Successful and well-respected by her peers, collegiate dancer Lisa Gray turned psychologist in training last year. Lisa said that her inspiration to consider psychology and counseling came from the dance studio. In the confines of these walls, she spent countless hours mastering her art. Along the way she went from pupil to teacher. Each night she devoted hours to instructing young girls in how to express themselves through dance. Inevitably, some of her students turned to Lisa in times of personal turmoil. For years she found herself in a position to provide support to her students when life at home, school, or you have it, grew confusing. Watching Lisa’s face as she recounted the hard situation of some of her students was moving. It was as if she felt a sense of responsibility. After all the hard work together, it appears as though Lisa developed a personal mission to leave no dancer behind. She credits her faith in God for forming the best parts of her personal constitution.
When she brought up her fellow dancers, a wide and unmistakably genuine smile flashed across her face.
“You spend all day together in the studio. The work could be brutal," she said. “You have to take the good with the sucky.”
The many hours of punishing work they spent together while dancing formed a profound bond. Lisa said she met the most amazing people of her life. People who were unafraid to be themselves. “It’s hard doing a major that’s so unique," she said. “People don’t understand it… What’s your major.” They ask,“[It’s] a conversation you try to avoid.”
This stigma of the liberal arts seems to stem from a belief that these practices provide nothing tangible at the end of the tunnel. Lisa eyes shone with passion as she gave a heartfelt defense of the worth of these pursuits that manufacture creativity for our nation, and the world.
“Imagine a world without creativity," she said. “Every bit of entertainment you watch and listen to is impossible without entertainers! My dancing undergrad taught me to uniquely connect with people. I know it will be beneficial in the future.”
For younger students, Lisa imparted the most important piece of advice she had learned in her undergrad. She said, “Be yourself, and dance like nobody is watching.”
Perhaps, beneath the surface, there always resided a psychologist. Whether it was digging into the mind of her French and literature savant sister; or searching the countenance of her reserved and philosophical father. Meanwhile all the time wondering what thoughts were passing behind the exterior of her cat Nicholas’s furry mind. The psychologist was always at work.
An analytical intelligence can often present itself as a cold and calculating exterior. People with this approach to life are often much warmer then the veneer would imply. However, one does not have to guess whether Lisa Gray has a warm personality. Immediately upon meeting her, people are infatuated by the warmth she exudes. She expresses an authentic and indiscriminate love for the beauty around her. Lisa thinks through the world by feeling through it. Using the soul to sift through fact and fiction. The noble and blind part of our senses that discerns through deeper waters than the eyes can perceive. Inevitably, this penchant for emotional intelligence empowers her to bring a unique skillset to her future work as a psychologist.
Imagine before you sits the greatest intellect in the modern world of psychology. The books she writes advances her field by decades. Her advice is keen and cutting. Like a scalpel, it ruthlessly rips to the heart of the issue. You, the subject of her fascination, are a puzzle waiting to be solved. It is great to solve puzzles, and they are very satisfying to fix. However as a psychologist, this approach could be a drastic way to handle your patients. Humans often do not want to be fixed. We want to be understood. Fixing someone implies that they are an irritating itch to be scratched. A stain, on an otherwise pristine surface. Understanding someone implies that they are being assisted by a friend. That even if they do not come to the “right” conclusions, if there is such a thing, that they will be cared for as they are. Even with all problems included.
You may be the pariah of presentable society. The outcast. The loner. But Lisa will recognize you. She will acknowledge the beauty around her. No surprise that she found an early home in dancing. Where the physical expression of the words harmony, elegance and cooperation are exemplified. She will not try to fix you. What she will do, is try to understand you. She will accept you, and be a friend to you. Walk with you, and dance with you. Laugh with you, and cry with you. And last of all, she will care for you, and care with you. That, in the author’s humblest opinion, is the highest expression of psychology. Empathy, compassion, and love. There is a place for the keen mind, equally as much as there is for the caring heart. Lisa has both. The future is a mystery. But regardless of where the path of life may lead after college, one can presume that Lisa Gray will find and share the beauty along the way.
