Today, I am delighted to host on my blog my new friend, Sophia Bar-Lev, the best-selling author of PASTA, POPPY FIELDS AND PEARLS. Here is Leah’s post, enjoy:

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Shine! Don’t Whine!

One of the characters in my upcoming novel, PIZZA & PROMISES, gives this advice to her nine year old daughter: Don’t whine! Shine! 

How about the same advice for 39 year olds?  49? 59? Even 69?

Recently I stumbled across an article in the UK newspaper, the Guardian.  The title was “We Are in the Golden Age of Complaining.”   The writer went to detail all the ways that our contemporary society has embraced complaining as a regular practice.

As we live in an imperfect world, there are times when a valid complaint may be in order. But instead of barking at a waiter, “How dare you bring me a rare steak? I ordered well-done!” we would realize a better result within ourselves as well as with the waiter if we said, “The steak is too rare for me. Would you please have them cook it until the pink disappears? Thank you.”  That’s not whining; that is expressing a legitimate complaint in a respectful way.  [Read more…]