I’ve told this story a few times recently and it has struck me that it’s some what miraculous and the coincidences don’t really seem to be too coincidental if you look at it as Divine Intervention. Now that would be a funny way to look at it except that I do think that Spirit did arise and speak to me. So while I think calling it Divine Intervention is a funny way to talk about it, I also think it is true.
In February 2001, I left my corporate job — the reasons for which I’ll leave to another post. Over the course of the next year, I went through many changes and lots of development. I began exploring my Self as an artist, communitarian, dancer, DJ, event producer and more. I gave up my “normal” life of stability and I opted to explore living from a place of authentic expression of my deepest truths even if (perhaps especially if) that did not include a normal job. I was determined to find a new job that allowed me to wear glitter to work since it was not okay at my corporate job. For me, that expression was one of the base criterion for my next full time job.
In Spring of 2002 I did an open studio’s show in Hunter’s Point. As I was preparing for the show on 4.20, I met a woman whose name was Hetana. She and her partner were using our warehouse space for a 4.20 party, which is how we met. I had enjoyed interacting with her and I went to say goodbye to her before leaving the warehouse and she said to me, “Nice meeting you Isa” or something like that. I mentioned my name was Lisa, but now that she’d said “Isa” I was thinking I was going to change it. Something about it just rang true to me.
Being a bit more conservative than I am today, I wasn’t as willing to trust my instincts, so I decided to sleep on it. For whatever reason, that night I slept in the loft over the kitchen. When I woke in the morning I looked down into the kitchen and, as if it was a sign from God, I saw my roommates girlfriend’s back have a tattoo of the letter “I-S-A” on her. Now, you have to understand I’d been living here for 4 months and Green (my roommate’s partner), whose name is also unusual (though that is her birth name also), had never worn a tank top while I was around the entire time. The letter in her tattoo are easily a few inches high.
Thinking I must be in a daze or dreaming or hallucinating or something, I call down to her and we have a conversation that goes something like this:
Me: “Green, what’s that on your tattoo back?”
Green: “It’s Isa.” (Pronounced e-SA with the emphasis on the SA not the E)
Me: “What does it mean?”
Green: “It means the one in Tagalog.” (Filipino language)
In that moment, I thought, “Wow. This is a sign from God. What are odds this would happen?” And so clearly seeing my name in writing on Green’s back was the clincher.
I had been having challenges actually feeling comfortable with my choice, but it seemed God was certain this was my choice. Less than two weeks later, one of my best friends at the time calls me up to tell me, “Do you know what Isa means? It means “Jesus” in Farsi.”
So I changed my name, dropping the “L” along with my corporate jobs, my preconceptions of who I should be and the limiting beliefs that had held me back in the past. I’m so glad I did. 
