Time for a Mental Spring Cleaning

In California, where the demarcations between seasons are slight and blurred, it's easy to forget the exhilarating sensation of "spring," of the transition from gray, cold and dead vistas to color, warmth and new growth. I was reminded recently by a quick April trip to Omaha. It snowed on the day we arrived (wet feathery clumps that melted on contact with the thawing earth), but, in just the next few days, a benign sun drew a bright green haze of budding leaves from leafless branches and coaxed so many blossoms from the fruit trees that they became white and pink earth-bound clouds. A clump of red, pink and yellow tulips appeared magically beside the front door. I was reminded why literature and poetry associate spring with rebirth, renewal, love, and hope, and symbolize it with lilacs, lambs and lovers. Spring is a universal spur to optimism. When winter's claustrophobic sheltering can be left behind by opening windows and stepping out into fresh air, our minds and hearts are encouraged to follow suit. So I decided to take the tradition of "spring cleaning" a step further this year by tossing out the rubbish of pessimistic thoughts and feelings along with accumulated dirt and clutter. I figure I'm pretty much guaranteed to feel better. A recent Shape magazine article cited a new health study that looked at 5,000 adults and found optimists were more likely to eat a healthy diet, have a healthy body mass index, not smoke, and exercise regularly than their pessimistic counterparts. They also had healthier blood pressure, blood sugar, and total cholesterol levels. Previous studies have shown that cancer patients with positive attitudes tend to have better outcomes, and optimists have more satisfying personal relationships. The article even listed three steps to kick-start an upbeat spring mood: write thank-you notes; do things you love; share good news. Need more help to shake the blues? For 20 more ways to a happier mindset, try this Shape article: http://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/20-ways-get-happy-almost-instantly/slide/all

Why I Thank the Scrooges in My Life

Though I was raised by Scrooges and have a Bah-Humbug spouse, I refuse to succumb to holiday depression. Every year I experience a kind of seasonal euphoria that certainly isn't due to childhood traditions. My parents only reluctantly engaged in celebrations "for the children" -- all the while expressing distaste for the commercialism and bitterness over memories of Depression-era privations. Then, as atheists, they debunked the Nativity story. Perhaps I was a changeling child, because I still bustled around singing Christmas carols, making decorations from construction paper, and tuning the TV to seasonal specials. As an adult, I am the champion of the holiday spirit in my home. My Indian husband was raised in a Hindu household without Western traditions. He spends his Xmas complaining about the expense and the bland seasonal food he has to choke down. Yet every year, I happily decorate a tree, send seasonal cards, cook traditional fare, and play holiday music that no one else listens to. I welcome my children and relatives who can visit, and send my love to those who must be absent. I remember the faces that I have not seen in many years because of distance and death. I count my blessings and give more to charities. And I thank the Scrooges. They forced me to cultivate a personal meaning for the holidays that has nothing to do with religious orientation or retail hype or transient circumstances. As Scrooge's nephew explained to him in Dickens' A Christmas Carol, I embrace the season "as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!" Happy Holidays to all.

Mystery Chills Can Be One of Halloween's Treats

Halloween, today's candy-fueled fest of costumed self-expression and safely self-inflicted shudders, has become a retail bonanza. But despite commercial hype, from costumes for dogs to excessively ghoulish decoration, the real human fears underlying the celebration's melange of Celtic and Christian traditions seep through. In earlier European society, Halloween reminded that harvest warmth would soon yield to the specter of icy hunger, that it was a small step from laughing children to silent graves, that there were dark forces untamed by prayer. In festive disguise, we still acknowledge the thin mental veil between living and dead, good and evil, safe daylight and stirrings in the dark. That's why Halloween, although it is more associated with the horror genre, is a great time to curl up in a warm, cozy place to read a mystery. A good mystery, like Halloween, allows us to unmask and conquer the monsters and ghosts that haunt us. To quote Emily Dickinson: "One need not be a chamber to be haunted; One need not be a house; The brain has corridors surpassing Material place." Of course, I would recommend my own book, Lies Agreed Upon, but for a list of especially Halloween-themed mysteries, check out http://www.cozy-mystery.com/Holiday-Mystery-Books/Halloween-Mystery-Book-List.html

Setting the Mystery Scene With Seasonal Color

The seasonal setting is one of the choices I ponder when writing a mystery story. Seasonal weather and color palette can be used to form a background mood for the characters and plot. For example, in Lies Agreed Upon, the story was intentionally set in June in New Orleans. So, while scenes featured sunny days in a city of colorful pastel facades, which generally paints a lighthearted mood, the positive vibes were offset by the drama of frequent thunderstorms and by heat and humidity that sapped energy and increased irritability. By opting for a summer season, the story could use the lush greens of natural fertility and tranquility as a contrast to the intricate blackness of wrought/cast-iron decor, a hint to the dark human forces at work. In my next story, the setting is the Mid-Atlantic Coast in October. Fair, brisk autumn skies can turn gray with cold rain, so energizing weather alternates with depressing gloom. The warm colors of fall--red, orange, yellow and brown--evoke a sense of enthusiasm and comfort. But yellow and orange also are warning colors, brown can inspire a sadly isolated mood, and red is the hue of anger and blood as well as love. And with the choice of October, I can intentionally draw on Halloween black to emphasize themes of death and evil. For more about color psychology, go to http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/colorpsych.htm