Lisa notes

This Month’s Wordy Invitation: Write a Poem or Blessing
{One Word 2026 April Linkup}

Maybe you chose a specific One Word for the year. Or maybe you didn’t.

Either way, here’s a way to reconnect with something that feels meaningful to you right now. It need not be permanent.

For the new few weeks, try this :
Play with your One Word (or any word that is capturing your attention) by creating more words around it.

Write a Poem

You don’t have to be a poet (I’m not) to write a poem. It can be small and simple. Or not.

You might:

Write a 3-line haiku
Create an acrostic using your word
Jot down a few lines of free verse
Try blackout poetry with a page from a book or magazine

Or, if writing feels like too much, find a poem that already exists and notice how your word shows up in it. Is there any word or phrase you’d like to change?

Here are a few of my playful creations with my One Word Shift:

FREE VERSE

SHIFT

While we weren’t looking
After the lean winter
The tree swells fat again

Our gaze turns round to see
The brown skinny limb
Now muscled up green and full

Without our endorsement
With none of our guidance
The leaves create the perfect shift

BLACKOUT POEM

I revisited my first blog post on Shift from New Year’s Day and printed it out. Then crossed out words to make a blackout poem from it.

You can read it easier here:

I open cold.
Practice noticing deeper breaths.
Looking for differences
stirred on the lungs, heart, brain.
Traveling on ordinary changes
affects my world,
speeding or slowing.
Important shifts
align underneath
the direction freely designed
Plans accommodate growth.
Certainty changes.
Stay grateful for
shifts.

Write a Prayer or Blessing

If poetry feels intimidating, try a prayer or blessing instead.

Think of it as a gentle offering to yourself or someone else.

It could be:

A hope for your day
An offering of support
A line of gratitude
A phrase to carry with you

It can be one sentence. Or maybe a paragraph. Maybe you’ll write it down or maybe you just keep it in your head.

You might even take a favorite quote, scripture, or passage and weave your word into it.

Here’s the blessing I wrote for you:

A BLESSING FOR LIFE

May your turns swing smooth,
May your winds sway slight,
May your path spin forward,
And may your love shift deep.

Share What You Discover

However you choose to engage with a word this month, I’d love to hear about it. You can leave a comment below or add your own blog link here through Sunday, May 10.

Looking ahead: our One Word linkup for May opens Tuesday, May 26.

Question for you:
What word have you been hearing lately?

If you’d like to receive our monthly One Word emails and ideas for 2026, join here.

- Get more One Word ideas here

Link Up About Your One Word

Feeling Off? Try These 6 Small Physical Shifts for a Reset

By LisaNotes April 21, 2026 Shift: One Word 2026 18 Comments

We all have moments when we feel a little off and can’t quite explain why.

Maybe you’re a bit tired. Or a little anxious. Or you just can’t quite get motivated to start the thing you meant to do.

Lately, I’ve been noticing how our bodies are always shifting—quietly, subtly—without us having to think about it. Like the small adjustments we make when we’ve been sitting in one place too long. Or our breathing slowing down as we start to fall asleep.

Our bodies are always working to bring us back into balance—even without our conscious help.

But there are also shifts we can choose.

They don’t have to be big, dramatic changes. Just small, almost invisible ones. The kind you can do anywhere, anytime. The kind that won’t necessarily fix anything—but are still powerful enough to gently nudge your day in a better direction.

Here are six of my favorite physical shifts for a mental reset:

1. Soften your face

Pause for a second and notice your face. Is your jaw tight? Brow furrowed? Eyes strained?
Loosen it all. Unclench your jaw. Smooth your forehead. Close your eyes. Maybe even let a small smile show up, just for a few seconds.

Sometimes releasing tension on the outside creates a little more ease on the inside too.

2. Drink a glass of water

You don’t have to wait until you’re thirsty to benefit from a drink of water.

It’s such a simple thing, but it’s easy to forget. When your body is hydrated, everything works a little better—including your ability to think clearly.

3. Step outside for a minute

Fresh air has a way of resetting things. Maybe you’ve noticed how a crying baby often gets quiet when you walk them outside.

It doesn’t have to be a long walk or a hike through the woods. Just stepping outside for a minute or two—feeling the air, noticing the light—can shift something small inside you.

4. Drop your shoulders

I don’t usually notice my shoulders until I do—and I realize how tense they are. Let your shoulders fall. Roll them back. Sit or stand a little taller.

