 
GW: Tell us about this audio project you are presently working on.
CS: Well thanks to Pat, she's written most of it, and we're producing it together. The first CD I'm doing is called "Stress: It's All In the Mind." Through my growing up as an athlete I was always taught to be positive. It's kind of ingrained in me. My mother was a very big, what was at that stage, called, "size of mind." She was a big driving force behind me when I was a kid growing up, believing in myself and being positive, being a swimmer like I was and getting on to an international level.
This all came to me naturally, only because I started very young. I brought this CD out to try and help people. A lot of people have no idea how to handle stress. Anything like that. It's from my point of view on how I handle stress and how I use it to my advantage.
Everyone feels depressed. We all have things that get us down day by day. We can never be totally free of stress, but in this CD what I do is I explain a little bit and then I work on deep breathing exercises and relaxation exercises. Making people aware of their internal feelings and external feelings, muscle relaxation.
It's things I've always used. I use them when I go and speak in front of large crowds of people. People think "Oh, we just get up on stage and we talk." We're so used to it, it's natural to us. It's not natural. Very intimidating. We have to relax ourselves. All actors or anyone who does public speaking. There are certain ways to relax yourself. That's what I'm teaching in these CDs, teaching people what I do to relax.
People have no idea where to start, so this really is the start for them. If they do what's on my CD every single day, I can guarantee them that within a week or a couple of weeks they're going to feel like new people. It's very simple, but people have no idea where to start. That's the stress CD.
Simon with co-author Patricia Bretrand | |
The other CD I'm doing is called American Affirmation[s], also written by Pat and me. I feel, having become a citizen in 2005 and the way the world feels about America at the moment, there's a lot of negativity in the world about America being the big bully. From my point of view as an immigrant, I've put it onto CD how I see it through my eyes.
America is a great country. America has been the first in just about everything. America has sorted out countries from violence. It's just affirmations from seeing it through my eyes, as an immigrant, as a new American citizen, and hopefully showing people that there is a positive light to being an American person, that it's a great thing to be an American person.
I'm not all like "Ra, ra! America is the only country in the world!" Not at all. I want to try and get across, and hopefully so many people will hear this and it will be played everywhere. I would love to get it onto a radio show.
I think people should start realizing that America is great, the American people are great. They still have a sense of community. We can still talk to our neighbors, we know who our neighbors are. If a country's in trouble America will be there to help them. It doesn't matter what the reasons are.
Yes, there's s a lot of politics that goes on, but the bottom line is America is a big brother to most countries out there and will help them when they need help, whether it's financial, whether it's for security, whether they need an army there, for whatever reason.
It's just a positive affirmation on America, seeing it through the eyes of an immigrant and a new American citizen.
GW: Now all you have left to do is to run for governor of the state of California.
CS: Well, who knows! [Laughter] Who knows. You know, I feel America's being very good to me, and it's my way of giving back a little something. My fans especially, I care a lot about them, and I know there's a lot of people out there that have problems. I want them to know, we're not perfect people. We also have our problems. But the stress CD, this is how I deal with my problems, and I want to teach you how to deal with your problems.
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""Money doesn't matter. It's your quality of life. I want to be able to go for a walk around the neighborhood at ten o'clock at night, if I want to.""
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And just being in a position where I am, where a lot of people know who I am and know quite a bit about me, they'll actually listen to me as opposed to somebody who they have no idea who that person is. So I'm using my celebrity status, because of Stargate. I'm going to use it to try and get a message across.
GW: For the stress CD, what was the genesis of this? What did you see around you that made this snap in your head? "I have to make this. I have to make this for others."
CS: I go to all these conventions and do these things. The kids I see there, they spend so much money to get to these conventions, and I know for a fact that a lot of them do not have that money to waste. It's always hit me so hard that they come there just to see me. Just talking about it from my point of view. Obviously there's other actors. They come here to see me. The travel miles and miles to see me. I've always sat there and wondered what kinds of lives they have.
I can see, when I'm on stage talking to 500 people in an audience, I actually look at the people and I can see a lot of them are just so happy to hear something positive coming out of my mouth. That was the spark that lit it. I wanted to give them something that they could have in their house, or play in their car. They can hear my voice speaking and it can make them feel good about themselves.
I think there are a lot of kids out there, a lot of the fans, whose lives aren't that great, and who think we have great lives, and I want their lives to be great. I want them to be happy. I want them to be positive and I want them to not think that they are second to me. They're a human being just like me. I think that this is what it's going to teach them.
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