Lisa notes

On the Blog—July 2023

By LisaNotes July 31, 2023 Archives No Comments

Here are brief summaries and links to posts on the blog, Lisa notes, in July 2023.

8 Books I Recommend—July 2023 (7/31)
Here are 5 nonfiction books + 3 novels I recommend from what I finished reading in July.
Share Four Somethings—July 2023 (7/28)
I’m sharing four somethings for July 2023. Here are four things I’m loving, reading, learning, and eating.
Don’t Give Them Your First Answer (7/26)
I knew my first answer. But in the pause, I heard a better one. Listen for your deepest answer.
Practice These 3 Sensory Challenges with Your One Word (7/23)
Experiment with new ways of connecting to your One Word of the Year. Try this sensory challenge with sight, sound, and touch.
How I Ended Up at a Taylor Swift Concert in Person (7/21)
Each person was there to see Taylor Swift in person. Being wholly human sometimes requires our whole bodies showing up in person, too.
Watch for the Blue Signs on the Interstate (7/18)
Watch for the blue signs when you’re hungry. Be a blue sign when someone else is.
Surprise! When You Don’t Even Have to Ask (7/14)
How aware are you of the small but pleasant surprises in your everyday life? Sometimes good and wanted things come without even asking.
But Today . . . You Are Still Here (7/11)
But today. On this day, in this space, you’re still here. Still breathing. You still matter. You always will.
Do You Know Who You Are NOT? (7/7)
We’ll never understand everything about who we are. And who we’re not. But we can see more. Review of The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence.
Do You Have to Try So Hard? (7/5)
The lantana’s beauty returns every year without constant work. Maybe we can bloom too without trying so hard?

See previous months’ archives here

8 Books I Recommend—July 2023

By LisaNotes July 31, 2023 Books I Recommend 33 Comments

“If there was nothing else, reading would—obviously—be worth living for.
– Nuala O’Faolain

Here are 5 nonfiction books + 3 novels I recommend from what I finished reading in July.

[See previously recommended books here]

NONFICTION

1. All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir
by Beth Moore

Beth Moore, a well-known author and Bible teacher in the Christian world, has written her memoir now that her abusive father and her mother who struggled with mental illness have both died. As expected, Beth is endearingly authentic and open in this book telling about the challenges of her childhood and her adulthood, including the latest chapter in her life when she finds a new spiritual community. I listened to the audiobook to get Beth in all her fullness. Highly recommend.

2. The Road Less Traveled
A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth
by M. Scott Peck

I first read this book in the 1980s. This reread did not disappoint (to my happy surprise). Peck’s opening statement “Life is difficult” still rings true. I don’t agree with everything, but enough. Peck blends love and discipline and spirituality in a way that works for me.

3. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
A Memoir of Life in Death
by Jean-Dominique Bauby

After a devastating stroke, Bauby—the editor-in-chief of a major magazine at the time—became paralyzed except for his left eyelid through “locked-in-syndrome.” His book is my July pick for the category of “spirituality through illness or trauma” for Lory’s Spiritual Memoir Challenge. And it was a toughie. Not because of the prose itself (it was fine), but because of the great efforts it took to get this book into the world. Every word was dictated one letter at a time by the author batting his left eyelid to someone as they wrote it all down. I haven’t yet seen the film about the book.

4. Between the Listening and the Telling
How Stories Can Save Us
by Mark Yaconelli

I definitely recommend this book. It’s a reminder to intentionally listen and tell stories of our lives. Big or small stories. Funny or serious stories. Storytelling is healing. We need more of it.

5. The Mindful Body
Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health
by Ellen J. Langer

We know about chronic illness. But we do know about chronic health? That’s what this book is about. There are some physical things we can’t do anything about, but what about things we can? Langer shows health often begins (and ends) in our minds. Fascinating. I’ll do a full review soon.

FICTION

6. Thank You for Listening
by Julia Whelan

On a lighter note, Julia Whelan, a prolific and award-winning audiobook narrator, wrote this novel about two audiobook narrators. I loved the plot of her characters Sewanee and Brock’s co-narrating a book together, but I also enjoyed the background information about book narration I picked up as coincidentals from the storyline. I listened to this one as an audiobook, of course.

