Word Power.

Here are the latest words worth dropping for your weekend:

Smitten
Bejeweled
Ferocious
Careen
Rapturous
Incisive

Old Rules.

Researchers has recently discovered ways that older minds hold their own against younger ones, according to an article int he May issue of O magazine.

Among the advantages: 

* Your hemispheres--left and right--sync up
* Your reasoning and problem-solving skills get sharper
* You focus on the upside
* Your priorities become clearer
* You can see the big picture
* You become an instant expert--even in new situations

Take that, whippersnappers!

http://www.oprah.com/health/Aging-Brain-Facts-Do-You-Get-Smarter-as-You-Age

5 Easy Ways to Snap Out of a Bad Mood.

1. Watch an episode of Saturday Night Live featuring Molly Shannon as Sally O'Malley or Bill Hader as Stefon

2. Blow bubbles

3. Eat a popsicle

4. Wear something orange or yellow

5. Have a glass of champagne

Happy weekend!

Of Sleeping Children and Glass Hearts.

Did you know that when little kids get lost in the woods they do something really smart?  They find a snug place, curl up and sleep. 

Adults tend to keep moving, keep trying to find their own way out.  Kids wait for the grown-ups to solve the problem.

I learned this and so much more from a slim, beautiful memoir called Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup. Braestrup is a chaplain for the Maine Warden Service, comforting people who have lost a loved one.

Nearly every page caught me with a startling truth:  "Eventually, my heart--my fragile glass heart--would again be offered to the mortal hands of another man guaranteed to break it, one way or another, since that is the lunacy and loveliness of love."

Or an observation:  "I can't think how many people I've had to tell about a death, how many people have that memory of me standing there, saying those words.  It's really something, to be on the hinge of so many stories."

And especially this about moving past grief:  "Then light your candles to the living.  Say your prayers for the living.  Give your flowers to the living.  Leave the stones where they are, but take your heart with you.  Your heart is not a stone."

http://www.amazon.com/Here-If-You-Need-Me/dp/B0030EG156/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303145448&sr=8-1

The (He)art of Storytelling.

One of life's great joys is losing oneself in a great story.  This is true whether you are 4 or 40 or 80.

That's why storytelling--in both oral and written forms--is common to every culture.  It's the oldest form of entertainment, education, illumination and connection.

An article in the March/April edition of Psychology Today called "The Inside Story" explores the powerful link between effective stories and our brains. 

As writers, if we can harness that power in authentic ways, we can move readers to action.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201103/the-inside-story

The Value of Editing.

For the last week, I've been trying to watch the movie Burlesque. 

I say trying because it's been so boring.  I literally stopped the movie after 10 minutes or walked away for a half an hour while I did laundry or paid bills. 

The characters a cliche, the performances are flat (or worse) and the dialogue is banal.  But the leaden pacing really did me in. 

Let's just say it's no Chicago.

So where was the editor?

Watching bad movies--or, rather, abandoning them--is no fun.  But it's a reminder that regardless of the medium, snappy editing gives fizz to your content.

Without it, all that glitters isn't gold.  More like fool's gold.

Weekend Words

Sparkling conversation is a skill.  A skill that can be learned.  And once learned, must be practiced.

When you can talk with anyone, about anything with charm and verve, you'll be in demand as a companion.

Just for fun, why not drop these underused gems into conversation:

Countermand
Deluge
Raffish
Wily
Decamp
Baraonial
Feckless
Baleful

Dolts, Omelets and the Art of Knowing Oneself.

When asked whether she would prefer mushrooms or aspargus in her omelet, 19-year old food writer M.F.K Fisher mumbled that she didn't care.

She got schooled by her Uncle Evans during her first-ever train ride.

Evans said she ought to care when offered a choice of any kind of food or drink, lest the "attentions of your host are basically wasted on you."

The exchange is included in the marvelously entertaining book Appetite for America:  How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire that Civilized the Wild West by Stephen Fried.

Evans added that it may "someday teach you the about the art of seduction, as well as the more important art of knowing yourself."

Fisher got the message:  "I either care or I'm a dolt, and dolts should not consort with caring people."

http://www.amazon.com/Appetite-America-Visionary-Businessman-Hospitality/dp/0553804375/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1301931246&sr=1-1