in, like you practice what you preach. You know what I mean? And it's immediately apparent. And I just, I think that's a really cool thing. My question for you, because I kind of, I, I, I, I, I, aim to do that, what you just said, right? And it's like gravitate towards happiness and in like doing what you know in your heart is right. And it's funny, I was writing a speech the other day and

I realized like that's an ongoing battle for me. It's something I need to constantly reset, like what I want and what my heart and soul is telling me to do versus like societal achievement and advancement because a part of me always wants that. Like I always want to be bigger and better than I am, you know? And it's like, is that something like, have you, have you, ultimately moved away with that or is that something you kind of keep in racial what are you doing let's think about it you know oh 100% you know i mean i think that that's such a great question and yes 100% i battle with it often you know and i think it's just this constant check-in and i think at different times like there'll be things like right like i'm i'm working on producing some really awesome and you know

starring in really wanting to do kind of my big next dream of playing in this awesome action series and playing these really cool like badass characters that tell tell these narratives of like, you know, resilience and compassion and thinking outside the box and questioning everything. Because I really believe so much in the crossover between entertainment and personal growth. And, you know, we can entertain people while teaching these really powerful principles. Like, that's freaking awesome, you know? like that's what I love. And, you know, as I'm pushing and moving these forward, it is. It can be this trap sometimes of like, you know, and I guess what I've learned so much over and over and over

again, especially as I look back on different experiences where I've been able to manifest or create, whatever you want to call it, some really incredible things that in the moment seemed so impossible, you know, like whether it was, you know, playing in center stage or any other films I've played in or even, you know, manifesting literally like a dream relationship that I'm, you know, in right now that felt so impossible for me years ago, you know, and all of these things. It's this constant reminder of like, I can push and push and push and push, but it only makes be more stressed out and it doesn't necessarily move things forward when sometimes there's been these experiences in life where you know like I'm working really hard and I'm doing stuff and I'm trying

to push things and then it almost comes to a point where I have to completely let it go and then all of a sudden I let it go and then something happens where it just all of a sudden happens even bigger than I could have imagined and I'm constantly amazed at that experience and this concept of I just think sometimes we get in our own way. You know, I just think when we try to push so hard to make something happen, you know, in fact, this is a beautiful story. I was actually in a recent documentary that just came out called Superhuman. And it's a fascinating documentary that is doing really well right now,

and I'm so grateful to be part of it. And basically this film is a female director, and it was her mission to basically say, like there's so much that we're capable of doing that we just don't know. And she's like, I just want to prove it. And so she brought in different, you know, celebrities or different people to have these crash courses and different experiences. And my experiences were telekinesis and remote viewing. And, you know, telekinesis is moving things with your mind. You know, and remote viewing is basically being able to, on some level, have sort of like psychic abilities.

And, you know, I went in with a completely open mind. And I was like, okay, I just don't want to have any preconceived ideas of what I can or cannot do. Like, I'm just coming in blank slate. Whatever's possible is possible. I want to be open to all of it. And within both experiments, like I was able to do things that I never thought it could do, like 100%. Like, you can watch it in the film. Like, I was moving things with my mind and I was able to see things that, you know, to tap into where other people were in a completely different area of the state. And it just felt so miraculous to me, but what was crazy about both experiences was this experience of basically me getting out of my own way, you know, and trusting this, this gut instinct or this

intuition and just trusting that without my mind getting in the way. So with remote viewing, you can, in the film and also at telekinesis, it was my first try at it was me trying to like get it right. And when in the getting it right and trying to like push and force and and make it happen, there was this experience of like stuckness, you know, like it wasn't happening. And then when I just literally like let go of trying to do a good job or trying to be right or trying to impress people and just trusted, incredible things happened, like to the point where I could barely believe them. And so, you know, and same thing, you know, recently in life. Like I was trying so hard to, you know, make this movie happen, you know, and raise millions

of dollars to make this, this series. and at some point, like I was, I kept visualizing it and I would write it down and I would do all the things that I've been taught to do of like manifestation and creation. And, you know, there's points in time, like you said, like this battle of like I'm pushing so hard. I'm trying so hard. I want to be bigger. I want to be better. I know I can do more. I have so much to give.

