How to Live

This career can often subject me to the whims of others. Between the neurotic, subjective casting process and the potential fascist director, I've gotten too used to following the lead of those in power. So how can I carve out opportunities for myself in such a crowded field of desperation? I think it's an eastern principle that states, "If you ignore your art for one day, it will ignore you for two." That seems reasonable enough. But then I heard this other expression; a Slavic one which declaims, "Too rigid a focus makes a too rigid heart." I've tried resolving those two seemingly disparate philosophies, but it only leads me back to that famous Italian credo, "Cook with what's fresh, or end up a dirty Sicilian." That should do it.