Lisa notes

I Could Already Hear the Sirens . . . Can You?

By LisaNotes July 8, 2025 My stories, Ripple: One Word 2025 19 Comments

Is It Just Another Monday?

It’s an ordinary Monday afternoon. My daughter Jenna and I are driving home after lunch with a friend. The traffic light turns red. We stop.

As we wait, we notice a boy—maybe 10 years old—riding his bicycle on the sidewalk. Maybe he’s on his way to the store. Or a friend’s house. Or just taking a ride around the block.

Perhaps it’s just an ordinary summer day for him, too.

Young boy riding a bicycle on a sidewalk during summer

He approaches the intersection just as the traffic light turns green again. But he doesn’t notice the light.

He leaves the sidewalk and begins pedaling across the road.

At the same moment, a car from a side street also approaches the intersection just as the light changes. The car begins turning right.

Traffic light changing from red to green at an intersection

That One Split Second

What happens next is so fast—less than one gulp of air—yet it takes all my breath away.

Sometimes it’s in the tiniest of moments that life changes forever. A single incident can ripple on, shattering not just one family, but multiple families, classrooms, communities. And strangers, too, like me.

In that split second of time, Jenna and I sit frozen in our seats. But the boy and the other car do not collide. The driver of the car—in the last possible instant—sees the boy and swerves.

That’s it. Nothing else happens.

Except the boy rides on. The car completes its turn. Jenna and I drive home.

Mother and daughter reflecting in car after near-miss accident

Gratitude for What Doesn’t Happen

Instead of witnessing a tragic accident, hearing broken glass and frantic screams and emergency sirens, we return to the normal sounds of our ordinary Monday afternoon. After our hearts stop pounding. And our adrenaline runs out. And our brains adjust back to the beautiful reality of what is in this moment, instead of what could have been.

No harm done. Nothing altered. No lives changed.

What remains is gratitude. For a child I’ll never know that can laugh with his friends today, return to school in the fall, maybe grow up to be a gray-haired grandfather one day.

All because of what didn’t happen on this ordinary Monday afternoon.

The most ordinary days may be the most extraordinary ones of all.

Have you had a moment when you felt both terrified then thankful, from one breath to the next? Share your thoughts in the comments.

What the Dalai Lama Taught Me About Responsibility, Kindness, and Connection

By LisaNotes July 4, 2025 Book reviews, Compassion 6 Comments

In honor of the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday on July 5, 2025, here’s a reflection on his timeless message of compassion, responsibility, and spiritual practice from Ethics for the New Millennium—including favorite quotes and lessons from seeing him in person in Birmingham, AL.

Dalai Lama smiling warmly while addressing an audience

A Personal Connection with a Global Leader

On July 6, 2025, the Dalai Lama will celebrate his 90th birthday.

Eleven years ago in 2014, I had the unforgettable experience of seeing him in person in Birmingham, Alabama. He made such a lasting impression on me—not just as a spiritual leader, but as a profoundly humble human being. He was attentive, joyful, and quite playful.

[See “5 things I Learned from the Dalai Lama” here.]

Although he is a Buddhist and I am not, his teachings and example resonate deeply with me. He doesn’t try to convert us to Buddhism; he just wants us to live more kindly and responsibly among each other—universal values that are important to all human beings.

Dalai Lama’s visit to Birmingham, Alabama, 2014

His Message: We Are All Responsible for Each Other

“So while as Dalai Lama I have a special responsibility to Tibetans, and as a monk I have a special responsibility toward further interreligious harmony, as a human being I have a much larger responsibility toward the whole human family—which indeed we all have.”

These words were published over 24 years ago in the Dalai Lama’s book, Ethics for the New Millennium. But the issues are as relevant as ever.

In this era when division seems to dominate, the Dalai Lama’s vision of shared humanity offers a path toward healing—through compassion, humility, and personal responsibility.

The Call: What Will I Do?