You know, I think you and I both have this experience. I have so much to give the world. I just want to give it and I want to give it yesterday. You know? Like, and it's a beautiful. gift because it keeps us moving forward, but I think it's this constant check-in of like, but am I enjoying my life, but am I having a good time? Because if I'm not, if I'm not balancing that drive with a little bit of let go, you know, a little bit of let go, then I could be completely

missing something or I could be getting in the way of, you know, actually meeting the person that I'm supposed to meet that's going to just make everything happen faster than I ever thought. you know like the experiences of i don't know if you ever had the experience but you know like you're working super hard you're trying to do it by yourself and you're like locked in your room and you're just like crushy crush crushing and then you finally are like man i just got to go outside and you go outside and you end up you know talking to somebody to a coffee shop and that somebody becomes the investor of your projects you know and 10x is your whole thing you were trying to do by yourself you know it's just that kind of experience of like if you don't have this this balance of

crushing it and working hard and pushing with this balance of also letting go and exploring and adventuring and getting out there and talking to strangers and trying new things. I just think we were missing out. Yeah. How we get in our own way? We really do. So did the documentary, and I know there's a few trailers on your YouTube channel, did it put you out of your comfort zone like immediately? Was there judgment that you had sort of repressed and just be like, hey, you know, whatever, whatever happens here happens or how was that experience? Yeah, it really was. I mean, even when, you know, when the, with my manager told me about the opportunity, I was talking to Caroline, the director, I was so excited about it, you know, because I just, I live and breathe this stuff. Like I,

ever since I was 14, I've been studying, you know, everything I could find on mindset and and psychology and human behavior and consciousness and all this stuff. And so I was just so thrilled to get to be a part of it and to have these experiences. And but and I remember saying, you know what, like I don't even want to. I know a little bit about both, about telekinesis and about remote viewing. And, but I don't even want to, right, there's an opportunity before you go into any projects. Like, usually you would study everything there is to know about it so you can be prepared. And I just had this instinct of like, you know, I don't even want to go there. Like I want to come in like a complete blank slate. Um, and just show up with an open.

in mind that it's completely possible. And I think I'm so grateful I did that because, you know, I think especially in today's world, there's just, there's this incredible power that we have. And basically I, this kind of quote of like, be careful what you choose to believe because what you choose to believe becomes who you are. And so if I, if I Google search, you know, all the reasons why telekinesis isn't possible. I'm going to get a million reasons. And if I go down that rabbit whole, I'm going to prove to myself that it's not true. If I also went like, okay, what are all the reasons why it is possible? I'm going to get a million reasons and I'm going to prove to myself that way too. So it's just interesting, right? Especially in today's world when there's so much

information about a lot of different things that could create a lot of fear or a lot of worry or or just all the different kinds of things, right? I think everybody has to choose for themselves how they want to navigate that. Yeah. This, in this way in particular, it just felt so nice to show up with like open mind, open heart. I'm just going to believe that it is possible because I think that belief alone is what actually makes it possible, right?

If I show up to anything and I'm like, nope, not possible. Well, I just said it. Like, not possible. Like, I'm not going to do it. Like, I'm going to, I just think we're so, we're such powerful beings. and I think the power of belief is incredible. You know, science has proved that with the placebo effect, you know, and to the point where people are like, well, okay, what if it's placebo?

I'm like, okay, even if it is, it still worked. Like, it still happened. And so, therefore, if it's a placebo, awesome. Like, cool, like, sign me up. It worked, you know? Right. It's like, we got the result. Come off. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean, it's an amazing attitude to have. And it reminds me one of my favorite quotes by Ryan Holiday and he says confidence is earned. And it's like when I'm looking at so that particular example and just the breadth of what you do, I mean, you do so much. And I'm wondering like, so it was Arizona. You grew up, right? Yes.

