Being a part of the crowd with incredible musicians onstage summoning the muse and delivering that to us - doesn't matter if it's an orchestra, two bluegrass banjo pickers, a solo singer, piano player, or Bruce Springsteen - when it all comes together, you can just feel as if you are a part of something bigger and grander than yourself.

Patrick Fabian

Categorized in : Two Player Piano

I think 20 years of experience really came to fruition and enabled me to be able to play Cotton Marcus.

Patrick Fabian

play years thinking

Just so we're clear, I'm not zen by any stretch of the imagination. However, what I've read about change being the only constant is a concept that I can grab onto and have used quite a lot.

Patrick Fabian

clear used imagination

The notion that "this too shall pass" is comforting, both in knowing that whatever pain I'm in will change into something else and allowing myself to experience the pain, not trying to blunt it or brush it aside. It's important to feel and to be connected to your emotions, whichever way they play out.

Patrick Fabian

pain knowing play

I hit my knees every morning and every night to give thanks for being alive and all the blessings I have. And in the middle of chaos, it's been suggested to me to stop and truly look around, notice the sky, the trees, the grass, and realize you're part of it all, which is hard when you really want to focus on what you think is bothering you. However, one of the smartest things I do is check in with my awesome wife, who is really good at screwing my head back on when needed.

Patrick Fabian

blessing morning night

I am not the center of the universe. And it's a lesson that I keep having to learn; it's my ongoing work, I'd say. And being in a career that is predicated on a degree of self-absorption, that is a tricky thing to negotiate sometimes.

Patrick Fabian

degrees careers self

I have found, without a doubt, that when I manage to get outside myself and not make myself the center, I'm always taken care of in whatever situation I'm in, even if I'm slow to recognize it. It's counterintuitive thinking on some level and not consistently easy to do.

Patrick Fabian

taken doubt thinking

I find, however, it's a much more freeing way to live. It certainly beats walking around with the "Don't you know who I think I am?" voice in your head. I find that only leads me down dark monkey-mind paths and patterns of behavior that benefits no one.

Patrick Fabian

voice dark thinking

I'm an ambassador for Best Friends [Animal Society], an incredible organization that's devoted to the welfare of animals - in particular, trying to help make every animal shelter a no-kill shelter. My two dogs were rescues, and I'm a firm believer in finding every dog or cat a home.

Patrick Fabian

cat dog home

I also swim four to five times a week, and once you get rolling into a rhythm of breathing and movement, your mind can truly untether, which I find so refreshing.

Patrick Fabian

breathing swim mind

I have a lot of appetites and try to revel in almost everything, so inspiration can even come from a well-appointed submarine sandwich, you know?

Patrick Fabian

sandwiches inspiration trying

It's important to feel and to be connected to your emotions, whichever way they play out.

Patrick Fabian

important play way

Walking my dogs twice a day provides me with an opening and closing of my day, and I've learned to use those walks for a walking meditation.

Patrick Fabian

walking-meditation use dog

Wouldn't it be great if we could be a little less judgmental and a little more forgiving of each other's humanness? We're only here a short time. Let's pay more attention to the good and not the bad in one another.

Patrick Fabian

forgiving littles attention

I've been blessed with two beautiful daughters. It is amazing how inadequate I can feel in being able to protect, teach, and take care of them. I'm not talking about a paranoid the-world-is-a-dangerous-place kind of way. I mean when they just give me a simple look or ask me something like "Where do stars comes from, Daddy?" I'm opened up in a way I had not thought possible.

Patrick Fabian

daughter stars beautiful

You make a horror film that's not very good. You'd be joining a long line, in a long video aisle, of stuff that doesn't work.

Patrick Fabian

joining video long

As much as I'd like to pretend that I'm not performing, I think any actor sometimes has themselves outside of themselves and is trying to direct themselves and control what you're seeing and thinking.

Patrick Fabian

actors trying thinking

Actors and preachers are people who stand up on stage and have no problem talking and they have no problem saying, "Listen to me. Follow me. I know what I'm talking about."

Patrick Fabian

actors talking people

I think any actor will tell you that they always assume they'll never work again, so every job becomes important.

Patrick Fabian

important jobs thinking

I'm so blessed to have been a working actor. If they still would like to make me a superstar, I'm available, but so far, being a working actor has been great. It's taken me everywhere.

Patrick Fabian

actors taken blessed

When jobs come up, like a low-budget film like The Last Exorcism, you say yes and you see where it takes you.

Patrick Fabian

exorcism lasts jobs