Welcome to the New World, China

There’s a color war going on in China.

It’s the kind of race battle we’re still trying to wrap our hands around in parts of the U.S. (consider the mixed race couple that was denied a marriage license in Louisiana…and that’s in 2009! Who forgot to tell that judge that we have a multiracial President?)

Lou Jing is Mandarin-speaking 20-year-old who competed in Shanghai’s version of American Idol. She’s the focus of a passionate public debate: what does it mean to be Chinese. And it’s all about the color of her skin. Lou Jing’s mother is Chinese, her father an African-American whom she’s never met.

For sure, it’s a controversy that boosts ratings. Wouldn’t Simon Cowell be all over  this?

China doesn’t easily accept mixed-race children as Chinese. When a child is born the  parents have to register the child as belonging to one of the fifty-six government-approved ethnic groups. There are no mixed-race categories. We have that same battle here in the U.S., only we have four groups: Black, White, Asian, Hispanic. Sometimes Native American and Pacific Islander are bunched in with Asian. There’s always the Other box – that’s me. You can read my brief bio here about what I used to write on race forms: 100-yard dash.

On rare occasion, a form lists Multiracial. We need that on EVERY form.

While the U.S. is just now rising out of its shame about race-crossing, what happened here to the Chinese pride about MADE IN CHINA?

Not everything that is faced can be changed …

But nothing can be changed until it is faced.    ~ JAMES BALDWIN.

I’ve figured out that if we are to live a life laced with possibility, it means meeting challenges and setbacks straight on, nothing sideways. With blinders removed, we can look at life’s bigger picture, and dive into the unknown.

Don’t you love that, though? The mystery,  adventure, and challenge of this exploration — this explosion called life.

Anyway, it’s better than the alternative.

Eureka! Where Are Your AHA Moments?

(Clink link below for full article in Huffington Post)

Where do your AHA moments come from? Do you plod, or do flashes of inspiration hit you out of nowhere?

I’ve been curious about these instincts and I explore that core in all of us in my new article on Huffington Post.

Here’s an excerpt from my article about what I call Brain Buzz:

FIVE TIPS FOR BRAIN BUZZ

From experience, I’ve come up with five tips for everyday living that can help inspire our flashes of imagination that can lead to creativity – Aha moments:

• Find quiet moments to shut everything down.
• Save time in the morning for a stream of consciousness to take notes on whatever comes to mind. No judgment. You never know where this stream can lead you. Jot notes rather than think.
• Keep a way to record your ideas in the moment, whether in the car, by your bed, in your briefcase or bag. Notebook, scratch paper, recording device, anything to make sure you don’t lose a word or phrase that you want to develop later.
• Have someone to spring your ideas off. Other people will surely offer a new perspective.
• Keep an eye and ear open for quotes, images, headlines that can buzz your brain with new ideas.

All in all, pay attention to life and stay open to new possibilities of being in the moment. It’s not about forcing our Eureka moments. It’s about making room for flashes of inspiration.

You’ll be surprised what can happen!

Thanks to M.A.R.A Celebrity: More Asians Rockin’ America

Check out M.A.R.A Celebrity.

They featured my article in Hyphen Magazine: Asian America Unabridged

M.A.R.A. Celebrity website:  The buzz on Famous Asians and exactly who is Asian in the American spotlight (some big surprises!)

She’s got a great site!

Sixty Seconds of Happiness

…is gone forever with every minute of discontent. In other words, make your moments of living as good as they can get. Why wallow in what’s past and let malcontent slice into the present?

That’s all we have — what is before us today.

The positive side of mutt-dom, of knowing how to live in several worlds and along the way, bouncing back from setbacks,

is we learn what’s important in life.

Have you ever known someone who’s stewed so much about past circumstances — and usually it’s about money, relationship, or job — that a day at a time part of their life passes by them? Pretty soon, one day turns into one week, then weeks, then months, and before you know it, a year is gone.

They lose sleep, over-eat or under-eat; they worry, they may build resentments, become bitter or revengeful, and after a while, a little worry about the past is eating their soul from the inside out.

And what do you have left after all that? A year of worry, which will not change the past at all! But worry can definitely spoil the present. These days, the worries seem about money for most people. I’m a lucky one, blessed with an attitude of what matters in life. It surely is not objects and money and “stuff.

My measure of abundance is nothing what I witness around me today, where many scramble for more “stuff.” I’m lucky because I can have nothing (well, water and food are nice, though) and life can still be good. I can have plenty, and life is equally good.

Then, there are those who measure success merely by acquiring money, and in my mind, their success is cheap. By observation, those are the same people who forget that blowing out another person’s candle never makes theirs shine any brighter. The same people seem to walk with shackles of resentment that restrain just plain good living.

What ever happened to having gratitude for what we have rather than wishing and battling for what we don’t have?

Like I said, water and food are good to have. Many don’t have this. Why not be grateful for some of the basics that we take for granted?

(Check out Ridge to Reef.)