101 Tips To Lighten Your Burden

Jennifer Bonn
Loving Healing Press (2021)
ISBN: 978-1615996094
Reviewed by Diana Coyle for Reader Views 5/2022

In “101 Tips To Lighten Your Burden,” Jennifer Bonn enlightens her readers with plenty of tips, 101 to be exact, in helping us try to deal with the obstacles we are facing and burdens we may be carrying on our shoulders throughout our life journey. She sets out to help her readers discover new coping techniques to help make their difficulties more manageable. In supplying these tips, she also has reassured us that we are not alone in our journey. Just to know that others may be going through similar situations is comforting.

One of her points that really resonated is, “Believe You Can.” The author explains that although many people would rather avoid trying something new and failing at it, it is a necessity in life for us to step out of our comfort zones from time to time in order to change and grow as individuals. In doing so, we start projecting positivity in our thoughts, and it strengthens us as a whole and helps us continue to grow and move forward past our obstacles. One small step leads to the next transformational step.

Another point I love is, “Do Not Allow Anyone to Limit You.” In a nutshell, if anyone tells you that you can’t pursue your dreams or go after a career you always wanted, then work at proving them wrong. If you don’t have supportive people surrounding you, then find people who will support you and watch out for you while you work toward your dream. Don’t ever let anyone sabotage your hopes, dreams, and desires.

“Dare to be Different” is yet another one I love because as the author wrote, if we were to all be the same, we would just be carbon copies to each other. How boring would that be if we were all the same? Being different is how we all learn and grow in our environment. Instead of wanting the same hairstyle or clothes etc. dare to be different—in positive ways, of course.

One of my favorites is: “Music is a Healer.” How many times did you realize you were having a bad day and by listening to your favorite music, you eventually relaxed and found your mood changed as well? I know I can surely recall many times when I was down and needed to be uplifted a bit or I was having a bad day and I turned out to have a better mood after listening to my favorite songs. Music has power to it that can not only help you, but heal you as well.

Even though I mentioned all the above as important takeaways to me, my ultimate favorite from this book is: “Spending Time with Animals Is Good Therapy.” I am an only child and always had animals in my life, no matter what age I was. I always relied heavily on my relationships with all the animals in my life. To this day, that still holds true, the only difference being there’s only one animal in my life now instead of the menagerie I had surrounding me as a child. No matter my mood, I love being around my Labrador Retriever. We have an undeniable bond together and we’re so close, we both know what the other will do before we do it. No matter what my mood, I gravitate being around him as my comfort and I find he grounds me. My life’s journey wouldn’t be where I am now without his unconditional love and support he’s given me throughout the years. He is truly my best friend!

Overall, I really enjoyed “101 Tips To Lighten Your Burden,” by Jennifer Bonn and learned a few pointers along the way. The author’s easy, conversational tone and her offerings can be applied to young and old. This would make a great book to not only re-read from time to time but also it would be a wonderful gift to give someone special in your life. I highly recommend it!

+3

Carnival Lights [PB]

978-1-61599-577-6

$23.95

A Novel

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Product Details

UPC: 978-1-61599-577-6

Brand: Modern History Press

Binding: Paperback

Edition: 1st

Author: Chris Stark

Pages: 240

Publication Date: 06-01-2021

In August 1969, two teenage Ojibwe cousins, Sher and Kris, leave their northern Minnesota reservation for the lights of Minneapolis. The girls arrive in the city with only $12, their grandfather's WWII pack, two stainless steel cups, some face makeup, gum, and a lighter. But it's the ancestral connections they are also carrying — to the land and the trees, to their family and culture, to love and to loss — that shapes their journey most. As they search for work, they cross paths with a gay Jewish boy, homeless white and Indian women, and men on the prowl for runaways. Making their way to the Minnesota State Fair, the Indian girls try to escape a fate set in motion centuries earlier.

Set in a summer of hippie war protests and the moon landing, Carnival Lights also spans settler arrival, the creation of the reservation system, and decades of cultural suppression, connecting everything from lumber baron's mansions to Nazi V-2 rockets to smuggler's tunnels in stories of Minnesota.

"Chris Stark is a masterful storyteller, and Carnival Lights is an unforgettable novel. Fluid in time and place, flowing between one past and another, offering a heartbreaking portrait of multigenerational trauma in the lives of one Ojibwe family, this tapestry of stories is beautifully woven and gut wrenching in its effect. Carnival Lights is an important book about the treachery and tragedy that so many Native Americans in this country have experienced, particularly women. Read it, and it may change you forever."
-- William Kent Krueger, New York Times Best Selling Author

"By weaving narratives back and forth through space and time, Chris Stark's newest novel explores the evolution of violence experienced by Native women and girls at the hands of non-Native men – dating back centuries. Simultaneously graphic and gentle, Carnival Lights takes the reader on a daunting journey through generations of trauma, crafting characters that are both vulnerable and resilient."
--Sarah Deer, (Mvskoke), Distinguished Professor, University of Kansas, MacArthur Genius Award Recipient

"Chris does a masterful job of showing the deeply contrasting views of colonizers and indigenous people and the often devastating outcome of those differences. While not always easy to read, it will capture your imagination and encourage you to learn more and to hopefully, drive your commitment to make the future a brighter one for all."
-- Dr. Priscilla Day, Professor at UMN Duluth Social Work Department, Anishinaabe Tribal Member

“Chris Stark’s lyrical prose liberates her often-nightmarish tale of everyday sordidness to create an elegy for the Ojibwe of the past and an advocate for current and future generations, especially young Native American women. It is a voice to be reckoned with. Once read, Carnival Lights’ message will not be silenced.”
— Tyler R. Tichelaar, award-winning author of Kawbawgam: The Chief, The Legend, The Man

CHRIS STARK's first novel, Nickels: A Tale of Dissociation, was a Lambda Literary Finalist. She has also won awards for her non-fiction and memoir writing and her visual art. She is a co-author of Garden of Truth: The Prostitution and Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota and has published non-fiction and academic articles, and poetry. Chris is a member of the Minnesota Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Taskforce. She is Anishinaabe and Cherokee.

Learn more at www.ChristineStark.com

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