And she's an idea woman. Our Skype call blessed me with loads of ideas to come back to and reflect on.
One of the (zillion) things I love about Lisa is how she processes things: "I talk my way into meaning. Some people chew on things for a long time - and then they come out with the one sentence that stops you into your tracks. I can actually get into verbal dead ends. I meander, but eventually I find my way." {Me too, me too!}
I also love her openness and vulnerability - and her sense of humor! Lisa is deep and gorgeous - grab your tea and come meet her!
How Do You See Yourself as a Square-Peg?
Aren't we all kind of a little square? {Yes! Yes!}
I was always the kid who was left out - my difference was: I was fuzzy-haired. I was the only fuzzy-haired one - and I was overweight as a kid, so that was really hard. But then that made me more sensitive to how people feel and how things are going on for them.
I think that my life journey has been coming to embrace my own differences as gifts and not as flaws.
I didn't fit in as a kid and now I don't want to fit in necessarily; it's just more fun, and more of an adventure, to explore the differences.
We all have our own unique gifts; why would I like to be like anybody else? It seems so hard to try to be like somebody else!
You know, I think you could answer this question differently in all phases of your life! {Yes again!}
How Do You Maintain Your Square-Pegness in a Round-hole World?
It's always a practice to notice when anything triggers me, where I feel insecure, where I may start to compromise who I am or what I say or do.
It's learning what are the physical or emotional signs of that. And for me, retreat. I have to retreat back in and really sit with whatever's coming up.
That's where I might turn back to my art practice, or some kind of movement - anything that allows me to process those triggers and reaffirm who it is I believe myself to be, and who it is I want to be.
That's where I probably am an introvert; I do need lots of time to decompress after I've been around people. I need chunks of time to be with myself so I can hear that inner voice better and not just have knee-jerk reactions to things.
My background is yoga; that's probably the longest thing I've showed up for in my life - my awesome meditation practice.
As I've returned to doing more creative work I've discovered that the experience of having a yoga practice - a spiritual practice really - supports me in translating those tools of practice into other endeavors, whether it be painting, writing, photography - to me it's all about: How do I choose to show up for myself - for my life?
What is it I want to put my attention to, what do I want to cultivate within myself? That is the practice. Again, you're not born just being able to do it effortlessly. It's something you have to work at.
I see it like creating a raft - each time you show up you're putting another log to that raft and there comes the day when that's what's going to carry you over the river, over an obstacle.
What's Been the Hardest for You as a Square-Peg?
I have to come back to this: there's only me.
Even though our journeys may bring us together at points on the path, there are places where we each have to walk alone.
This came up for me when I started yoga and wanted to feel part of a community. I'm not in that community - my center is actually in Massachusetts {Lisa lives in the midwest}.
But then, hearing one of the teachers who had lived at the center when it was an ashram, and who'd been involved in community for a long time - even he spoke of this sense of being like the weed, the dandelion that grows up through the crack in the sidewalk, that you would have to persevere. And I thought: "Wait! You're in community, why is it an effort?"
But even then, even when everything is the same - there is still some essential core difference that's your experience - and no one else can be in that emotional sea.
So it's that - to come back and be my own final: "Yes it's ok, Lisa." - like parenting myself, and supporting myself.
As a kid I used to seek approval from my parents or support from my peers - but even when you get all that you still have doubts. So then, who are you wanting to convince? It's your Self! It's believing: "As I am I am enough."
{Laughing, Lisa quoted Stuart Smalley}: "I'm good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!"
I have to believe that because there's nobody else who can fill that feeling in me. So it's that you gotta dig your own well - and I get tired and I want somebody else to do it for awhile.
That's the central struggle in the Bhagavad Gita, the story of the warrior Arjuna - we all have our sacred duties. That's our dharma.
And when we don't follow our dharma it's not just ourselves we're letting down; there's a whole web - the connection of life. And so we are a thread in this whole fabric, and if we don't do our bit then the fabric is not strong, is not whole.
What's Your Favorite Square-Peg Trait?
That's a hard one for me - I think within myself it's my willingness to keep showing up, to keep starting anew. That sense of optimism that each day is another opportunity: maybe I fucked up yesterday, but today is another chance.
I used to do this thing where I'd figure out what breed of dog everybody was {laughing}, well I've got some pretty good terrier in me. There's a kind of stick-to-itiveness.
Going back to my yoga language:
"NOW we begin the practice of yoga."
"Ooops, I forgot. NOW I'll begin."
"Ooops, I forgot again. NOW I'll begin."
What Are Your Favorite Books?
{Laughing} If you could see my bookshelves…
Natalie Goldberg's Long Quiet Highway, which is kind of her memoir. It's about her first meditation teacher.
And it's again about waking up - about really being present in your life. I reread that about once a year, or once ever other year.
Anything by Anne Lamott, because I think there's that wonderful blend of absolutely profound within the muck and mire; she really shows warts and all, so you feel like you have hope!
A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving - that's another great one. I love that story.
Karen Maezen Miller's Momma Zen and Hand Wash Cold. She's a Zen priest, her blog's called Cheerio Road. She's about being present in your life.
And then there's a really sweet man, Eknath Easwaran. He was a professor of comparative literature at Berkeley back in the 60's and 70's and, I believe, had the first college course for meditation.
In all his writing he talks about his spiritual teacher - his granny. He's about doing one thing at a time, slowing down, building a mindful life - and I just love his Thought for the Day with a little explanation and quotes from world literature.
He always brings it back to basic stuff that everyone can understand; I like to read him for a little taste of something uplifting.
I've been rereading The Maeve Chronicles, one of Jane Cunningham's favorites.
Anything by Alice Hoffman, because I love that sense of the magical. I love Isabel Allende, or Joanne Harris's Chocolat.
~ ~ ~ ~
You can find Lisa's heart-open photography and writing (and classes! Don't miss an opportunity to take one of her classes!) on her blogs: Dandelion Seeds And Dreams and Inner Glow Self Care.
~ ~ ~ ~
Read more Square-Peg Interviews here!
~ ~ ~ ~
(Full Disclosure: we're affiliates of Amazon.com - so when you buy from the book links above you don't pay a penny more, but you help support Square-Peg People. Thanks!)
Recent Comments