It’s a subtle shift, but it can send a signal to the rest of your body: you’re allowed to ease up and lift your heart to the sky.

5. Take a couple deep breaths

When my grandmother was nearing the end of her life, I noticed her breaths became so shallow. Watching her breathe made me want to take deeper breaths myself.

Try it now. Slow down for a couple full inhales and long exhales.

Sometimes that’s enough to remind you to appreciate what’s still working, still moving.

6. Stretch your body

Reach your arms overhead. Roll your neck. Stand up if you’ve been sitting.
Stretching is a quiet way of noticing: I’ve been contracted. And then responding: I can expand a little now.

Not just physically—but mentally too. Our minds often follow where our bodies lead.

“Make the ordinary come alive…The extraordinary will take care of itself.”
—William Martin

None of these shifts will solve your problems or change the world.

But stepping out of autopilot—even briefly—might change you a little in this moment.
It might remind you that you do have some say in how you move through your day.

And sometimes one small shift is enough.

What’s one tiny shift your body is asking for right now?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

Read more Shift ideas here. It’s my One Word for 2026.

Let Go of Being Right – When Being Right Is Wrong (and Dangerous)

By LisaNotes April 14, 2026 Grace, Trust 51 Comments

“Yes, the mind is very useful, but when it does not recognize its own finite viewpoint, it is also useless.”
– Richard Rohr

When We Think We Know

It was mid-day on a Friday. Jeff and I finished touring inside the Mid-America All-Indian Center in Wichita, looking at the pottery and drums and Native artwork by Blackbear Bosin.

Now we’d walk the grounds of the Outdoor Learning Center to sit in the tipi and look at the gardens. The afternoon was pleasant. We kept walking.

We left the Center’s property, walked beyond the gate to nearby Keeper Plaza to see Bosin’s famous Keeper of the Plains statue. Time slipped away.

It was now after 4:00, the Center’s closing time.

Behind us, a Center employee was about to lock the gate behind us. We quickly slipped back inside the Center grounds so we could return to our truck.

But which way now? With the Center closed, and the grounds gate now locked, how could we get back to the parking lot?

Oh, I knew the way. Jeff didn’t agree, but he didn’t argue (he’s good like that). Let’s just go to the right, I said.

But I was wrong.

I just don’t always know right away that I’m wrong.

Thinking we’re always right can be dangerous. I know. It’s gotten me in trouble many times.

“We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are. Take that as nearly certain.”
– Richard Rohr

I’ve been sharing four statements that I try to live by. I keep them posted on my bedroom mirror. They are agreements with myself.

Today I’m sharing #2 of the four:

#2. Let go of being right.

(See #1 here, Give the Benefit of the Doubt, “Do You Assume the Best or Worst? And a Barking Lady.”)

Three Dangers of Always Being Right

Danger #1: Losing Friends

Nobody likes a know-it-all. Insisting that we’re right is obnoxious.

Being overconfident in our knowledge is dangerous to our character. And to our relationships.

We incorrectly assume we’ll gain prestige and authority if we are all-knowing. But the opposite usually happens. Pride destroys. It causes us to see ourselves as right and judge others as wrong, which is not just off-putting; it is wrong.

Solution: Practice humility.

Be aware of your ability to get things wrong, even when you think you’re right. Worry less about protecting your reputation and more about being humble. Instead of being combative, listen to others’ opinions and find common ground. If it matters, discuss it graciously. If it doesn’t matter, let it go.

Danger #2: Losing Security

Thinking we have to always be right is also dangerous to our mental and emotional health. When we think we have to be perfect in order to be loved, we live in fear. And we can’t flourish under a spirit of fear.

Nor a spirit of self-dependence. Relying on only our self-knowledge leads us away from engaging with and learning from others, and into a life of loneliness.

Solution: Trust the process.

Not your own perfection. Remember there will always be mysteries you’ll never understand. Trust that you’ll know enough when you need to know it, and be content with the unknowns yet to be revealed later or never at all.

Danger #3: Losing Maturity

While in the moment it feels good to be proven right, the quest to be omniscient can rob us of growth in the long term.

A taste of knowing it all can leave us greedy to be right all the time. And once we think we’ve arrived at perfect knowledge, we lose our ability to learn more.

Solution: Know what you don’t know.