7. The Measure
by Nikki Erlick

If someone could tell you when you’d die, would you want to know? That’s the premise of this interesting novel of how the choice affects individuals and societies after each person receives a box on their doorstep containing a string depicting the measure of their life.

8. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
by Gabrielle Zevin

The characters in this novel create video games (a world I know little about). The story takes you from Sam and Sadie’s original meeting as children, on through their adult years of collaborating on games. But it’s about far more than games. It touches on very serious issues along the way. It won’t make my favorites list of the year, but I’m glad I read it.

WHAT I’M READING NOW

Fight like a Mother
How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World
by Shannon Watts
Your Future Self
How to Make Tomorrow Better Today
by Hal Hershfield
You Sound Like a White Girl
The Case for Rejecting Assimilation
by Julissa Arce
Decluttering at the Speed of Life
Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff
by Dana K. White
Call Your Daughter Home
by Deb Spera

What’s a good book you’ve read lately? Please share in the comments.

sharing at these linkups

Share Four Somethings—July 2023
—Grace & Truth Linkup

By LisaNotes July 28, 2023 Grace & Truth Link-Up, Life updates 20 Comments

Near the end of each month, I share four somethings at Jennifer’s linkup that I’m loving, reading, learning, and eating.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

What I’m Loving

NEW INSTA ACCOUNT TO FOLLOW

My friend and our fellow blogger Lois Flowers has created a new Instagram account called “Remembering Our Parents.”

It’s a space for each of us to “honor our parents, share their wisdom, and encourage each other as we continue on without them.”

She invites you to participate, too. Just answer a question about your mom or dad and send her a photo. Get all the details here. (And read more in today’s featured post when you scroll down.)

This is what I sent in about my mom. Although it’s been almost 13 years since she died, I still miss her terribly. I still need her advice. I’m glad I still have her love.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

What I’m Reading

YOUR FUTURE SELF

I continue to think about this nesting dolls metaphor for all the versions of myself. This book, Your Future Self, helps me remember that who I am today is likely not my last version either. It’s been fascinating to read.

“He saw that the younger version of himself was just one patch in his quilt of selves. Just as he’s changed from who he was to who he is, he’ll certainly continue to change as the years unfold.”

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

What I’m Learning

COURAGE IS ACCEPTING CHANGE

So instead of envisioning my current self as the largest doll in the nesting set, I should assume I’m maybe two versions back and continuing to grow.

Accepting changes that have already happened in my life (many without my permission, I might add!) is requiring courage on my part. But courage is also required to intentionally create change in my future.

And I’m not a brave person by nature, so . . . ugh.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

What I’m Eating

A RETURN TO HEALTHY OATMEAL

Growing up, I often ate Quaker Oatmeal for breakfast (I still remember the lightweight aluminum pan I cooked it in). As an adult, I turned away from it.

But now that high cholesterol and other scary things have arisen in adulthood, I’m returning to my roots of old-fashioned oatmeal (not the yummy sugary kind) with a piece of whole wheat toast crumbled in.

I can’t say I love it, but I feel good about eating it (and it helps me not feel as guilty about a chocolate dessert later in the day, lol).

What’s something you’re learning or loving this month?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

I’m linking at these blog parties

Grace & Truth Featured Post

After Lois lost both her parents just five weeks apart in 2019, she recognized the gift of talking about them with others.

I lost my own parents seven months part in 2010. It was a very difficult year. I was grateful to have others around me who also knew and loved my parents.

Read what Lois has started on Instagram to help us remember our parents now in community.

“Built around follower stories, @RememberingOurParents is an Instagram community for all of us with moms and dads who are gone but definitely not forgotten.”

Read all of Lois’s post at her blog, then link up your own blog posts below.

“Introducing ‘Remembering Our Parents’”

Review the rules here about adding your most recent Christian Living posts and how to be the Featured Post. Visit all four hosts social media here or websites here: Maree Dee, Lisa notes, Lauren Sparks, Tammy Kennington.

Now Let’s Link Up!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Don’t Give Them Your First Answer

By LisaNotes July 26, 2023 Linger, Memorize Matthew 6 10 Comments

When You Know the Answer

I immediately knew the answer. But if I spoke it aloud, I’d be breaking the rules.

As he handed me the listening stick, the gentleman to my right had asked me this question:

“What’s your next step?”

He had no specific context in mind. So I wanted to tell him my first thought, which was what I had scheduled for the next 3 months about a specific situation. I’m a planner. I love to think ahead, make a list, map out my calendar.

