Monday, November 16, 2009

The Adam Mayfield Interview, Part Three

In Part One of my interview with Adam Mayfield, the actor shared his process of auditioning and getting hired on ALL MY CHILDREN. In Part Two, Mayfield delved more into how his own grief/loss issues have impacted his performance, and struggled with his own insecurities and self-doubts.

In Part Three, the actor discusses thoughts about next year's Emmy Awards, ALL MY CHILDREN's move to Los Angeles, and how the actor has learned to use, "Absolutely Should-less" to help question destructive thought patterns.

We Love Soaps: Are you considering submitting your work for Emmys this next year? I think the scenes of Scott mourning Stuart's death are Emmy worthy.
Adam Mayfield: Absolutely. Why not? I’ve heard that from a lot of people. I don’t know what the deadline is, but yes. I’m not looking forward of the task ahead of going through all the episodes from the past year and looking at all of them.

We Love Soaps: I think you get to pick two episodes.
Adam Mayfield: You only get to pick material from one or two episodes?

We Love Soaps: Ask Missy [Egan], she knows everything. [Laughs]
Adam Mayfield: The episode that everyone says I should choose is when I discover [Stuart] in the morgue.

We Love Soaps: I agree with that completely. What can you tell us about what’s coming up for Scott?
Adam Mayfield: I have no idea. I’m not just saying that. I honestly don’t know. I’m trying to think what changes between what you’re seeing now and what’s going to air. Let’s just say you haven’t seen the last of “Scannie.”

We Love Soaps: So things are going well for you, and then the news comes that the entire show is moving to Los Angeles. What was your first reaction to hearing that news?
Adam Mayfield: My first reaction was, “And I just got here.” I’ve been here [in New York] seven months. I have fallen in love with this city. There was something about getting my break and moving to New York City all in one package that was so exciting for me! However, that being said, I couldn’t be going back to L.A. under better circumstances. I know the lay of the land. I’m already excited that I’m going to have weekends free. I said before how much I love to go camping in the mountains. That’s my therapy. I rarely got the opportunity to do that [when I lived there before] because I was going to auditions during the week and bartending on weekends. So I’m excited to go back and have more of a normal life than I ever had before. I’m excited to see some of my best friends. And there are more opportunities for actors out there. There are more opportunities for films and television than there are here.

We Love Soaps: Are you interested in pursuing those opportunities?
Adam Mayfield: Yes, provided they don’t interfere with the show. Absolutely. But the show comes first.

We Love Soaps: What about practical things? Did you give up a car when you moved here?
Adam Mayfield: I’ve got nothing! I had to move to New York so fast, they gave me five days. I give a lot of credit to my girlfriend at the time. She helped me a lot. She was a Godsend. We’re still very good friends. She’s an amazing human being. I had a car, a four wheel drive pickup truck, I would take into the mountains whenever I could. I had to sell that. Actually I didn’t even get to sell it. I had to pull it up to a buddy’s house, park it in his driveway, with a “for sale” sign on it, and give him the title.

We Love Soaps: And now?
Adam Mayfield: Now I’ve got to go back and get another car, which can be exciting.

We Love Soaps: It seems like you’re able to roll with things pretty well.
Adam Mayfield: I’m totally flexible. People like myself and Brittany [Allen] and Jamie [Luner], we’re all single, we all just moved here seven months ago. We’ve got it easy. All we’ve got to do is pack up and head back to where we came from. We don’t have any kids. We don’t have a mortgage. Other people on the show have a fairly daunting experience ahead of them and I don’t. So I’m grateful for that as well.

We Love Soaps: What else helps you go have balance between “obsessing” over the material and having peace?
Adam Mayfield: Meditation. I try to meditate and often as I can, and journaling. Camping outdoors. I’m addicted to the gym. I love Yoga.

We Love Soaps: Looking back at this wild past year, what advice would you give yourself knowing what you know now?
Adam Mayfield: Relax. And enjoy it. Because you’ve earned it. Relax, you’re right where you need to be.

We Love Soaps: When you think about that, do you really feel stressed about the material?
Adam Mayfield: It helps tremendously. And I don’t think I realized that until right now so I’m glad you asked me that.

We Love Soaps: I sincerely believe our thoughts are so powerful in determining our emotional experience.
Adam Mayfield: I agree and I wanted to touch on that. I think what I got most out of your book was the idea of Core Beliefs. I think if you can change your Core Beliefs, or at least identify Core Beliefs, then you can take that anywhere. You can see that none of these thought patterns and these emotions are real. They are just mistaken beliefs that you’ve learned. It’s that simple. It is rewiring the brain, and then you can change your life. If you can identify your Core Beliefs then you are more than half way there.

How do you change it? I think with practice. Just because you may identify a Core Belief, it doesn’t mean it’s going to change, [because] it’s so hardwired into your psyche and into your body. So really, I think for me in changing bad habits, whether physical or thought patterns, it’s identifying it, and then it takes practice. Just because you identify it or have some big revelation in your shrink’s office or from reading a book or from having a good cry, you haven’t changed shit. You’ve just started the work. It takes practice and it takes maintenance. And I guess where most people fall short is that they have these realizations about themselves and they think the work is done. It's only just beginning.

We Love Soaps: I agree. It’s like physical exercise. You don’t just go to the gym and say, “Okay, I feel better, I don’t have to do this anymore.” It’s a process.
Adam Mayfield: No, you have to do it the rest of your life.

We Love Soaps: What Core Beliefs may be holding you back right now?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Please come back for the final part of my interview with Adam Mayfield to read how he perceives his Core Beliefs as holding himself back, and what he is doing to change them.

As mentioned above, my book "Absolutely Should-less: The Secret To Living The Stress-Free Life You Deserve" is helping Adam and many others challenge and change destructive thought patterns. You can purchase it here. And you can check out the "Should-less Blog" at shouldless.blogspot.com.

1 comment:

  1. I gotta say I love the Adam Mayfield interview. Glad too see he's considering submitting is work for Emmys this next year. Without a doubt I deffently think he's Emmy worthy....

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