Yeah. So like as a young girl leaving Arizona going into this world, this, this, you know, whole area of life you knew nothing about, but not dying and not having things explode, you know, taking your else, I'm sure, but continuing to grow up. Like, do you think over time you can look back and see that your courage has evolved so that you do, you will take part in all these different things and push yourself and try all this, all this new stuff? 100%. You know, I think every act of courage leads to more confidence. And I think the more we can grasp that, I think that's what, you know, I think one of my main mantras is to just do the brave thing. It doesn't matter the outcome because I have no control of the outcome. but if I just take action, I win. That's it.

And that mantra, that choice to believe in that phrase, literally because I'm up my whole life experience. You know, I was like, how'd you do what you do? And I was like, I literally just kept doing the brave thing, even when it was terrifying. And I think, you know, again, that's, we all have these narratives that are literally running our lives. And I think it's just so important to check in

with what those narratives are and figure out if they're helping us or hurting us. You know, because my old narrative was that I had to be the best to everything. Otherwise, I was a failure. And again, it made sense why. It makes sense why that created a lot of anxiety and fear and physical illness because I was constantly in the state of fight or flight or stress or like perfectionism. And wasn't happy and I wasn't healthy. But to change that narrative to like, no matter what the outcome,

if I just take action, like, I win. It's a, it's a much more, I've found it to be a much more beautiful way to live, you know, and I definitely like, I don't know everything. I'm just learning as I go, you know. We all are. Yeah, and I always love to preface that of like, you know, with anything I do, it's like, you know, I've been really thinking about this concept of truth recently. And it's interesting because, you know, if I look back at my life, you know,

things that I used to be like, this is 100% true. Like, this is true and I know it and it's true. Those things aren't true for me anymore. Yet, and there's things now that I'm like, oh, that's true. You know, like, that's a truth. And so, like, I just always have to present that opportunity to maybe look at truth in a different capacity of, like, there is, like, never changing truth. like we have a principle of gravity, right? Like something falls, it falls.

I mean, like if you drop something and you are on planet Earth, there is a force of gravity that will put it to the ground, right? But then there's these other kinds of truths that are evolving. And so I think it's being open, living in a way that is open to your truth, being able to evolve. And that's been, that can be really challenging, right? because things that you feel like you know at your core, if those things get challenged or questioned or someone's trying to change it, you know, like it can, it can feel just icky, you know, but

and a lot of it can feel terrifying. But I think if we live in a way of like just being open-minded, that like, hey, I could be totally wrong here. It's this beautiful opportunity for so much growth and involvement and expansion. And we all just get to choose, you know, like, do I want to live in a state where I'm in a bubble and everything kind of stays the same and I just keep doing the same thing. And it's just a choice, you know, and we can just respect that choice. But there's also a choice to say, hey, I choose to go this way, you know, and neither one are, they're all good. You know, it's just a choice.

And I think it's also I'm really working on letting go of judgments, you know, like I realize if I'm saying, hey, don't judge me, then I have to really be honest with myself about my own judgments, you know, like if someone chooses to live a certain way that I let go of judgment for their choices, because who am I to say what's best for their life? You know, I don't know. I'm only living my experience. And so, I don't know, in the past year or so I've had a lot of like pretty soul-shattering things that just, you know, I'm just ever evolving and ever expanding. And so, yeah, I just think it's so important to be like, hey, every human we meet, we're all going through stuff all the time and just to have this sense of like compassion for everybody

and everything yeah that's a beautiful way to look at it i just finished this book called the courage to be disliked and uh have you read that no but i want to it was it was fun it was really cool um but yeah the authors talk about pretty much what you just said you know there's tasks there's your tasks and there's everyone else's and it's like you can't control other people to judge you but you can control whether you judge other people that's your task everything else is everyone else's And I'm like, oh, it's an interesting way to look at that. Yeah, that's pretty powerful. No, I would love, I want to read that one next.

