Juliette Binoche is one of my favourite actresses so I was delighted to read a short interview with her in “Psychologies” magazine this month. The article referred to her creative range – as an actress, a painter and, now in London, a dancer. Even if you just check out her filmography, it’s clear this is someone who likes to push against her boundaries. In the interview she reveals a number of her key beliefs –
- Risk taking. “It’s when you are taking risks that you know what you’re capable of. You discover your strengths, and your self. So that’s why sometimes you have to push yourself a little bit in order to surpass your expectations.”
- Non-attachment. “I like to leave habits behind. They scare me. Life isn’t about hanging on to things”
- Learning. She’s a great example of what Carol Dweck calls “the growth mindset“. Asked about her parents divorce when she was young and being sent away to school, she responded “I took it as a learning process”
- Living in the present. “It’s important to me to make the present as beautiful as I can”
- Potential. Asked if creativity can be learned she said “We all have potential. We just need to stop being afraid of exploring something new, something daring. Someone said “We’re more scared of our lights, of our possibilities, than of our darkness” Why are we so scared of new beginnings?
- Internal locus of power. Like William Glass she clearly believes in Choice Theory. “We always think the solution is external, not internal. But real change comes from an internal shift”
- Importance of human connections. “I cannot work and not feel connected. It would make no sense to me. I need the human connection, the complicity…..”
- No regrets. Asked “Do you ever regret your choices?”, she responds “No. This is my life. When you have dark moments, desire does return. Life surprises you all the time. I just wish for the best, open my arms and go for it.”
I recently read an interesting post about life lessons from Bon Jovi…….well, this makes a nice collection of life lessons from Juliette Binoche.
Heroes Not Zombies 
“I cannot work and not feel connected. It would make no sense to me. I need the human connection, the complicity…..”
For me, it’s ALL about the connections; all the other stuff is just noise in the data.
[…] Am I Stereotyping when I made that statement? The mere word Stereotypes, gets on my nerves, not without its Reasons And Emotions though. Muslims & Christians, people are always Second guessing each other and it makes me beyond sad. I am because you are, As One, equal, we can solve so many of the world problems. What’s a miracle? the fact that perhaps I think it is possible? No, there are miracles everywhere we just choose not to see them. Perhaps we all need to take a little walk Inside the mind of Juliette Binoche. […]