The best way to know more is to realize you know less. Even if you already know a lot, there is always more to learn. But only if you’re teachable. Learn more by listening more, reading more, loving more. Stay open.

Benefits of Not Being Right

Not only do we not like pride in others, neither do they like it in us.

When we let go of our need to be right, we are more respectful of those around us.

We grows in our relationships,
in our love,
and in our knowledge.

Send more compassion into the world with your humility.

It’s better to be more loving than always right.

How did we find our way back to our truck at the Indian Center?

We asked someone who knew.

Thankfully, an outside employee gratefully showed us an unlocked door back into the building. We walked through, out the front door, and straight to the parking lot.

Being “right” had gotten me lost.
But being humble set me free.

* * *

We all like to be right. But sometimes we don’t do it well.

Do you like to be right, too? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

revised from the archives

See all 4 agreements (click on individual infographics)

1-Give the benefit of the doubt | 2-Let go of being right | 3-Don’t take it personally | 4-Just show up

Whatever Happens, We’ll Handle It

By LisaNotes April 9, 2026 Mantras, Shift: One Word 2026 7 Comments

This is a statement I like to repeat to myself:

Whatever happens, we’ll handle it.

The whatever moments in life are unpredictable. There’s no way to adequately prepare for all the unknowns.

But regardless of our shifting situations, we’re never completely helpless. In most any situation, we can still:

hold onto our values
work on our character
nurture our relationships

so that whenever the whatever hits, we’re as prepared as possible, even if that preparation qualifies only as barely.

And even if our handling it is a barely adequate description of what we’re doing.

Handling it doesn’t mean we find it’s easy. Or that it’s not painful. Or that it will go away quickly. There are some things we have to handle for a lifetime.

But handling it does mean we get through it, one day at a time, maybe one hour at a time.

And the “we” in “Whatever happens, we’ll handle it“?

Sometimes the we may be just me and my thoughts.

But usually there are more. Almost always there is at least one or maybe many more people to also help us through.

Those we may vary from season to season. They may include immediate family or wise friends or health care workers or online support or sometimes even a complete stranger we meet once and never see again.

Yet regardless of whoever and whatever our support network looks like, we’re never totally alone with no resources.

So I continue depending on this:

Whatever happens, we’ll handle it.

Share in the comments.

This is #23 of the series: Find Your Mantra {28 Daily Mantras}

revised from the archives

Previous:
“Love matters more” {Mantra 22}

Next:
“They don’t have to understand” {Mantra 24}

The Stories We Listen To: 6 (and 1/2) Books That Invite You to Pay Attention

By LisaNotes April 3, 2026 Books I Recommend 21 Comments

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
— Maya Angelou

I’ve noticed that this month’s books kept returning to this: listening—and even more than that, paying attention. To other people’s stories, to my own experiences, even to what’s happening beneath the surface.

Each of these books, despite their different tones, invites a deeper kind of awareness.

Here are the six books I just finished that I recommend—all of them, in their own way, asking us to pay closer attention.

[See previously recommended books here]

NONFICTION

1. How Donating a Kidney Fixed My Jump Shot
And 73 Other Short Essays
by Jim Sollisch

I love this witty collection of essays that journalist Sollisch published over the years, then gathered into this book. The topics range from everyday life to cultural quirks, but what stood out most is how closely he was paying attention to ordinary moments—and how often he found deeper insights there.

And, per the title, Sollisch did actually donate a kidney—and highly recommends the experience. It helped him take his own life more seriously and playfully, and a side effect was his jump shot did actually improve as he intentionally became healthier.

2. By Hands Now Known
Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners
by Margaret A. Burnham

This one was difficult to read, not gonna lie. Not because of how it was written, but because of the brutal content. I was determined to finish it, though, because it felt important to pay attention—to bear witness to the crimes committed against Black people during the Jim Crow era between 1920 and 1960.

The book shares case after case of real injustice in the U.S. legal system. I read it with an online book club, and the discussion there felt just as weighty—and just as necessary.

3. How to Tell a Story
The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth
by The Moth, Meg Bowles, Catherine Burns, & 5 more

Such a fun book! Not only does it teach you how to craft meaningful, personal stories, it also invites you to pay attention to the moments that become stories in the first place. The examples were delightful—I found myself wishing I could track down the full stories.

Learning to mine our own lives for stories (even if we never tell them out loud) is one way to recognize how meaningful each life truly is.