That sounds like something I can, you know, because I'm very open and honest, right? Like I still, like, where I created a program called Transform My Life. And it's this whole, like, it's a beautiful program that really helps people, like, go from, you know, exactly what I went through of, like, fear and anxiety to feeling a lot more to be able to learn how to, like, gain that courage and confidence to just, you know, be able to always. do the brave thing basically and the transformation of life that happens in that in those understandings but i still like i don't i don't know if any human ever will like i don't think you're human anymore if you no longer have any sort of fears doubts insecurities worries challenges um you know like i'm constantly doing that you know because i think every every chapter of life requires a new version of of you and so very open and honest about i'm constantly going through shit and i'm constantly

questioning myself and I don't have it all figured out. I just, I definitely love to share things that have helped me along my journey. Yeah. I mean, it's there for everyone, right? It's just what you do about it. So what about the other side then? Like the sort of behind the scenes, right? Because I'm sure a ton of work goes in when, you know, the cameras aren't rolling and you're at your house, practicing, prepping, doing all that stuff. Um, you know, I'm sure that is a huge part of it. So maybe for, you know, for our listeners that are trying to, you know, for our listeners that are trying to, to grasp the gravity of that and the time spent alone and working so that you can find the courage to say yes and you do feel good when the curtains drawn and you walk out on stage.

Talk a little about that and maybe your process. Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, the practice equals progress. I love, you know, just always thinking about the more that whatever I choose, whatever I practice, whether it's a really healthy, awesome behavior or not so healthy behavior. I'm going to get better at it, right? Like if I'm constantly practicing guitar, I'm eventually going to progress in it. If I'm constantly talking to myself in a negative way, I'm going to get better at it.

And so it's this understanding of like, what am I practicing? Like I will progress in. And what's cool about acting is that I've always thought this is it is like the study of life and human behavior. And one of my role models are someone I look to a lot. is Merrill Street just because her story and her, what she's done in the world is so incredible to me. She's awesome. And, you know, one, her story of, you know, she, she tells a story of, like, when she auditioned for King Kong,

she was told she was too ugly for the role. And, you know, imagine if she would have believed them. But what she said was so beautiful. It was basically like, you know, thanks for your opinion. Your opinion is just one opinion in the sea of thousands. I'm just going to go find a kinder opinion. And I was like, oh, it's so brilliant. So I think one, that mindset, and then also something else she said that I always just stuck with me was like, the more you do as a human, the better you'll be as an actor. Because if acting is the study of human behavior, so every opportunity for me, like I look at life of like this cool experience where I get everything I do is helping me in my craft, you know, whether it's going rock climbing or going kayaking or or having a really. difficult conversation with someone or you know it's just like this expansion of understanding what it's like to be human in all different capacities and you know I have a new film coming out

where I play character who has epilepsy and that was a very challenging role like definitely one of the most challenging that I've done so far and it was a lot of talking to people who um had epilepsy or family members that that went with them and also like watching and studying, you know, if I'm having to perform, or not perform, but like, I have to do different scenes where I have seizures. Like, I have to study everything that goes into that. And so hard to watch. Every time I did it, I would just start crying, you know. Every time I'd watch somebody, you know, on YouTube, I have scissors or talk to families or talk to people and what they struggled with and how they, you know, coped with it. And it just gave me this huge,

huge compassion, you know, that I never had before. And I'm so grateful for that. And I think, you know, another kind of interesting story to tell is I grew up with a really bad stigmatism. So I could never, or other people could like read lines and like, you know, do scenes. Like a lot of times in acting, like you're holding a script and you're able to go back and forth with the person in front of you. I couldn't do that because I'd have to like have the page so close to my face that it would distract me from actually acting. So that very challenging thing for me that I hated for so long ended up becoming one of my hugest blessings.

