Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
MENTAL well-being is not just about depression. It’s about finding joy in life and reasons to smile.
We all have times when that seems harder than it should, so The Border Mail has tried to make it a little bit easier for you.
Short-lived highs like expensive holidays, big nights out or shopping sprees won’t get a mention here — those quick-fixes can cause as much harm as good.
This is all about simple, everyday pleasures.
And just being happy.
OUT OF THE LOCKER: Prefer sport? Not really into the arts? Think again!
JULES BOAG: Working with art makes you look at it.
We recommend...
CULTURAL EVENTS
Write Around the Murray
The Border's celebration of writing, illustrating and storytelling.
It's for readers as much as writers and doesn't get pretentious like similar city events.
The 2013 festival is on September 11-15.
Harmony Day
Embracing and celebrating other cultures is great for soul, which is what Harmony Day is all about.
This year's Harmony Day, themed Many Stories: One Australia, is March 21.
Several councils around the region have great Harmony Day activities that will give you the buzz of community spirit.
MOVIES
Across The Universe
This is corny. Its plot is kinda ridiculous. And its a musical.
But if you like the Beatles - and you should - this aesthetically brilliant, light-as-a-feather tale of friends dealing with bohemian American life during the Vietnam War is wonderful.
Into the Wild
Three weeks ago we shared with you the mental well-being benefits of the great outdoors. This biographical drama on Jon Krakauer gives you part of that experience from your armchair.
BOOKS
Jasper Jones
IT'S summer at the end of 1965 when two teenage boys in a West Australian mining town make an horrific find.
The boys aren't friends -- Jasper Jones, the title character of Craig Silvey's award-winning novel, first published in 2010, is an outsider, a mixed-race rebel.
He seeks help from Charlie Bucktin, 13, with a passion for books who is desperate to comply with the request from this solitary, but fascinating stranger.
Silvey has crafted a wonderful story that can take on even greater appeal when you sit down to read it in the summer months.
You can feel the simmering heat on the streets of Corrigan where parents tighten their grip on their children when a local girl disappears, and the sultry nights when Jasper's and Charlie's sojourns take them along the river and into the bush as they attempt to unravel the mystery.
Reflections on Doug Walters' debut Test cricket performances dovetail poignantly with a triumphant innings by Jeffrey Lu, Charlie's cricket-mad mate who is always overlooked by a local team on account of his race and size.
Beautifully told, Jasper Jones is a coming-of-age novel that incorporates themes of racism, injustice, first love and friendship in a distinctly Australian setting.
The Happiest Refugee, Anh Do
If there was ever a book to make you feel grateful to be Australian, this is it. Comedian Anh Do and his family arrived here as Vietnamese boat people in 1980 after several close-calls with border patrols and pirates.
The memoir follows the family's entrepreneurial efforts to build a life in their new country. And their success couldn't be expressed better than the story of Anh's brother, Khoa, who was almost thrown overboard by pirates on the boat trip to Australia. He would go on to win the Young Australian of the Year award. A must read.
TV SHOWS
Seinfeld
There's no better quick-fix for sadness than a hearty laugh, and no TV show has delivered those to as many people as Seinfeld.
Yes, it's old, but it refuses to date. If you want something a bit more modern, try Curb Your Enthusiasm, starring Larry David, who wrote and produced Seinfeld.