Lisa Shasky, Interview #168

Name:  Lisa Shasky

Where you live:  Midwest, USA

What you do as a vocation or avocation?  Author, mentor and corporate leader

Your two favorite books: 
Number one is the book I co-authored, Naked Feet Living:  Finding Your Real Self at Work and in Life.  Aside from my own book, I love You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay and Travels by Michael Crichton.

Your two favorite songs: 
I enjoy any song that touches me in a way that gives me chills from head to toe and connects with me on an emotional level.  These two songs I love for the message they give.  “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield says “Live your life with arms wide open; Today is where your book begins; The rest is still unwritten”.  The message I take is that I am writing my own story by how I live my life and the story is mine to write – I really relate to that concept!  “Seasons of Love” from the musical Rent challenges me to think about how I measure my life and others’ (e.g. sunsets, cups of coffee, laughter) and reminds me that what’s truly important is love.

Why are you interested in spirituality?
I’ve always struggled with individual religions, because each seems to think they have the one true version of the truth.  To me, spirituality opens up the possibility of many truths. I believe that our spirituality is like the most beautiful, intricate quilt you can imagine with many different pieces of material, different fabrics, textures, colors, styles, yarn, etc. all meticulously sewn into one magnificent quilt.  The power in the universe (or God, if you prefer) created each piece to help us in our belief.  I am fascinated to continue learning about all the parts that make up the quilt and I believe that every belief system has something unique to add to it.

Your favorite quote:
from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

Your favorite web sites: 
These are always changing as I find new things, but my current favorites are:
http://letters4rdaughters.com/
http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/

Your hero?
I certainly admire people like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, and other great spiritual leaders, but my hero is Pat Summit, women's basketball coach at the University of Tennessee.  Coach Summit has a very special ability to identify the strengths in others and bring those out in them.  In doing this, she has had a tremendous positive impact on so many young women - one person at a time.  She did this in obscurity for many years and then even when she became a famous and successful coach, she continued her efforts to build strong, authentic, others-focused women who are continuing her legacy of strength and compassion.  Even as she announced her battle with early-onset Alzheimer's, she used it as a platform to help others and deflect attention from herself.

A spiritual lesson you hope to learn?
I want to learn to notice who and what is right in front of me and not just focus on what I’m looking for or where I’m going.

A place in the world you feel spiritually connected:
Glen Lake/Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (Michigan, USA).  The quiet, slow, lapping of the water on the lakes edge, hundreds of small minnows swimming past your ankles in the clear, shallow water, or standing on top of the golden sand dunes overlooking both Glen Lake and Lake Michigan....I feel and see the power of the universe in each of these images and imagine they were created just for me to experience that connection.  And of course, I have to mention I also feel spiritually connected when looking into a puppy's eyes filled with unconditional love and the joy of playtime!