Lisa, just Lisa.
From her home town in regional South Australia with her husband, daughter, two cats and Basset Hound called Trixie, Lisa lives The Matters Experiment every day as she negotiates the events of her internal and external world to create simple ease, deeply-felt contentment, and genuine satisfaction in her life.
Lisa's Career
“My CV was growing nicely.
Straight A student…
School Captain…
First in my family to go to University…
Graduation with Bachelor of Chemical Engineering with Honours…
National Salesperson of the Year in the first 12 months of my career…
First female and youngest manufacturing leader in the 45-year history of a site within a multinational with 63,000 employees globally…”
Then, she resigned.
“Fast-forward to the present. I haven’t had a regular payslip for 10 years, and yet I know that I’m getting closer and closer to what I am really here to contribute.
There has been doubt, insecurity, and fear—at times the question “So, what do you do?” has created an almost-comedic ‘fight, flight, or freeze’ response for a long time. However, the more powerful and life-changing question of my last decade has been, “Who am I if I am not….X?”
The answers I have received have positively impacted the direction of my life more times than I can count.”
Relationships
“Growing up, I experimented with Best Friend necklaces and Friendship bracelets with others, yet I always felt like we were ships that travelled together for some time and then drifted away from each other on another path.
I thought something was wrong with me. I feared I couldn’t feel love and connection like other people did, but that was just the way I was—the price I had to pay for other blessings in my life.
Getting married and settling down, trying to be a good friend and daughter when I could, contemplating having children, and being in the groove of the same thing day in and day out felt like a not-so-subtle expectation conveyor belt that I felt stuck on without any control or input from myself.”
Until she wasn’t.
“Contentment, satisfaction, adventure, and delight are now the lifeblood of my days through the deep connection I share with the love of my life, and the unique collection of fabulous, inspiring, heart-filling, remarkable humans I know from all around the world.
The core of the transformation with my relationship with others?
The total transformation in my relationship with myself.”
Dance
“Without a shred of Scottish heritage or previous family connection, at 9 years of age I was State Champion in Highland Dancing and then Junior Australian Champion of Champions by the age of 12.
Over 35 years, I accumulated 50 State and National titles, 7 years as a member of Australia’s premier international dance performance team, led a dance school to national success over 20 years, became President of my state’s administration body, judged internationally at the highest level across four continents, and created and hosted two global online Summits connecting hundreds of people across 16 different countries worldwide.”
Yet, she pulled the pin.
“For something so ingrained in my identity and my way of being and seeing the world, I took a step away from it all to see how much was me and how much was simply the ripple of an innocent choice I made when I was 5 years old.
What I’ve found has surprised even me and created a completely new way of relating to my own self worth, confidence, and value.”
Motherhood
“In my 20s and early 30s, I adored the children who surrounded me in my family and my dancing school, yet I started to think that my 80-hour working and teaching week, busy nights and full weekends meant that my path was to be ‘Best Auntie in the World’ or ‘Favourite Teacher of the Year’.“
But that changed.
“The right man for me, the right time, and learning to receive what my life was inviting me into saw two great step-children enter my life, and then my daughter crossed the threshold into our world.
Realising and living daily with the privilege, opportunity, and challenges of motherhood has been one of my greatest gifts and is a primary filter for my life’s choices.
These days, I don’t aim to be recognised by others as “Best” or “Favourite.” Instead, I use the filter to be called into a life of homeschooling and the role of gentle guardian of my girl, who is becoming her own “Best” and “Favourite” version of herself.”
A powerful series of daily actions
While this is a life long experiment, there is no doubt that this path has transformed feelings of irritation, frustration, doubt, and never being good enough, and changed the internal voice which says,
I don’t know what to do!
What am I doing wrong?
Why do I feel like I’m never doing the right thing?
Maybe there is something wrong with me…
It is Lisa’s experience that The Matters Experiment is a powerful perspective shift and series of daily actions which can change your career trajectory, the depth of your relationships, and the overall direction of your life by actively putting the most important person in the centre.