Introducing: Becky's Joy Bistro

(A little bistro in Austria that I captured with my camera on my first trip to Europe. I told my husband Greg, "I could just live in that picture and be happy for the rest of my life.")

Friends, Family & Followers (and okay, I'll throw in a few Romans & Countrymen for good measure)...


Lend me your ear! (Or how about both of your eyes?)

You may have noticed a name change & URL change to this blog you've so graciously been following. The story behind it all unfolded like this.

Rachelle Gardner, great friend, brilliant literary agent and social marketing expert met with me at Starbucks yesterday and grilled me like a life coach on Italian espresso. (With equally brilliant friend Lindsey O'Connor offering commentary and affirmation from her perch across her latte and my laptop.) Rachelle sat up straight as she warmed to her questions.

"Who are you, Becky?"

"What is your MAIN PURPOSE in blogging, facebooking and now twittering?"

"What do you love, what makes your heart sing?"

"What do you want to do in the next few years?"

Here's the list of responses I came up with in our lively, caffeinated conversation.

1. In one word, I think my life message is Joy

2. Besides the standard answers to "What do I love?" (God, hubby, family, friends, Colorado) I came up with --

Cooking: thinking about it, reading/sharing recipes, creating a meal that is a form of a tangible love. I do not know why I love it, but it soothes and tickles my brain.

Reading/Writing/Contemplating/Conversing about the following topics:
humor, brain health, joy & pleasure, God's love, good for you-easy-yummy food, family, using my journey from Pain to Joy to help comfort and encourage others

I began this blog with a simpler and more focused goal: to help get the word out about my collaborative book with Dr. Earl Henslin, This is Your Brain on Joy.

Soon, there will be another book to share: This is Your Brain in Love.

But I found that simply writing about brain related joy was not a big enough umbrella. On the side, I'm creating note after note on facebook to catch my thoughts of the day, recipes I want to share, subjects I'm interested apart from the book.

Thoughts I could capture and share via a blog, according to the insightful Mrs. Gardner.

This blog.

But what would I call it?

After reading all the recipes I post for fun; a friend on facebook suggested I open a little cafe and call it Becky's Bistro. Loved that. Another suggested I write a cookbook with my favorite recipes and relate them to my life. Loved that.

So this morning, in that time between sleeping and waking when creativity is at its peak because mental defenses are down... Joy Bistro floated to mind. Subtitled: A Pinch of Spice and a Dash of Life. Yes! That about covers it.

So this blog has now morphed from Brain on Joy to Becky's Joy Bistro and who knows what may happen next?

Life is change, expanding, stopping to ask questions about who we are, what we love, what God sees and does through our mortal eyes that uplifts life as we know it on earth.

Whether that is by a fascinating brain study, or a really good morsel of food or a funny story to tell on ourselves.

Welcome to my bistro. Wander in anytime, and I think you'll find something refreshing to sip and savor.