The Dalai Lama doesn’t preach perfection or supernatural wisdom. In fact, he speaks plainly about his limitations:

“But I am only an ordinary human being. The best I can do is try to help them by sharing in their suffering.”

That honesty clears the way for each of us to ask:

  • How much responsibility am I willing to take for the suffering in the world?
  • What kind of commitment am I ready to make to act with compassion?
  • How far am I willing to be inconvenienced?

Even small steps matter. The Dalai Lama’s appeal is simple but profound:

“Do what you can, and do it with kindness.”

Inspirational quote by the Dalai Lama from Ethics for the New Millennium

Practicing Kindness, One Step at a Time

Spiritual practice, according to the Dalai Lama, isn’t about ritual. It’s about how we live and how we treat each other:

“It consists in nothing more than acting out of concern for others.”

Here are some practical ways to live this out:

  • Think less about your own worries and more about someone else’s well-being
  • Be patient even when anxious
  • Serve others with humility, regardless of your job or status
  • Resist judging people by appearance or situation
  • Practice daily kindness—sincerely and consistently

Easier said than done, I know. But even setting an intention to live more aligned with our values is a step in the right direction.

Quotes to Keep Close

Here are a few more quotes from Ethics for the New Millennium that I am returning to on the eve of the Dalai Lama’s birthday:

“Cowardice arises when we lose all confidence as a result of fear. Patient forbearance means that we remain firm even if we are afraid.”

“It is far more useful to be aware of a single shortcoming in ourselves than it is to be aware of a thousand in somebody else.”

“All human endeavor is potentially great and noble… so long as we carry out our work with good motivation.”

“Try not even to think of yourself as better than the humblest beggar. You will look the same in your grave.”

Final Thoughts

The Dalai Lama’s teachings aren’t just for monks or mystics. They’re for all of us who want to live meaningful lives in the midst of everyday messiness. His 90th birthday is a reminder that while he may be aging, his message of compassionate responsibility continues to be timeless.

“Treat everyone as if they were a close friend… I speak as a human being: one who, like yourself, wishes to be happy and not to suffer.”

So to the Dalai Lama I say, “Happy 90th Birthday, my friend! Thank you for your gifts of wisdom to the world.”

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama presides over an event celebrating his 90th birthday in Dharamshala, India

What do you know about the Dalai Lama? Share your thoughts in the comments.

8 Books That Shifted My Perspective This Month (Nonfiction + Fiction Picks)
July 2025 Book Recommendations

By LisaNotes July 1, 2025 Books I Recommend 60 Comments

“Books are not only a conversation with another, but also with oneself.”  

I love books that make an impression—not just on my reading list, but on how I think, write, and live. This mix of books stirred deeper reflections as I was reading and afterward, challenging some old assumptions.

If you’re searching for books about AI, happiness without toxic positivity, creative discipline, cultural wake-ups, or simply more joy, you might find one of these books helpful to add to your own stack.

Here are 7 nonfiction books and 1 novel that I’m recommending from my recent reads. 

[See previously recommended books here]

Nonfiction That Changed How I Think

1. Co-Intelligence
Living and Working with AI
by Ethan Mollick

Book cover of Co-Intelligence Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick

5 stars! This is the book I’ll recommend for those wanting to know more about AI. It’s not too complicated or technical, but is thorough enough to encourage us to think thoughtfully about how we want to use AI in real life and what kind of boundaries we hope will be set around it.

After reading it, I’m both more excited and more scared about our future with AI. Ready or not, AI is here among us already. And expanding more every year. 

2. The Antidote
Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking
by Oliver Burkeman

Book cover of The Antidote Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking by Oliver Burkeman

Toxic positivity is a real turnoff for me. So I appreciate Burkeman writing this book for us questioners. He reminds us that finding happiness is sometimes counterintuitive and includes:

“learning to enjoy uncertainty, embracing insecurity, stopping trying to think positively, becoming familiar with failure, even learning to value death.”

Excellent book!