4. Dream on It
Unlock Your Dreams, Change Your Life
by Lauri Loewenberg

I hold books like this loosely, but this book is useful as a tool for understanding common dream symbols—like being back in school or showing up somewhere without your clothes on. Even though each symbol ultimately remains unique to every individual’s life story, it’s helpful to read that dreaming about a big storm might indicate you’re concerned about some storm in your waking life, for example.

I’ve been noticing my own dreams more over the past few months (including recurring themes like my cell phone not working). Some dreams are completely crazy (like my dream about a young Snoop Dogg having a huge crush on me—what???), but others do help me understand what I’m worrying about or what I’m celebrating.

4½. The Let Them Theory
A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About
by Mel Robbins

I’m not fully recommending this book, but the positives of it did outweigh the negatives, so here it is, with this caveat: while the message was good, it felt very repetitive and didn’t need to fill a whole book.

Basically, it says you can’t control other people, so stop trying. Work on changing yourself instead. I agree.

FICTION

5. Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson

This novel will stay with me for a while. It’s narrated by Melinda, a high school freshman carrying a recent trauma she hasn’t told anyone about. The story unfolds throughout the school year as tension builds from her pent-up silence.

Discussing this one with an in-person book club made it even more powerful. Several women shared their own stories from years past. I was reminded how some things never leave you, no matter how long ago they happened.

6. Sold
by Patricia McCormick

This is another haunting novel I won’t soon forget. It’s about Lakshmi, a 13-year-old girl living in poverty with her family in Nepal. Until a glamorous stranger comes to town and buys her. The story is beautifully told, but it is gut-wrenching as we follow the naive, young Lakshmi into a world she didn’t know existed.

It’s the kind of book that asks you to pay attention to realities we’d rather look away from—and to the resilience it takes for someone to survive them.

WHAT I’M READING NOW

Remarkably Bright Creatures
by Shelby Van Pelt
Beyond the Politics of Contempt
Practical Steps to Build Positive Relationships in Divided Times
by Doug Teschner, Beth Malow, Becky Robinson
Nations Apart
How Clashing Regional Cultures Shattered America
by Colin Woodard
The Unfolding: Poems
by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
How to Feel Loved
The Five Mindsets That Get You More of What Matters Most
by Sonja Lyubomirsky
Last Chance Live!
by Helena Haywoode Henry
Braving the Truth
Essential Essays for Reckoning with and Reimagining Faith
by Rachel Held Evans

A Closing Reflection

Looking back at these six books, I see how much there is to notice when we slow down and really pay attention. Whether through stories, lived experiences, or even dreams, insight is always there—waiting for us to recognize it. And maybe that’s the invitation: not just to read these stories, but to listen more closely to the stories unfolding in our own lives.

What’s a good story you’ve read lately that’s stuck with you? I’d love to hear in the comments.

I’m sharing at these linkups

On the Blog – March 2026

By LisaNotes March 30, 2026 Archives No Comments

Here are brief summaries and links to posts on the blog, Lisa notes, from March 2026.

Learning from What Grows and Fades: Share 4 Somethings (March) (3/30)
A March “Share 4 Somethings” post on growth, letting go, and learning from nature’s shifts in everyday life.
Define It, Find Its Twin, Meet Its Opposite: 3 Ways to Revisit Your One Word (3/26)
Revisit your One Word with 3 simple steps: define it, explore synonyms, and discover opposites to gain fresh clarity and insight.
When the Body Shows the Score (3/24)
A reflection on how body language reveals emotions—what we can see in moments of victory, loss, and the obvious ways our bodies tell the truth.
Do You Assume the Best or the Worst? And a Barking Lady (3/20)
We rarely know the whole story. How can we learn to give others the benefit of the doubt? 5 ways to assume the best.
The Day I Sat on My Hands Instead of Taking Notes (3/16)
What happens when you stop writing everything down and simply listen? A reflection on nature, attention, and letting wisdom move through you.
What a Smelly Elevator Taught Me About Questioning Beliefs (3/11)
A strange moment in a smelly elevator became a surprising lesson about questioning beliefs, testing assumptions, and discovering what’s actually true.
8 Books I Recommend: Being Human, From Memoir to Plague to Fiction (3/4)
Discover 8 powerful books about being human—from memoir to historical fiction—that explore identity, courage, faith, race, and resilience.

See previous months’ archives here

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