Gratitude Journal – Writing for Happiness

Posted on October 10, 2008 by moonbridgebooks

I think we have all heard that having a thankful attitude makes us happier people. No matter how troubled or miserable we might feel, if we stop to think about what is good in our lives we can shift focus from the bad to the good. A good attitude fortifies the spirit. Lifecoach Maia Berens reminds us of this in her blogpost about the importance of expressing gratitude. She goes a step further and talks about keeping a gratitude journal. For those who already journal, this can be an add-on. Making a list every night at bedtime of ten things you are thankful for can do wonders for your happiness quotient. Even the most troubled among us can come up with one thing we are grateful for. From there the list will expand.

Corrie ten-Boom, the Dutch Christian woman whose entire family was imprisoned by the Nazis for helping Jews escape during WWII, knew the importance of a forward-looking attitude. While in the death camps, her practice of thankfulness – even for the lice that kept the prison guards at bay – fortified her spirit and gave her strength to keep a good mind and the ability to see God through her terrible ordeal, one that cost the lives of her father and sister. Her book, The Hiding Place, was made into a movie.

A September 21 article in Parade Magazine by Dr. Joy Browne entitled “5 Steps to a Happy Marriage” extends Maia Beren’s advice to include acknowledging something you like about your spouse each day. A happy life as well as a happy marriage is something you work at every day.

Linda Austin
“Cherry Blossoms in Twilight”
http://www.moonbridgebooks.com
Posted in journal | 4 Comments

Memoirs of Wars in Africa

Posted on October 4, 2008 by moonbridgebooks

There are several fairly recent books out that detail the various civil wars in Africa – ugly wars that result in the purposeful killing of thousands of innocents. Sierra Leone, Darfur, Liberia, how we so easily can forget hideous terrors on another continent, especially when the victims are usually poor and the continent seems always filled with the cries of the starving and the wounded and the displaced. We (and the media) tire of hearing about the incessant need and go on to other news.

While in line for a double-chocolate-frappucino at the Starbucks in our local mall, I had a chance to peruse the coffee house’s latest featured book: The House at Sugar Beach by NYTimes reporter Helene Cooper. Perhaps you’ve read a review of it. I had, and had put it into my list of historically important books that would be too gory for me to read. It looks like I might be wrong.

Scanning through the book, I was pleased to see that Cooper’s writing was very personal and casual. She spoke to me. No sign of dreaded near-voyeuristic violence that would give me nightmares. I know there is at least one scene that will turn my stomach, but it seems that what is important to Cooper is not the replaying of torture and killing, but an understanding of what it meant to be an upper-class Liberian family ignoring the poverty and the attitudes of the everyday people around them. This is a story of a rich girl who learns to understand a different perspective. I’ll put it on my list of books to be read.

Other war-torn memoirs of Africa include last year’s Starbuck’s pick, Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah, about his life as a boy-soldier in Sierra Leone; The Translator by Daoud Hari which gives an indepth and encompassing account involving politics and history of the genocide of Darfur by a brave and optimistic man who worked with foreign reporters and investigators; and Tears of the Desert by Halima Bashir, a young doctor who dared speak up about a vicious attack on schoolgirls by the janjaweed militia in Darfur. Read at your own risk!

Linda Austin
“Cherry Blossoms in Twilight”
http://www.moonbridgebooks.com
Posted in war stories | Comments Off on Memoirs of Wars in Africa

Multicultural Books, Part II

Posted on September 26, 2008 by moonbridgebooks

I love books about half-American half-some-other-culture people because I am one of them. My Japanese mother still causes me consternation and I have been left with strange words and phrases known only to our family, such as “musical bridges” to describe those certain bridges that make noise as your car tires roll over them and “yellow voice,” meaning a high, nasal and usually off-key singing (who, me?). Not to mention odd food combinations: “sushi” with deli ham and mustard, seaweed sprinkles and sliced bologna on rice with soysauce, Spaghetti-o’s on rice for that ultra carb lunch. And so I love it when others share their unusual melding of cultures, usually resulting in both the comical and the frustrating. I feel a bonding of experience.

Last week I mentioned Iranian-American Firoozeh Duma’s latest book, Laughing Without an Accent. Her earlier book, Funny in Farsi, is on my reading shelf and I am currently working on Leslie Li’s Daughter of Heaven. I have greatly enjoyed Bento Box in the Heartland by Linda Furiya and the children’s books by Grace Li: Year of the Dog and Year of the Rat. If anyone has read other good cross-cultural books, let me know of them!

Related to having parents that are from the “old country” is that other problem we have of parents being of the “older generation.” Therefore, most of us have funny (or maybe not so funny!) stories of family life to share. I am only lately telling my daughters some not-so-funny-at-the-time stories from my childhood… the home haircuts, the prom debacle… Finally I can look back and laugh!

Linda Austin
“Cherry Blossoms in Twilight”
http://www.moonbridgebooks.com
Posted in capturing memories, multicultural | 1 Comment