It was so bizarre to look into my friend’s face — 30 years later! — and think, “He looks exactly the same as he did in sixth grade!”  And his humor that had me doubled over was just as great, only better because we’re grown up now.  Wittier.  Smarter.

And then — to see the guy who’d made my heart flutter from sixth grade on up — and to actually talk with him… what innocent fun!
An online networking sight has enabled me to connect with other friends who live across the country.  It’s so fun to look at old pictures and remember dances and parties and school scenarios.  Like my 5th grade “boyfriend” — the cutest guy you’d ever see in an orange safety belt for his crossing guard duty.

Back then in the 70s, we never could have guessed that someday — after college, careers, marriage, kids, life — we’d be reconnecting through computer screens and cell phones.

So, if you’re looking to Find Your Daily Bliss, why not look up an old friend from childhood?  It’s a surefire way to share a smile.  Enjoy!

Posted: December 28th, 2008 under The Bliss Report.
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Last Sunday night, I got pre-frostbite on my toes here at my desk, because it was 3 degrees outside.

Today, Mother Nature cranked her mighty thermostat up 50 degrees… and I went for a bike ride!

My mountain bike’s knobby tires plowed right through the slush and puddles.  The mist shrouding the water looked mystical.  And the thrill of being outside was, well, blissful.

Of course, our wacky weather is nothing to celebrate if it means our atmosphere is messed up. But what a wonderful reprieve to enjoy a summertime activity in December!
My point?  Seize the moment.  When the opportunity presents itself to indulge in an activity that makes you happy, know that’s the time to Find Your Daily Bliss!

Posted: December 28th, 2008 under The Bliss Report.
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If the state of Virginia — once the heart of the confederacy, and the bustling, brutal headquarters of the slave trade — can change so dramatically that it helps elect a black man into the White House…

If the nation that once, in some states, “owned” people with brown skin as property…

If a sea of faces of every race, can pack Chicago’s Grant Park and cheer as an African American family appears on the stage…

If masses of Americans can truly believe that a man with African heritage has the vision and intelligence to solve our grave economic crisis…

Then America has absolutely changed for the better.  And that has profound power for YOU as an individual.

For me, as I bawled tears of Bliss most of Tuesday night and all day Wednesday, I realized that the word change has new meaning for us as individuals.  Because, if our nation can change so dramatically, then each of us can find the strength within to change for the better.

That means abandoning bad habits like smoking, procrastinating, eating junk food, or not living up to your potential.

That means reaching deep down and pulling out a hefty dose of discipline to stick with your plan and finish what you start.  That could be a book you’re writing, the class you’re taking, the relationship you’re in, or the exercise regimen that you’re griping about.

That means finding a new mental trick to help you change.

For me, if discipline wanes or negative thoughts creep, all I have to do is think, “Barack” or look at his picture on the cover of Time magazine here on my desk.  The power of HIM and what he’s achieving around the world, is fueling a new ME.

I hope that our president-elect can inspire you as well.

So today, Find Your Daily Bliss by exploring how America’s change for the better… can inspire your change to be your best.

Posted: November 8th, 2008 under The Bliss Report.
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Posted: November 8th, 2008 under The Bliss Report.
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Today, mixed-race children can look up and KNOW that they can be and do anything.  All children, of every race, can do this.  But for children with a white parent and a black parent, his ascent to the most powerful position on the planet has special meaning.

I speak from the perspective of a biracial woman who grew up — half black, half white — with no examples of successful people who shared my exact heritage.

Never seeing anyone like myself made me feel alone, alien. No other girls had tight corkscrew curls that refused to “feather” like Farrah Fawcett’s popular hairstyle. I knew no other kids who had one parent with brown skin and one parent with white skin.

Even Mariah Carey was mum about her mixed-race heritage. Suddenly, though, in the 1990s, she and Derek Jeter, Tiger Woods and others, made it cool and commonplace to be biracial — and proud of it.

And the 2000 Census finally allowed us to pick as many races as applied (as opposed to one only in prior years). The result? About 7 million mixed-race folks are living amongst us.  And right now, interracial births are the fastest growing birth rate in our country.

