I want to state that “Acting training” is not “tragedy training.” It’s not about rehashing sad or angry events from your childhood or past – which, I honestly think, is an outdated style of acting. I don’t want to be “playing a character” and be thinking about my “named-self” at all: for me, Acting is letting go of myself, not regurgitating despicable events from my past.
Acting is like surfing: you are riding on a natural current, and by paying attention, being alive and fluid in your body, you can play the game. Once you get through your fear and inhibitions about expressing yourself, or expressing certain emotions that appear in your body, then you can ride that wave successfully; you are not in any way thinking about past waves that you have ridden: that’s not important. What becomes important is what the wave is doing now.
If you will adopt a policy of honesty in reference to your feelings, then you will be able to respond with an appropriate emotion within an imaginary context and situation. All that is required is that you accept that situation and context is 100% real, and that you believe you are living within that world.