I enjoy knowing well in advance what my next step is.

But the instruction given to us in this Small Group Deep Listening experience was to NOT give our first answer.

We were told to pause, to think a little deeper before answering.

In the second answer, our instructor suggested we might find a more thoughtful, accurate response.

Wait for It . . .

That’s hard to do. Once we have an answer, we typically want to stop thinking. We’re done.

Why hold back if we have a ready-made answer on the tip of our tongue?

Because maybe our first response isn’t always the best one.

I wonder if Jesus had something like this in mind on the day he told his listeners on a mountain to stop being so anxious about what’s for lunch (Matthew 6:31).

He said anybody can waste time worrying about only that (Matthew 6:32).

Maybe Jesus was inviting them to listen deeper, too.

What did they really need? Aside from physical nourishment (which is important, by the way), what was underneath their anxiety about food? Had they been days without food? Did they have food insecurity? Or maybe they were just gluttonous for the next meal (my hand is raised)?

What’s the Real Need?

I often think I know what I need. But often I’m wrong.

I want to ask myself more often, What do I need right now?

Then pause.

And dig a little deeper. What do I really need right now?

Maybe I still won’t know. But maybe I will. And in the clearer awareness, my priorities might change. My strategy to get my need met may change. My ability to meet someone else’s need might change, too.

Awareness increases connection, to ourselves, to others, and to God.

The Second Answer May Be Better

Feeling the listening stick in my hand, I held back my first answer to What’s your next step?

I closed my eyes and thought a little more. My second answer was indeed quite different than the first one had been.

In the pause, my answer became the pause itself. I told my group that my next step is no step. I am meant to stay on this step a little longer. To not move yet. To rest a little longer. To linger in the present.

When it’s time for the next step, I’ll be made aware of it. But for now, my deepest need is to pause from planning next steps.

I’m glad I listened for the second answer.

It feels like the better answer to me.

Our memory verse this week for our Matthew 6 challenge is Matthew 6:32:

“For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”

Share your thoughts in the comments.

Practice These 3 Sensory Challenges with Your One Word
{One Word 2023 July Linkup}

By LisaNotes July 23, 2023 Human: One Word 2023, One Word Community 21 Comments

Try this SENSORY CHALLENGE with your One Word.

Here are 3 practices to experiment with using your own One Word with SIGHT, SOUND, and TOUCH.

Give yourself extra credit if you can find a way to TASTE and SMELL your word, too.

1. SEE IT

Where can you see your word most often? Move your word or a representation of your word around this month, putting it in fresh places. Write it on a post-it note for your refrigerator. Make a wallpaper design for your phone. Set it on the desk at your office.

This month I’ve attached my word HUMAN to my bedroom mirror along with this “goose feather.”

Jeff and I attended the Wild Goose Festival last weekend, a community gathering for faith-inspired social justice. While the adults were attending their sessions, one of the children’s activities was to create a paper goose with their own sayings as feathers.

After communion on Sunday morning, we were each invited to pull a feather from a goose to take home with us to remind us of the weekend.

I chose this one: “One is not nearly enough . . . ALL.”

It fits my word just right. Thank you, whoever created this feather.

2. HEAR IT

What does your word sound like? Listen for it in the birds or your favorite music. Read a poem aloud with your word. Save the spot on your audio Bible that contains a scripture containing your word.

The song “Crowded Table” by The Highwomen has been playing in my head for awhile (we also sung it at the Wild Goose Festival). So this week I finally added it to my playlist.

Isn’t this a beautiful way of being HUMAN?

I want a house with a crowded table
And a place by the fire for everyone . . .

The door is always open
Your picture’s on my wall
Everyone’s a little broken
And everyone belongs

Listen to the whole song here.

3. TOUCH IT

Perhaps more challenging, what does your word feel like? Find a way to touch your word. Examples: For FINISH, rub your fingertips over a smooth piece of wood or art to feel its finish as well as to celebrate something completed. For ALIGN, craft objects out of Play-Doh. For GRATITUDE, put your hands together in thanks for the good things in your week.

Another of my takeaways from the Wild Goose Festival was to recognize we each have been different versions of ourselves throughout our lifetimes. My latest version is who I am now, but I also contain all my other versions inside me. Together they make me the HUMAN I am today.