That’s why I felt such profound pride and excitement the first time I witnessed Barack Obama’s passion and eloquence — when he spoke at the Democratic National Convention for the Kerry/Edwards campaign.  I jumped up and down with the thrill of a leader I could believe in.  I don’t even know if I knew he was biracial at that point.

And THAT’s the point.  He is a phenomenal HUMAN.  Yes, it’s tremendously affirming to mixed-race people that he’s “like us.”  But it’s all the more affirming to every person on the planet that he’s an amazing visionary whose race has little to do with his desire and ability to HELP everyone.

At the same time, his courage, pride and popularity obliterate the “tragic mulatto” stereotype.  Sadly, many biracial people still feel shamed into silence, or compelled to conform to one race or the other, because they’ve been taunted or rejected for being different. Why? Because American race-mixing began during slavery, when plantation owners raped African captives then enslaved their own children… and because interracial marriage was illegal in 16 states until 1967. All that made it taboo to talk about it or feel proud. Imagine the shame of the 50-year-old woman I interviewed, who said her interracial family prohibited conversation about race as she was growing up! Can you imagine ignoring such an integral part of who you are? Or navigating the treacherous terrain of color and culture, as a child, with no guidance on how to avoid, or recover from, psyche-scarring land mines?

The road may still be bumpy for some.  But now — especially children — we can all look up to the shining example of Barack Obama.  And we can celebrate ourselves—and the fact that our personal potential is infinite.

Find Your Daily Bliss today, by emulating Barack Obama’s success as a celebration of all that YOU can be!

Posted: November 8th, 2008 under The Bliss Report.
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Half-breed?  Mulatto?  Mutt?  Zebra?  Black, white, other? Biracial?  Multiracial?

Today, just call me BLISSFUL.

Because President Elect Barack Obama is standing in the global spotlight as a shining example of a life purpose and passion that we share.

When he was born to a white mother and a Kenyan father in August of 1961, interracial marriage was still illegal in 16 states.  Then, in June 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Loving vs. Virginia that we have the right to love and marry any person of any race.   A month later, I was born to a white man and a black woman.  It was the Summer of Love, and I became a symbol of the racial unity that America would need to quell the race riots exploding across the country.

In college, as racial strife plagued the University of Michigan campus, I heard my calling — to write and speak about race in a way that promotes human harmony.  I wrote my master’s thesis on race mixing in America at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York.  As the race relations reporter at The Detroit News, I became the race relations reporter; my articles were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

Then I wrote books with biracial characters, to bust that “tragic mulatto” stereotype that said folks like me are confused, depressed, pathetic.  White Chocolate, Dark Secret, Twilight (with Billy Dee Williams) all wrote a new story into contemporary American literature.  A story that says love is colorblind, that the nearly 7 million mixed-race Americans like myself are here to heal and unite everyone for a common good.

And that’s what President Elect Barack Obama is doing. On one level, he’s showing that the conversation is over.  If Virginia — once the heart of the confederacy and the slave trade — and the rest of America can vote him into the White House, then hearts and minds have changed so much that the conversation is indeed over.

But it’s not, really.  The other day, I saw a skinhead.  Outraged people have written nasty things on news blogs.  Not everybody is feelin’ the Bliss of Barack.

However, the overwhelming majority of Americans, and fellow citizens on this planet called Earth, are now Finding Our Daily Bliss every time we see his beautiful face or hear his intelligent, dignified and eloquent voice.

But I don’t love Barack Obama because he’s biracial. In him I see a mirror of my passion for life, for making a difference, for integrity, intelligence and wholesome values. He wows us with the content of his character, not the color of his skin, to quote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

And that’s the point. Barack Obama proves we should move away from labels. Rather than focus on black, white, biracial or other racial descriptives, his acceptance and popularity prove that America is ready to endorse leadership that is intelligent, passionate, responsible, genuine. And those characteristics are colorblind.

Posted: November 8th, 2008 under The Bliss Report.
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The world is celebrating tonight.

Positive change is happening in our country right now.

I’m asserting that we use this victory as a personal call to action — to  be our best in every way.

No more excuses.  Anything is possible.  For America.  And for you.