Because because of that fact, I had to learn how to memorize stuff really fast. And I learned like it was like a survival skill where I started. And I didn't even know that other people didn't do this. But when I read scripts, I see it. Like I don't just read it. I'm seeing pictures and visuals. And so it's like I'm watching this whole, I'm experiencing it as opposed to just reading words.

And those experiences are what caused my memory to be able to remember things so quickly. And it just becomes such a huge blessing. Like what was it like survival skill became like one of my biggest superpowers, if you will. And so and also just this concept of movement. I'm obsessed with movement like and our ability to understand how. this instrument that we have, this body is so much more than what we think it is. And recently really understanding that it's this amazing intelligence, you know, that everything that's happening in your body all the time,

even for a ticket to move at all or breathe or live, is phenomenal. And that understanding alone not only helps you with different like body image issues that have come up throughout my career, you know, the moment that I shifted from judging my body for what it looked like to being getting so grateful for everything that it could do for me really changed a lot like a lot a lot especially as a female in the industry when there's a lot of opportunities for a lot of um you know just body image stuff to come up and um and this concept of understanding and being so grateful for this instrument that you have and everything that it can do and

And learning, like when I read, when I'm working on characters, there's always this element of movement. So like I'm always moving in some way, whether it's walking or running or when I'm learning scripts, I'm on some sort of like bicycle or like, you know, like there's some sort of movement element to it and also music. And maybe it's because I grew up dancing, you know, that maybe this is a tool that I've utilized. But, you know, even I love working with different directors that, like I love, I never worked with Quentin Tarantino, but I know that he has, you know, music that he plays for the actors. So they know exactly what sound is going on during that scene. I think that's so, it's such a powerful technique because music and movement is one of the most

amazing ways for us to tap into this creative power and to access emotion. And so for me, it's really understanding, you know, getting a grasp on the script and the character and then spending a lot of time, obviously, like, learning those lines, but not just learning lines, like seeing it visually and experiencing those experiences and then also finding music that enhances those experiences and also moving my body in a way that gets more blood flowing and more oxygen to my brain so that I can think outside the box and create different things. I think, you know, again, so much of it is just letting go and being so freaking brave sometimes. You know, I think it's so easy to definitely like get in your own way, especially as a

an actor because think about, you know, something I didn't understand growing up was when I watched movies, I was like, I just felt like people were telling people what to do, you know, and as an actor, it's just not the case. Like, you have a paper, a paper that you are literally bringing to life. And then it becomes a film and a movie that hopefully moves people and changes people or, you know, things like inspires people. And so, you know, every act of like, oh, would I sit down when I say this line or what I want to stand up or what I'm I want to talk to what I want to hug this person or what I want to not hug this person or, you know, all these questions that come up.

So, you know, and this kind of goes back to my experience with telekinesis and also remote viewing. It was the lessons I learned doing that was this trusting of this first instinct. Like the first instinct that you feel, there is a power to that. And the moment that your mind starts being like, oh, but what if you're wrong or what if they don't like it or what if it's not good enough or what if all these different things you literally just you second guess this amazing these gut instincts that you have that maybe are so much more powerful maybe it's an intelligence that you have within you that is able to do so much more than you know so that was a very long answer to the question but there's a a lot of work that goes into it

i'm sure there is i'm sure there the thing that really stood out to me that i just think is so amazing It's like, and this is kind of the theme in all your examples, it's like nothing is what it is. It's like the life you choose to put into it, you know? And I think that the music's a perfect example, right? Because I mean, that's sort of my realm is, you know, I do a lot of speeches to music. And just sometimes it doesn't matter what you say. It's how you say it that makes people feel something. And it's just, yeah, that really struck a quote with me. Nothing just is what it is. It's what you decide it's going to be, you know? Yeah. It's how much life. you want to put into it. I love that you said that. I want to go quote that. It's yours. Feel free. Both of us. No, we'll put both of our names. It's a double. Perfect. Perfect. And that was really cool that, you know, with the memorization thing that you found a win there. Yeah. Yeah. I was saying to my friend Mark last week, it was like when COVID hit. It's like, this is an awful time and it's going to affect people in a lot of negative ways, but the ones