Burkeman—who also wrote the fantastic book Four Thousand Weeks as well as Meditation for Mortals—is an author I want to hear more and more from. (He has a wonderful newsletter, The Imperfectionist; you can sign up for it here.)

3. Everybody Writes
Your New and Improved Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content
by Ann Handley

Book cover of Everybody Writes Your New and Improved Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content by Ann Handley

This is very much a how-to book on writing. And as the title says, everybody writes. Whether or not you call yourself a writer, you likely write something most days, even if it’s just texts or emails.

But not only is this guide full of helpful information, it’s also organized and displayed attractively (Handley is a fan of white space). It was a joy to read her writings about writing. And incorporate her suggestions into my own words.

4. We Have Never Been Woke
The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite
by Musa al-Gharbi

Book cover of We Have Never Been Woke The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite by Musa al-Gharbi

Ouch. This book about woke culture pokes holes in some of the ways I’d been thinking about (and practicing) activism. Deeply researched, this book by Al-Gharbi prompts you to think deeper about the typical arguments we use for and against common culture war topics.

“Our sincere commitments to social justice often blind us to the role we play in contributing to social problems.”

Don’t give up on the book, though, if you find it too slow at the beginning. I almost stopped reading after the first chapter because I couldn’t get into it. But then the pace really picked up and I found it fascinating.

5. 1000 Words
A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round
by Jami Attenberg

Book cover of 1000-Words-A-Writers-Guide-to-Staying-Creative

I did a quick read of this book for writers when I stumbled across the #1000WordsofSummer challenge last month. For 14 days straight, Jami Attenberg encourages you to write 1,000 words a day (about anything!) and report in to the community. I participated and loved it! (She does it yearly so watch for it next year at Jami’s substack.)

The book provides good advice about writing in general, with lots of guest essays from other writers. Attenberg says:

“You don’t know what you have to say until you say it. . . . My mantra for a few years now has been this: Stay in it.”

6. Inciting Joy: Essays
by Ross Gay

Book cover of Inciting Joy: Essays by Ross Gay

My online group is focusing on finding glimmers of joy during June, so our book club selection was this book about joy. This is my first encounter with Ross Gay, a lovely human being who pulled me into his poetic, everyday encounters, even when I initially resisted them.

“What if joy and pain are fundamentally tangled up with one another? Or even more to the point, what if joy is not only entangled with pain, or suffering, or sorrow, but is also what emerges from how we care for each other through those things?”

Each essay is a stand-alone, and some pulled me in more than others. But overall it’s a vulnerable and beautiful collection of words, reminding me that joy can be an act of survival and solidarity.

7. How to Break Up with Your Phone
The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life
by Catherine Price

Book cover of How to Break Up with Your Phone The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life by Catherine Price

“I regret that I didn’t spend more time on my phone.”
—No one on their deathbed, ever

If you want to use your phone less often, this is the book you’ll want. It guides you through all things regarding our phone addictions. Price doesn’t berate you, but she does gently nudge you to look at exactly how often you’re picking up your phone throughout the day. And why.

I’ve been loosely working through her 30 day plan. I don’t consider myself a heavy phone user (um, because I’m on my laptop so much instead?), but I was still appalled when I looked at my screen time hours every week. Yikes.

“I am grateful for all that my phone allows me to do. But I’m also aware of all that it does to me and, as a result, I remain constantly on guard.”

Fiction That Moved Me

8. The Last Voyage
by Brian D. McLaren

Book cover of The Last Voyage by Brian D. McLaren

This novel surprised me. It’s science fiction (not my usual genre), but it’s also thoughtfully spiritual and philosophical. I shouldn’t have been surprised by that since it’s by Brian McLaren, a spiritual leader I’ve been listening to for years.

Set in 2056, the plot is about a small international group making a final trip to Mars to join a few hundred people already there setting up a long-term colony. It’s book 1 of a trilogy.

[Read my full review about The Last Voyage here, “Who Do We Need to Go to Mars?”]