Stop procrastinating.  Stop the negative, self-defeating thoughts and behavior.

Look to this amazing man who rose out of Chicago to excite our nation to embark on a glorious journey of change.

Use the example of President-Elect Barack Obama’s phenomenal success — to Find Your Daily Bliss in a way that creates your best life, and ushers your dreams into reality.

CELEBRATE!

Posted: November 5th, 2008 under The Bliss Report.
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Sometimes the clouds might be so thick, it’s hard to believe that the sun is still up there.  A gray mood wipes away the yellow warmth.  The storms of life rumble and shoot fiery bolts of static.  The waters become a choppy, churning abyss; the horizon between angry sea and sky blend into an ominous infinity.

And just when you feel lost at sea, pelted by rain, about to sink into the shadowy depths…

• A beam of sunshine cuts through the clouds, shines right down on you;

• A lighthouse beckons from the shore;

• The waters calm; the sky clears; the sunny warmth tickles your skin.

I watched this divine transformation this week.  On Monday, my very dear friend called me, distraught over a recurring situation in her life.

“Start thinking about all the things you’re grateful for,” I consoled, “even simple, obvious things, like excellent health, low-maintenance hair, and all the goals you’re working toward.”

She was still pretty down when we hung up.  But later that day, she called back.  “It worked,” she said.  “It’s like I was changed in an instant.  You words raided my pity party and all of a sudden I felt happy and hopeful.  Gratitude is the best attitude.”

Sometimes all it takes is a simple phone call to change someone’s course from disaster to delight.  Today, I want you to Find Your Daily Bliss by reaching out to share some sunshine with someone who’s suffering through a storm.  I guarantee, when you see the sparkle return to their eyes, or hear the cheer in their voice, that will make you smile and feel great.

Posted: October 30th, 2008 under The Bliss Report.
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Yesterday my mother delivered a steaming-hot platter of roast beef, redskin potatoes, baby carrots, cabbage and onions… all swimming in garlicky, peppery juice that blended the flavors just right.

The melt-in-your-mouth meat was stringy and bursting with flavor.  The potatoes were a mushy dream.  The cabbage and carrots?  Yum!

On this chilly October Saturday, the hot dinner warmed me from the inside out.  But it wasn’t just the delicious flavors that I savored.  It was the TLC from Mother’s Kitchen that made this meal so satisfying.  My tastebuds called it “bliss on a plate.”  But my heart called it “love on a plate.”

That’s what Moms do.  They nurture us–literally and metaphorically.  There’s nothing better.  That’s why I raved about the delicious meal and profusely thanked my mother for this scrumptious supper.  I feel the same way when I prepare my son’s favorite meal, arrange it just right on the plate, and serve it to him.  The delight in his eyes is all the reward I need.  So I hope when you find your daily bliss today, you cook up some love on plate… or express how much you appreciate… your mother, your father and all the people who love you!

Posted: October 27th, 2008 under The Bliss Report.
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A standing ovation from 500 people after I gave the keynote speech at an NAACP Dinner…

Writing at the cottage,  totally immersed in the action and characters of a novel…

Writing and delivering a speech about my interracial family for 300 people at a local company’s Diversity Symposium…

If it looks like I’ve abandoned The Bliss Report for awhile, I haven’t.  I’ve been LIVING The Bliss Report by following my purpose and my passion as a writer and speaker.

And when I immerse into my Creativity Zone to compose a speech or write a novel, I am 100% there.

“Ninety-nine percent isn’t good enough,” my mentor told me.  “You need 100% focus to do the great things that you’re here to accomplish and contribute to make the world a better place.”

100% focus means not thinking about anything  but my fingertips on the keyboard, moving at lightening speed as words crackle from my brain.  God puts them there… When I’m writing about race and diversity and colorblind love, I’m carrying out my divine mission as a Princess of Peace to inspire human harmony through speeches and books.

And now — on the silver screen.  My second book, Dark Secret, is being shopped in Hollywood right now!

That is BLISS!

So lately, rather than writing about it, I’ve been making it happen.

I hope you’re Finding Your Daily Bliss today, by following your dreams, too.   Go for it!

Posted: October 15th, 2008 under The Bliss Report.
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