that can however grim things are, find a win, we'll, you know, will come out on top. And that seems just a theme. It doesn't matter what industry, doesn't matter what you're doing. It's just so true. It's there. Yeah, it's like that our biggest challenges can be our greatest opportunities

if we allow them to be. And I think that if we allow them to be is the huge part that I think we miss sometimes. You know, this allowance of, I don't know if you've read Byron Katie before, but her book, Loving What Is, is so, it's such brilliant work and it was very life-changing for me because I used to want to argue with reality. You know, I'd really want to argue of like and trying and thinking that I could somehow change it by arguing with it. You know, it's this kind of silly notion.

So what do you mean by arguing with it? So, you know, saying that her whole concept in her book is to love, to learn to love what is. And that can be really challenging sometimes when you have very, maybe seemingly horrible things in front of you. I see. And yeah, and so her whole concept is this, as humans, we love to argue with reality. And argue with reality, I mean like, okay, if I went on this audition and I worked really hard for this role and I thought I was going to get it, which has happened many times. Like, I've been up for huge, huge roles that would have been life changing and your mind

creates all these stories of how your life's going to change and how you're going to get it. And it all makes sense and it all feels so fantastical. and then all of a sudden, like, it's down to you and one other person, and then you don't get the role. And you're like, wait, what? Like, nothing computes in your mind because you're like, wait, I already, I already future, I lived it all in my mind. Like, I already did the job. Yeah, I was already on set.

I already did the job. Like, you know, we, we experience, I love this concept of, like, everything is in our imagination, right? Like, we're either imagining a future that is awesome or we're imagining a future that is not awesome, but both are imagined. and both create these experiences within our bodies that feel real to the point where we feel emotions. We have tears come. We have anxiety come. You know, it's like those experiences are real to us, but they are all imagined. And that, again, just is fascinating to really grasp

like the power of our mind and imagination and what it, that it creates a physical response and actually manifest into like physical things like tears. Or even to the point of if anxiety you get so bad you throw up you know like there's physical responses it's crazy but it's all imagined um none of it's real and so you know like this this understanding of you know when i got so close to this huge role and then all said it didn't happen if i were i could sit there and argue with reality till like forever you know i could just argue that that was not fair and i hate them and i hate the industry and it's all shitty and my life sucks and you know i'm going to argue argue argue, argue, or I could be like, okay, this is just what is.

Understand that like nobody else imagined the future, like I did. That was my thing. And she has these four questions that she has people go through. It's a really just powerful technique to be able to really question things and to be able to love reality rather than hate it and argue with it. And so it's just it's literally being able to ask powerful questions to change your narrative. And it's a really powerful book. So what's the name is?

It's called Loving What Is by Byron Katie. And, you know, one of the things that I love, you know, one of the first questions is, you know, say I'm really mad at it. I'm just giving it a random example, right? Like say I'm really, you know, like I'm upset because I didn't get the role, right? And I'm like, I was supposed to get that role. Like that would be my narrative, right? Like, I was supposed to get it. And her question would be like, is that true?