WHAT I’M READING NOW

Two of the books on my current shelf (marked with an *) are from Daniel Pink’s list of 21 books that changed his life. See the list here. 

  • Algospeak
    How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language
    by Adam Aleksic
  • How to Fall in Love with Humanity
    16 Life-Changing Practices for Radical Compassion
    by James ‘Fish’ Gill
  • Big Feelings
    How to Be Okay When Things Are Not Okay
    by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy
  • The Sports Gene *
    Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance
    by David Epstein 
  • Thinking in Bets *
    Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts
    by Annie Duke
  • Dream State: A Novel
    by Eric Puchner

Final Thoughts

I didn’t plan for these books I read last month to have a theme, but looking back, they all ripple outward from one idea: how we live, create, and connect—especially in uncertain times. 

Stack of nonfiction and fiction book recommendations for 2025

If you’ve read any of these, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Or recommend a book that’s shaped you this year. Please share in the comments.

Read more:

sharing at these linkups


On the Blog – June 2025

By LisaNotes June 30, 2025 Archives No Comments

Here are brief summaries and links to posts on the blog, Lisa notes, from June 2025.

List of blog posts published on Lisa Notes blog for June 2025

See previous months’ archives here

Share 4 Somethings – June 2025 Edition
Loved • Learned • Went Well • Let Go

By LisaNotes June 27, 2025 Life updates 21 Comments

As June wraps up and we head into the second half of 2025, here’s my latest round of 4 somethings that I have:

  1. Loved
  2. Learned
  3. Went well
  4. Let go of

And then I link up with Jenn.

These little check-ins help me reflect and appreciate what’s been happening in my corner of the world this month.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Something I loved

  • BYE, CABLE!

We finally cut the cord. After years of paying too much for cable TV—and grumbling about it—we pulled the plug at last.

After talking to a few neighbors and doing my research, we landed on Hulu Live. It gives us access to regular TV channels, including the live stuff we care about (like news, sports, and weather), plus Hulu’s on-demand shows and DVR capabilities.

So far, it’s working great—and saving us money, too. Win-win.

 ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Something I learned

  • PEDALING FOR UNITY

The average White American has:

  • 91 White friends
  • 1 Black friend
  • 1 Latino friend
  • 1 Asian friend
  • 1 mixed race friend
  • 1 other race friends
  • 3 friends of unknown race

The average Black American has:

  • 83 Black friends
  • 8 White friends
  • 2 Latino friends
  • 0 Asian friends
  • 3 mixed race friends
  • 1 other race friend
  • 4 friends of unknown race

That’s something I learned last week when we met the Riders for Race Amity. (I can’t verify the stats; do your own research; count your own friends.)

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Until last Friday I’d never heard of the organization.

My husband Jeff and I met the 2025 riders when they stopped at our local public library during their 900+ mile ride from Madison, Wisconsin, to Montgomery, Alabama—on bikes. Ten teenagers (plus chaperones) are traveling the country to promote race amity, community building, and service.

Riders for Race Amity

During the program, each student shared why they joined, and then we broke into small groups to talk about our own experiences with racism and interracial friendships. It prompted such meaningful conversations.

On their stops, they also participate in service projects. In our city, they volunteered at Manna House, one of our favorite local food distribution centers. I loved hearing how impactful it was for them to serve there.

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The students rode into Montgomery earlier this week, and are visiting all three of the Equal Justice Initiative museums. If you’re ever nearby, go visit yourself.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Something that went well

  • BIRDS: 100; SQUIRRELS: 0

Squirrel-proofing success—hopefully! We’ve gone through several different bird feeders and contraptions that claimed to be squirrel-resistant, but our squirrels outsmarted each one. And would eat all the food in a few hours.

But not with this bird feeder. Not yet anyway. The birds are loving it, and the seed actually lasts more than a day now.

That said, the ground is still a buffet for the neighborhood rabbits and mallard ducks who hang out to eat the spilled seed throughout the day.

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~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Something I let go of

  • COMPLETION, NOT PERFECTION (IN PRINT!)

