Lisa Thorpe

What’s Your Superpower?

I’ve been thinking about superpowers lately. I guess it’s because I feel so powerless right now, so much feels out of my control – I don’t think I need to elaborate too much, I’m guessing a lot of you are feeling the same. So, what to do with this? Well, as I often do when I need some introspective time I go to poetry. I was listening to a poem by Ada Limon “Wonder Woman”. In the poem a person in pain encounters a woman in a Wonder Woman costume. The woman flashes a Power Pose then walks away and things shift (listen to the poem it will make you smile I promise). As is often the case with ones wandering monkey mind it made me think of a TED talk by social psychologist Amy Cuddy, I had heard a couple years ago. She talks about the power pose as a way to shape our internal body chemistry to change testosterone and cortisol levels – to change our bodies is to change our attitude. She talks about “fake it ‘til you make it” or rather “fake it ‘til you become it”. (Here’s a link because she explains it better- Amy Cuddy power pose talk.

Where is this going you’re thinking- but stay with me- it loops back to my beginning about feeling powerless. Like many free-lance artist and teachers I haven’t had much work during this pandemic/economic downturn. I did manage to get a contract creating art kits and video lessons for a local school. I created 12 art lessons, recorded instructional video and prepped all the art materials for 300 Cali Calmécac first and second graders. So, you don’t have to do the math I’ll tell you – that’s 3600 separate art envelopes loaded into 300 boxes and delivered. I had 2 weeks to put it all together! Yipes, if there was ever a time when I needed some power pose cortisol it was now! Hence, I harnessed my superpowers CREATIVITY, ORGANIZATION, and EFFICENCY and got to the task. To be honest my superpowers alone were not enough. I engaged my family to help. My mom put label stickers on all 3600 envelopes, and rubber -banded 150 sets of markers. My husband helped me string 300 little looms while watching TV 3 nights in a row and even more importantly helped me problem solve and pack the 300 art boxes for delivery yesterday! It took all three of us harnessing our superpowers to get this contract done.

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So my message in this time of uncertainty is name your superpowers, use your superpowers and share your superpowers… that’s how we’ll get through this time… together!

I hope you’ll join me this fall for a virtual workshop Stamp & Stitch hosted by Hello Stitch Studio sign up here.

Kick off 2021 with creativity join me for virtual workshop Accordion Collage Book hosted by Craft Napa sign up here.