I ordered a set of nesting dolls this week to remind me to embrace my most expansive self, but also to honor my deepest core self, too.

The nesting dolls arrived in my mailbox on Friday. When I open and close these dolls, I feel my humanity. Here they are.

~ * ~ * ~

If you’d like to receive our monthly One Word emails and ideas, .

Is it easier for you to see, hear, or touch your One Word?

Leave a comment here about your One Word.

Get more One Word ideas here

Link Up About Your One Word!

How I Ended Up at a Taylor Swift Concert in Person

By LisaNotes July 21, 2023 Community, Human: One Word 2023 31 Comments

The Countdown

The countdown clock was clicking off the minutes and seconds . . . 2:18 . . . 2:17 . . . 2:16 . . . .

When it hit 0:03 . . . 0:02 . . . 0:01 . . . 0:00, the crowd in Paycor Stadium roared.

My eyes, along with 60,000 other sets of eyes, were glued to the stage.

How did I end up here? At a Taylor Swift concert in the summer of 2023?

One Thing Leads to . . .

It began innocently enough.

In conversation with my niece Jessica at a family meal a few weeks earlier, Jessica expressed her quest to get Taylor Swift tickets. I cheered her on.

Although I wasn’t familiar with much of Taylor’s music, I loved what I knew. And I was keenly aware of the massive tidal wave of her popular Eras tour and the significance of it in our time.

So later, when Jessica asked if I’d be interested in going to Cincinnati together if she found tickets, I said definitely!

It’s such a human thing.

My Human Preferences

As unique individuals, we each have our quirks and fancies. In this year with Human as my One Word, I know specific things about my own preferences for being human.

I prefer efficiency over waste.
I’ll take cheaper over expensive.
Planned feels safer than spontaneous.
I’m partial to easier versus harder.

Going to a Taylor Swift concert would meet none of these qualifications.

Yet when Jessica texted on Thursday night that she’d successfully secured two tickets less than 24 hours before concert time on Friday, I was thrilled.

Because being alive also means saying yes to unexpected adventures. It shifts us from rigidity to expansion, i.e. growth.

Jessica even bought me a perfect concert shirt to wear . . . all of Taylor’s album names on books!

But the Cost?

Such experiences are not without their costs, however.

Taylor Swift tickets aren’t cheap. And Jessica spent a lot of hours getting ours.

It also would cost us time for travel, money for a hotel (only slightly more than what we’d pay for stadium parking), and a drive through torrential rain.

It would have been easier and cheaper to have stayed home and watched YouTube clips of Taylor in concert.

But sometimes we have to show up in all our flesh to awaken all our senses.

Becoming Wholly Alive

So after a day-long car ride from Alabama to Ohio, I found myself on this Friday evening among the most excited and costumed fans I’d ever seen.

By the time Taylor hit the stage, the crowd was completely alive in every way. Each person was there to see and hear Taylor in person, not just listen to her through a phone or watch her through a screen.

They wanted a full-body experience, hers and theirs. And they got it.

Being wholly—and holy—human requires us to live from all parts of our bodies.

To experience sounds . . . of three tween girls in front of us screaming every word of every song with Taylor for 3 hours (along with most everyone else in the stadium).
To experience sights . . . of the man beside Jessica removing his shirt to add another layer of deodorant then putting his shirt back on.
To experience smells . . . of sweaty flesh and other aromas associated with crowds of people.
To experience touches . . . of other bodies bumping alongside each other in the stadium and to the rhythm of the melody.
To experience tastes . . . of salty pretzels and the satisfaction of plain water in the late day’s heat.

Was placing my body in Cincinnati worth it? Beyond a doubt, yes! The crowd was electric. The music was phenomenal. Taylor’s performance was beyond expectation.

I’ll not forget this communal experience.

Many, But Also One

Yet neither will I forget the quieter one-on-one experience with Jessica before and after the concert, the delight of spending twelve hours in a car with another living being, discussing all manner of things, big and small, with few distractions.

This is also priceless, another total-human experience. In connecting with others, we connect with ourselves.

As individuals, we each desire and deserve to see and be seen. To enter and engage inside a theology of place.

Put your body in the presence of other bodies.

And watch your humanity come to life.

Did you see Taylor Swift in concert, too? Have a favorite song? Share your thoughts in the comments.