Learning to Yes…And your scene partner is one of the first lessons you learn if you take an Improv class. It is the foundation upon which any improv scene is built. This might seem like an easy trick. I mean, improv scenes are generally short, maybe 2 to 3 minutes unless you’re doing a longer mono-scene, and improv is a hobby, right? It’s not REAL life. It should be easy to do the little, inconsequential Yes…And trick while playing make-believe. Uh-huh. Guess what. It’s not.
Saying, “yes…and” rather than “no” and “but” can help you open your life to more juiciness, but it takes practice. For most of us, “no” and “but” are autopilot responses, and we need to be very conscious to counteract the habit.
There are so many places that are actually Schools. There are so many messages that are actually lessons — if we are open and willing to be students.
I have always been a writer. My journals, if I still had them would date back to October 1st, 1989, the day I arrived in Edzell, Scotland. With the exception of just a few years after my Mother died, expressing myself in writing has been my go-to healing modality. I’ve written poetry, monologues, and bits of dialogue for stage performances. My writing has always been self reflective, and when I thought of writing longer pieces, memoir generally came to mind as the genre of choice. It’s true, writing in a journal or in a blog has been the pathway into my own dark secrets, deep loves, and shadows. 
