Season 2 Virgin

Awe, to be a virgin again. I got the same rush, blush and experience of the "first time" filming season two of The Night Shift (TNS). I am not the only cast mate struck by this claim of coming back to shoot a second season on a show. Whereas, the powder-free, sky blue gloves stayed the same, we had a gain/loss of characters on the show. Fortunately, my character, the acutely-skilled Nurse Heather Bardocz, was asked back. 
It was an undeniable joy to get the call I was coming back because it meant magic was manifesting: 
1. Keep working consistently in my chosen profession.
2. Keep living in transformative New Mexico.
3. Keep making stories and shenanigans with the terribly fun cast-n-crew on TNS.
It was supposed to be enough to work on every episode in season one and let go of any future of a season two. And yet despite much uncertainty, TNS train was moving forward. Or in the lyrics of Daft Punk's song Get Lucky "...your gift keeps on givin'."  

I like to think I am passionate and clear about what I attract into my career, but I sometimes struggle to just receive it when it arrives. Why does my character come back and not others? Haven't I had my turn? How many turns do I get? The pool of joy in my heart was becoming poisoned by the mind pollution chatter. It's this snapshot moment of fear that I take in and not hide from; the idea of being enough for what I want as it unfolds before me. My gypsy-hustle-working-actor mode could pause and accept this interval; my ship could anchor to this project. Acceptance. Being enough and then saying yes to it...inhale...exhale... drinking in all of the gratitude for what is.

It's been educational to play a nurse on different shows (In Plain Sight, Manhattan), but nothing can compare to the rite of passage of a season two. The Night Shift is my first television pilot and just like the magic of a first time, I'm learning what comes next with every step of the process. 
Our hospital drama has been a formidable match to all of the hurdles that stood between it and getting air time:
- We shot the pilot November 2012.
- Created spark at the upfronts and got an order of seven more episodes in 2013.
- Aired our show mid-season in summer 2014 to surprise acclaim.
- Now, we scrubin to shoot season 2 airing Mondays after The Voice @ 10/9 c, starting February 23, 2015.
- Season 2 virgins among the cast + crew = ✔

Being a virgin to new experiences is a practice at how to deal with being uncomfortable with what you have attracted into your life. Getting "good" at satiating the attachment to being worthy of our desires is (for me) a practice. I'm blessed to have daily opportunities to practice acceptance when I teach yoga, play with Tobey the pug, and have a partner who jokes, chases, or wrestles me back into the present moment. The conscious inhale...exhale...to quiet the mind chatter to immediately receive the abundance of the ultimate human experience - being in the present moment.