Jeff and I finally finished our Storyworth books! In January 2024, our daughter Jenna gifted us a year-long subscription. We were sent weekly email prompts about our lives that we would answer and email back in.

After completing all 52 prompts by January of this year, we’ve spent the first part of 2025 editing and adding extra photos. But we eventually called it DONE and sent them off.

Letting go of perfection was the hardest part about the project for me—I kept wanting to tweak just one more thing, make one more edit, add one more photo. But the finished books are beautiful and meaningful, and now we have a lasting keepsake of our stories. Sometimes done is better than perfect. 

Storyworth books

What is something you are loving, learning, has gone well, or had to let go of this month?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

I’m linking at these blog parties

Do You Need a New One Word? Mid-Year Check-In
{One Word 2025 June Linkup}

By LisaNotes June 25, 2025 One Word Community, Ripple: One Word 2025 10 Comments

We’re halfway through 2025—can you believe it? That makes now the perfect time to pause and reflect on your One Word for our June challenge!

Below is our June linkup for your One Word posts. Scroll down to link a blog post about your word or to share a comment about it.

Is your word still working for you?

  • If yes—wonderful! Keep reading for some fresh ideas to keep it alive.
  • If no—no shame in changing it. Seriously. This practice is about you. Give yourself permission to pivot.

You’re not alone if you feel the need to switch gears. Here’s a great read from Gretchen Rubin. It’s about resolutions, not One Word choices, but it applies just the same:

3 Reasons to Give Up Your Resolution

Your June One Word Challenge

Here is this month’s challenge, whether you’re starting over with a new word or pushing through with the same one. Choose one or all three practices for a mid-year reset:

1. MORNING WORD RITUAL

For a few weeks each morning, try journaling, voice-noting, or just asking yourself:

“How can I embody my word today?” or “Where did I see my word show up yesterday?”

I’ve been keeping a daily bullet list lately of my One Word Ripple.

Here are a few notes I’ve jotted down:

  • Pressed my package close to my heart before mailing it, hoping my love ripples onto the receivers when they open it
  • Amazed at Sonnie Hereford telling how he was the first Black child to integrate Alabama public schools in 1963—many ripples followed
  • Scrubbed the bathroom thoroughly so Jeff’s virus wouldn’t ripple into me (it didn’t—whew!)
  • Enjoyed the older men of Rusty Strings sing and play songs from our youth on 3rd Thursday—the memories ripple on
  • Watched my grandson’s gymnastic class like I once watched his mom’s—a living ripple

2. LENS CHECK-IN

Set a calendar reminder once a week for a month to answer this question:

“How might I approach this decision/problem/mood differently if I applied my word?”

Use your word as a filter.

I asked myself this question last week: How can I better choose between the activities ahead of me this week, using Ripple as a filter? 

It was helpful. Here’s my answer:

When choosing how to spend the next few days, I want to say yes to activities that will strengthen connections—with others or with myself. Even small choices can shape what’s ahead, so I want to choose activities that ground me in presence, care, and meaning. I’ve noticed those moments ripple the farthest.

3. WHISPER NOTES

Leave sticky notes or phone wallpapers with simple reminders using your word in a sentence:

For example: “I choose GRACE before urgency today” or “Let COURAGE speak louder.”

Here are a few sticky notes I put around my house about Ripple:

Ripple Sticky Notes

If you blog, share a post below with YOUR answers. The One Word linkup is open today through midnight on Wednesday, July 9.

You can also share updates with our One Word group on Facebook.

Let this mid-year moment refresh your One Word journey—whether you’re continuing strong or beginning again. 

I’m cheering you on!

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Are you still using your One Word? Would you like to change it?

Share your thoughts here.

Looking ahead: Our July linkup opens on Friday, July 25. Plan to join us with an update about your One Word.

If you’d like to receive our monthly One Word emails and ideas, join here any time of the year.

Link Up About Your One Word

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Click here to enter