EPISODE 7: MARK-PAUL GOSSELAAR
MARK-PAUL GOSSELAAR
On not getting too excited, the glass-half-empty (or full) of it all, and keeping the worry alive.
Actor and director, Mark-Paul Gosselaar is known for his roles as Zack Morris from Saved by the Bell, Detective John Clark in NYPD Blue, as well as Peter Bash in the TBS comedy Franklin & Bash. More recently he starred in the series Pitch, and currently, he stars in The Passage, which you can see Mondays on Fox.
QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE
7:01 ~ “I think it just goes back to the work ethic that my parents my immigrant parents instilled in me. I mean my dad drove 50 plus miles to work every day... to put food on the table he worked two jobs at one point and my mom held the house down and had no help but they just went to work. This is what you did. And I just have that same mentality.”
20:00 ~ “When it comes to work, that’s when I’m like, ‘quit bitching, let’s get this done.’”
23:06 ~ “You never know what can happen. You're always worried - at least I am - I'm always worried that it's gonna be taken away from me... You go to pilot season, right? And you find a pilot that you that you really like. You read your ass off and you get it. ‘Can't get too excited.’ Now you go to shoot the pilot and... it gets picked up and you're like, well, ‘can't get too excited’ because I want to see what night it's gonna be on who we're gonna be up against and how many episodes we're gonna get - in midseason or fall? - and then it goes on fall. ‘Can't get too excited,’ because now we're going to war and you're going to the ratings game and... ‘can't get too excited’ gotta wait for a second season.”
26:03 ~ “Why do I meditate... I need to be able to focus. I need to be able to take things that are orbiting and make sure that they're in a pattern that I can utilize... That's why I meditate.”
27:02 ~ “I felt that when my back is up against the wall, some really good things have happened. And when I get complacent, and I feel like I'm ‘happy’... My life just kind of just goes and I'm not really aware…”
31:31 “I mean I find that these tools like meditation and… exercise is a tool... I find that all of these things... enable me to be more on the glass half full [side]... The more things I do like meditation and working out and, you know, even journaling... the more I feel like, ‘oh, I have a million things to do and my show didn’t get picked up or whatever the thing is, but also like, it's ok.’ There's a... fundamental sense of okay-ness that I feel is more accessible to me when I meditate. Or when I work out regularly or when I journal or when... I reflect.” - KF
35:51 ~ “The case that I'm making is that those of us who worry, worry, no matter what the fuck the circumstances are; and those of us who don't worry tend to not really worry.” - KF
37:03 ~ It's not that I think I won't worry, but I do think that my worry will mean less to me. So I will probably still worry about all of the same shit that I have always worried about, but I think the more practiced I get at not being a worrier, the more... I get to go, ‘Here I am worrying again.’ I don't think that there will be a point at which I don't worry, but I do think there will be a point - because I know there already have been so many points - where my worry has diminished... I could worry about everything every second of every fucking day... because I'm a worrier.” - KF
37:43 ~ it's a wonderful thing to be able to say, ‘I am different from my feelings. I'm different from my thoughts. My thoughts and my feelings they arise, just like the fucking clouds float by.’” - KF
41:25 ~“Worrying is just being a realist in a way... It's just seeing the truth in front of you. If I didn't think it all could end tomorrow I'd be an asshole... If I didn't realize how good I have it and that it could all go away tomorrow and I didn't care and I didn't have gratitude and I wasn't humble, then I'd be a big fucking turd. I think that that's one of the things that I'm so proud of as I haven't turned into that person yet. I'm still drive my really nice car and every time I get in it, I'm like, ‘I'm in a really fucking nice car. This is awesome.’ I realize these things... This doesn't mean I don't worry.”