Like, is it 100% true? Can you prove that that's true? And I'd be like, no, I can't prove that. It was just a feeling that I had that was so strong. But like, I really, that's not 100% true. And I wasn't, I don't know that I was supposed to get the role. And then there's a series of questions that you go down, that really help you break down all the feelings that you're going through and process

all the things and change your experience of what. happen so that you can see it from a different lens. And it's just really powerful. It's really great work. Yeah, I'll check it out. I mean, it's hard to be pragmatic sometimes, but it's so, it can be really valuable. It really can. Yeah. So I trying to be respectful of your time. I have just a few more questions. This one has your name written all over it, though. So I came across this the other day and two videos that were very similar back to back. And both of them just kind of floored me. And I shared them on my Instagram. One of them was Ethan Hawks. And he did a little TED talk that was, I guess it was in his apartment, but because of COVID, it was a TED talk.

But he was talking about, you know, telling a story about a young actor. And he wanted to, you know, make art. And he's talking to an older actor that sort of been around the block and had success. And he says, you know, there is no making art. All you young people think you make art, you become art. And then I thought that was amazing. And then Jason Silva had this thing where he's talking about, you know, become. art and literally having to die and leave your old person and become something new. And it seems

so extreme and deep. But I'm like, there's, there's something there. Like, there's just this little switch. I'm like, if I could just take it up a notch. Like, if I could just sort of become something different for this than I was 10 minutes ago. And I'd love to get your take on that, your thoughts. I love that. You know, they don't make art you become it. And this concept of, and correct me if I'm wrong, but he said something basically of like your old self kind of dying for this new self to be birthed and to be able to create this thing. Exactly.

And yeah, I think it is this let go. It's, and what's so cool about this concept of like you become it, right? Especially, so if you're an actor, that makes a lot of, that can make a lot of sense and be extremely empowering because if, if I'm becoming something, I'm not trying to make or force or fake or pretend, right? Because if I'm doing that, then people will see right through it because it won't feel real. And, you know, I think in every scene I ever do, there's always this, you can just, you can tell, right? You can tell when you're really present, you're really lost in a scene, or if you're second-guessing yourself and there's this little voice.

Like in your head a little bit or something? you're in your head. You're totally in your head. And most of time I'm like, oh, please don't use that take. You know, luckily most of the time you get at least a couple takes. But, you know, it's this, this practice of being so present and getting lost. And this is one of the coolest things, again, this powerful life lesson that I learned from one of my great acting coaches was he's like, great acting or great living, if you will, isn't an act of doing. It's a great listening. like he's like listen so and there's actually an acting technique that you taught me of like listen so hard that you can repeat back the last phrase that a person said to you before you say what you're going to say

and this this technique allows you to kind of in this sense that we're talking about to become it right that you're not trying to like fork something or fake something or pretend something you're not trying to just like say your lines or you're not trying to just like speak the audios that you know you want to speak it's this listening so hard that you can repeat back what somebody said you know that was talking to you one is one of the most amazing techniques for relationships um it's also like me and my boyfriend do it you know i've done it before we've taught us different couples of that technique because most of the time we're not actually listening we're we're thinking about what we're going to say next and um you know I realize for you, like, you know, when you're speaking audios or writing your scripts or, you know, all those things, it's, that concept can still ring true of like listening so hard to that intuition or to that thing without letting the second voice get in the way, right?

Like, oh, I shouldn't say that or that's not good enough or all that kind of stuff. It's like this, this concept of listening really hard that actually gets you so present. And I think in the present is when you can actually become. And so, you know, to the point where if I'm ever thinking about what I'm going to say next, whether in life or in a film, right, like the trap is that, oh, I got to learn my lines. I got to say, I got to be prepared to say what I'm going to say next. But it's a trap, you know, because if you're thinking that, then you're not present and you're not able to feed off of what that person just said. You know, it's obviously that's the preparation, right, where you practice so much that it just becomes, and that's why I think movement is such a tool. to like ingrain it into your body so that you do become it so that you're not worried about what you're going to say next that you can be fully present you can listen so hard that you can literally repeat back everything that person just said and then from that place have this very authentic um response you know that might be a little bit different from the scripts and it

might be even more beautiful because there's this room for, like, spontaneity. And most of the time, you know, at least my experience has been like some of those beautiful things that happened on a film set were not written in the script. You know, like they were, they were inspired by the authenticity of the full presence of these, you know, different people being fully alive and present in that moment. Yeah, I just saw a Twitter thread on Goodfellas. And apparently the, One of the biggest scenes was Peschi was all improvised. I was like, oh, it's amazing. But I agree.

