“I gotta be me, I have to find my own truth, my own way to be odd and ungainly and weird.” – Rainn Wilson, in a recent HuffPostLive interview

The first time I ever saw Rainn Wilson being…well, Rainn Wilson, he was appearing on Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday show (which I absolutely love most weeks!).

Wilson was discussing having left NBC’s wildly successful nearly decade-long sitcom, The Office, and at first, he had me laughing, as usual.

But then as the conversation between Wilson and the amazingly talented and beautiful Oprah Winfrey (y’all know I love me some Oprah!), a chord was struck, and I got all “in my feelings,” as we say in St. Louis.

Not only was he nothing like his anal-retentive, awkwardly hilarious character, but he was clearly a surprisingly light-filled being who understood creativity and self-realization on a level that impressed me.

Then he started talking about this really amazing project he’d been working on called Soul Pancake.

I was already a fan, but this development changed my whole perception of Rainn Wilson.

If you’ve never seen the “real” Rainn Wilson, or if you have and you could use a little pick-me-up, you need to check out his recent appearance on HuffPostLive (see link at the end of this post).

I love when that happens. You know, when a preconceived notion is challenged by a new way of seeing things. Don’t you? 

Rainn Wilson was asked to share some lessons for living a good life. Moments later he was convulsing on the couch, showing off how he experiences “rapturous joy.”

Post-convulsion, during an appearance on HuffPost Live, he shared some poignant thoughts on happiness, his marriage, and being true to yourself.

“I gotta be me, I have to find my own truth, my own way to be odd and ungainly and weird.”

I was doing my first Broadway play and I was terrible in it. I was bad. I had so much pressure on my shoulders. It was kind of a classic play and I thought I needed to be a certain way as an actor. And oh my god, I stunk. I was so distraught, I would be weeping in the middle of the night, calling my wife.

It was one of the hardest experiences I went through, to show up everyday to a Broadway play knowing that you suck.

Sometimes as an actor youre just in the wrong part at the wrong time. But it was mostly my belief systems that really screwed me up and then after that something broke, something cracked.

 

See video and full story at: HuffPostLive