Entries by Lise Porter

How Amplifying Feelings Can Lead to Breakthroughs

There is a tenet in acting that everything is usable. What this means is that actors use all feelings that arise when performing. Anything and everything can be integrated into the performance. For instance, if a character is supposed to feel sad yet for some reason the actor giggles, that is okay. Even if it […]

Loneliness- The Un-Named Diagnosis

Did you know that if you tell Siri you want to kill yourself, she will connect you to the national suicide hotline? This is remarkable and potentially life saving, yet it makes me sad that in our darkest hour of need, we might reach out to our phones instead of another human being. We are […]

Lise’s Letters Has Moved

Hello! It has been quite some time since I’ve blogged. You may have been wondering why. The main reason is that Lise’s Letters has moved. I’m now hosting a blog, also on WordPress, called “Selfish Bitch of a Daughter.” It can be found at Selfishbitchofadaughter.com. You may ponder the title. “Do you have a selfish daughter […]

The Art Of Doing Less

If truth be told, I take yoga because it knocks me out like a drug. No matter how much I have on my plate, I still take class. Afterward, I sit on my couch and watch the light patterns on my carpet. I may even curl up on the couch and sleep. This zoned out […]

Money Matters in Mental Health

My mom died penniless, middle-aged, and alone. She was found dead on the streets from an overdose of amitriptyline- meds prescribed to calm her nerves not kill her. She should never have wound up in this condition.  She never should have died poor, let alone- alone. She was raised in a middle-class family and worked […]

A Cat At The Hair Dresser’s

Finding love in the everyday…. I had an early morning haircut today. My hairdresser, Audrey, opened the shop before anyone else was there. When I arrived, the salon door was slightly cracked open and a kitty cat was poking its nose inside. I opened the door wider and naughtily encouraged him to enter. He strutted […]

The Burden of Trauma

I have spent my entire life seeped in the landscape of trauma. After first-hand experience with it in my childhood and teenage years, I chose a career involving the study of it. I then spent two decades trying to help others get through similar experiences. And I now teach on the subject. Yet trauma still […]

The Burden of Trauma

I have spent my entire life seeped in the landscape of trauma. After first-hand experience with it in my childhood and teenage years, I chose a career involving the study of it. I then spent two decades trying to help others get through similar experiences. And I now teach on the subject. Yet trauma still […]

The Burden of Trauma

I have spent my entire life seeped in the landscape of trauma. After first-hand experience with it in my childhood and teenage years, I chose a career involving the study of it. I then spent two decades trying to help others get through similar experiences. And I now teach on the subject. Yet trauma still […]

The Importance Of Getting Off The Grid

I don’t know about you but there are many days when I’m on complete overload. Modern life has created a cocktail of stimuli that is maxing out our nervous systems. We are bombarded by noise, demands, choices, and activities. Unless we take specific actions to decompress on a daily and even hourly basis, most of […]