No Low Limits, Just High Thoughts

"If you are going to doubt you are something, do not doubt your limits.” A good saying I heard on a television show. It was actually a soap opera. Did you know where the word soap opera came from? It is because all these drama serial stories were always back in the olden days sponsored by soap companies. When I was young, there was no television yet. So we use to listen to the stories on the radio. Listening was a different way to comprehend the story lines. The actors stood at the microphone and read the dialogue. They did not have to act it out or memorize the lines written for them. We use to see pictures of them in movie magazines that featured the movie star actors with stories about them and then they had a small highlight showcasing some of the current then soap operas stars When we would see the actors reading their lines, we knew them only from their voices, we were shocked. We had imagined them a certain way in looks from their voices. They had it easy then, no moving about the rooms, really doing the things we imagined they were doing. There was no scenery. Now the rooms of the house or office they are in are laid out as if they were really rooms in a house or office or outside or in the hospital, if it is a medical place. The scenery now in the stories is amazing. Everything is accurate. If it is a home of one of the characters, there are pictures on the shelves of the family, food in the fridge, sofas in the living room and anything else needed to make it real. Real they do look and people make fun of soap operas as if they are using low class actors. Some famous stars evolved from this form of entertainment. The late Christopher Reeve was discovered on a soap opera called Love of Life. Kevin Bacon was discovered on one called The Guiding Light, though he does not mention this in his credits of his work. Mc Donald Carey who was a movie star first and when he did not have enough acting work; he was the first actor to go on live soap operas. People ridiculed him for that and then all of a sudden he became a visionary. Other stars went on soap operas and it became the thing to do. Some went on for a short period of time, others stayed on them for longer times. Carol Burnett when already a big star, went on one for a short time, just for the fun and the experience of it. Unknown actors like Meg Ryan played on Love of Life too. Demi Moore played on General Hospital, Kathleen Turner played on The Doctors, David Hasselhoff played for many years on Young and Restless and he even made a brief return a few years ago for a few days, when they brought his character back to be at the bed of his dying mom on the story. Kelsey Grammer played for a year or so on Another World. They were ‘discovered’ by acting on these daytime stories and they prospered from their experiences and all of them became big-time actors. Most will acknowledge this in their stories of how they became famous. Kevin Bacon is probably the only one who tries to forget his soap opera role. Probably, he would not have become a star, had he not played on the soap opera show. This proves the statement above, that if you are going to doubt something like your talent in a job or a desire for something else, do not doubt your limits. Your limits are higher than you may think. My email dancing pal, a wellness educator for his daytime employment, will be off to Hawaii for two weeks. He is in his late seventies and has a new partner. Their trip is six hours from Washington State where they live, not like here in Virginia, where it is about twelve or more hours. I did it once, so I know the time. Steven Behr, Sr. is not only talented and kind; he is also ebullient and enthusiastic in his wellness work to help people to still accomplish and the same in his dancing and the teaching of dance. He will send me a greeting card by email, from Hawaii and once, he said on it, I should make every day exceptional. He is the exceptional one and he inspires me whereas, he says I inspire people with my articles. Let us all try to encourage and excite others to try new things, even at whatever age they are now, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety. He has gone to Hawaii for over 30 years to teach and to put on exhibition shows for the Hawaiian folks. They love him and his shining personality and good looks. It is said that you should keep your circle positive, say good words and think good thoughts and do good deeds. I sure try to do that, it does not always work out. There are many days in our lives when doing all that still does not take away some aches and pains. We all try to be positive. Isn’t it funny, if you go and take a medical test, you want it to be negative, not positive? So in medicine, positive is not positive and negative is better. In life, it is the reverse. In life, positive is surely positive and wonderful. So here is an Elita made-up herself saying, motto or aphorism “life is beautiful and even on the unbeautiful days, see beauty anyway.” William Alger said “there is portable wisdom in sayings.” Sometimes I think that the S for my middle initial stands for sayings instead of my maiden name. We can get a lot of good philosophy in most of these thoughts, all one liners and all good thoughts to live by. Do not doubt your limits; let your limits have no limits. I just created that one too. elita sohmer clayman