"Also, when you meet new people and try to explain your life, rather than telling a whole story, now I can just say, ‘Go to my Web site.’
"Then I don’t have to talk about myself. Even though I’m an actress, my ego doesn’t run that way. I’d rather hear what you’re about.
"But once they’ve found out you’ve been in a movie, most people are like, ‘Oh, really?’ They become so intrigued."
Since our heroine first got into films, the culture of celebrity has grown tremendously, consuming us all, like a creature in one of Lisa’s sci-fi films.
"People went really nuts. But the Web site is an opportunity to show there are other sides to me. There is what I do in my home, my friends and my philosophies. They all are important to me. A lot of people won’t even get to the philosophies, again because once you tell them you were in a movie, even a Z movie, that’s it. They get blinded. But I am a woman of philosophy."

What is her philosophy? "I believe happiness is a primary goal, because if you’re happy, you are in a stronger position to take care of everything in your life. It gives you the freedom to accomplish.
"I don’t believe anybody is better than anyone else, that I’m a better person because my face has been on a screen. I don’t appreciate it when people put me on a pedestal, even though they’re humble films as I’m a humble actress. Besides, it’s false, so there’s no benefit from it.
"If you want to put me on a pedestal because I helped a little girl, that I can accept. If you want to respect me for having the chutzpah to get my face on the big screen, that’s okay.
"But I do want people to value me for how I choose to live my life moment to moment, being kind, considerate, understanding. It’s cool to make films, but what makes you better is how you handle your life, the heart you give."
Lisa gained this perspective by taking almost everything she believed, "and turning it around to the opposite, just because nothing made sense! All the impressions I had gotten thus far in my life weren’t working.
"It required me to almost change my lexicon, my definitions of words. What does being a better person really mean?
"I thought selfishness meant, let’s say, a man and a woman are dating and the girl says, ‘He’s being really selfish. He only thinks of himself.’
"But the truth is if he was being selfish, he would want the woman to be happy. He would want the environment to be happy. That’s the epitome of selfishness.
"I want my world to be good, so I’m going to do everything in my orbit to make it good. That’s selfish. These people are making themselves miserable. What’s selfish about that? They’re doing it backwards."
Her revelations came in stages. "When I turned 18 and was out on my own, I was able to take some extraordinary family pressures off me. It took years of studying and reading to figure out why I wasn’t happy for most of my life, and to change it.

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