I think it's such a beautiful point. Like, you have to be immersed in something to be authentic, to be really, just to excel at what you do. And I think that's a good takeaway for everyone no matter what you're doing. If you can find ways to sort of detach that little voice and just completely get lost in the moment. Yeah. So why don't we end with this? I think this would be a fun way to end. So let's say there is a young.

girl in Arizona who has big dreams looking to go to L.A. and chase them and just see what life has to offer. You know, if you could give a couple senses of advice or anyone, you know, in a parallel track looking out their window thinking, man, I'd love to do something, become something, change something. You know, what advice would you give? Oh my goodness. That's such a great question. Get lost and enjoy the process. You know, like get lost and enjoy the process and trust and know that everything that happens along your journey is not happening to you, it's happening for you. Everything that I've been through that I felt like were the worst things that ever happened to me, the hardest, most challenging things, ended up being the very best things,

only because I kept doing the brave thing. You know, let go of outcomes that you can't control and just continue to show up and to do the brave thing. And along doing that brave thing, celebrating yourself every single time that the most important relationship that you'll ever have is with yourself. Really celebrating that little kid inside of you that felt terrified to go talk to that person or to call that person or to apply for that job or to put that piece of content out there. You know, to have a system that you take action, you win. And every time you win, you go do something to celebrate yourself and to let yourself know that like,

heck yeah, that was freaking hard and you did it. And I'm proud of you. I'll be celebrating this conversation and all the tickets. And I think, I think, I think, the audience is going to take a lot from this. So really appreciate your time. And before I let you go, I know you have a big release in October's or anything where you want to send people or tell people about or? Yeah.

Well, actually, I had a film that I'm in come out yesterday called, in other words, that I just play a really fun cameo role in. I play opposite Chris Catan in that film, which is really cool just because, you know, growing up with like a night at the Roxbury's and all the SNL work that he'd done,

like just incredible. So, and I play a pretty, like, crazy role. in that movie. And so that was really fun. And then I have another film coming out that I play a supporting role in called Be the Light. Really amazing, like phenomenal, a very inspirational film. And that comes out on September 11th. And then the one that I star in opposite Danny Trejo, who has become one of my dearest friends, one of the most amazing humans that just embodies

generosity and life is called the Last Exorcist. And I just want to point out to people that, yes, it's called The Last Exorcist. Yes, I play the main character in it. Yes, it is a thriller. One that, you know, I have a really hard time watching scary movies. I don't really watch them because I can't handle it. Even as an actress. That must have made this interesting, huh?

You know, like as an actress, I have, especially if a movie is done well, like, you know, Like I'm very protective of what I let my mind see because I know if I, if I see something, I can't unsee it. And so I very much, when people are like, oh, I don't think I can watch that movie. Right to totally get it.

Nope. Like you don't have to. But just please know that there is a beautiful, powerful message to it of, you know, a girl who had a traumatic childhood. And it was really her hero's journey of overcoming pretty much all obstacles and having to find the power within to save both herself.

our family and to create a better world for everyone involved. So yes, it's a thriller. Yes, there's scary moments, but there's a really beautiful message to it. And so I think the best place to find all that, I have to do a lot of updates to my website, but my website is great. You know, like, Rachel B.Smith.com is a great way to just, you know, I always, like, send out, like, newsletters and things like that of different things that are going on. And, you know, if anybody is interested, there's a lot of, you know, other stuff there,

of like the program that we created to help people transform their life and all that kind of stuff. Beautiful. Well, congrats and excited for everything to come. Thank you. Thank you for having me on the show.