Caitlin repeated "I am numb I can't feel anything." She was distressed and frightened. She could see that her classmates were able to express and release their feelings. She did not want to be left behind again. Caitlin had left the acting class halfway through the last year--she had uncovered through counseling that she had depression since the age of twelve. Returning to the class was a big step. In this article, the author shares his experience in working with Caitlin. By encouraging Caitlin to consider new possibilities, the author is helping Caitlin to build a neural pathway, hitherto untraveled. The author has experienced Caitlin's account and many others in training actors, and it confirms once again that everything begins with awareness--Caitlin's new awareness is exciting to witness; her experience of this awareness fulfills and encourages her. Here, the author emphasizes that true artistic practice is not an unthinking or unaware repetitive process, it is a conscious attentiveness to development through the discarding of unwanted and unhelpful tendencies and the nurturing and building of skills that lead to greater artistic satisfaction and fulfillment.