06/12/2022

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Hello, I'm Dr. Lisa Belisle.  I am recording this episode of Radio Maine not from Maine. You probably can't hear the winds blowing in the background or the waves crashing on the shore.  Of course, we have those on Littlejohn Island when we are normally in Maine. But today I am in my final day on a lovely island, one of the Grenadine Islands, which is near St. Vincent Island and much closer to the equator than normal for me. 

Today, I was interested in talking a little bit about travel and one of the reasons why I love travel so much, which I think that I've discussed before. And an intersection with art. Interestingly enough, if you look around me in the background, you'll see interior design that is not something that I've chosen. and not something I thought I might like, but look at the vibrant pink pillows. 

Dr. Lisa Belisle: 

There is so much pink in this place that we are staying, and I have really come to love it. I've really come to think about the design of the place that we are staying in as being somehow integrated in an interesting way with the exterior world that we spent the last week running and exploring. And in the case of my husband, setting up his AM radio tower at the beginning of a very high hill on this island. It's such an interesting experience to be part of something that you didn't really know what you were getting yourself into, and you will probably never return again, but you've had the opportunity. And in this case, I'll just say, I have had the opportunity to interact with a now in a way that, um, really only travel seems to do as effectively. It's this idea that we are, of course, all constellations of the experiences that we've had in our lives. 

Dr. Lisa Belisle: 

And we are also heading towards something that most of us have no conception of, but we're in the now for a brief brief moment. And as soon as we recognize that we're in the now it's gone and that's what travel is. Travel is the experience of being out of one's place out of one's surroundings, out of one's normal, um, daily live life habits and, and giving one the opportunity and giving me the opportunity to kind of step outside of the, the body and the life. And I think that's why I keep talking about myself and the third person as if it's not me, but it is me, it's me. And it's not me. And that's really what life is in general is that we're only ever in a moment for a very brief time. And then we're out of it again. And many of us see this with our children. We see this with our work, in my case, I see it with my patients. And as soon as we recognize 

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

The person that we are, we're not that person anymore. And as soon as we recognize the place that we're in, that place changes around us. And that's why I think that art is so interesting because you have the opportunity to see where an artist was at that moment, in that period of time in their life. So they capture something and then it's no longer in existence, but you have it. You have that, that captured moment. When I, when I read books and I love to read books as I've discussed before, and while I've been on this vacation, I've read a lot of books about travel and about self. And I've learned a lot about different ways of thinking as part of the doctoral studies that I'm doing, because I love thinking about different ways of thinking. Um, it's always an interesting experience to consider that if you're looking at someone's art or you're reading someone's words, it's where they were. 

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And if you talk to them about where they were, they've probably moved on. And so I give a lot of credit to those who paint and take photographs and write and wanna capture that moment in their existence. Because as soon as they've captured it, it's behind them. And yet it kind of leaves a trail of breadcrumbs, um, from the present to the past, to someone else's past and often to someone else's past that weaken ourselves relate to. And that again is kind of travel is always following the trail of breadcrumbs to somebody else's way of existing in this world. And it is a fascinating and wonderful experience. So thank you very much for sharing this part of the journey with me and for being willing to, uh, exist with me in the now, which of course by the time you watch, this will be the past, but for you, it is your now. And thank you for being part of this. Now is your now with me today on radio Maine.