Alaina Deanne Coleman

Food for thought...

To be spiritually healthy, as you eat healthy food to keep your body healthy, you will need healthy food for your heart.

Every day is full of its own worries, but I do not want to be anxious. As long as I do my part by being the best version of myself in the face of adversity, I can own up to everything I do. Sometimes it's easier said than done. However, practice makes "permanent" - as my high school music teacher would say.

I work a lot with children and adults. So, I am a witness to craziness. Pondering on life's mysteries of entitlement and lack of compassion in the world has made me want to return to enjoying the things I once found interesting. Hence, I started a blog called Healing Hearts Like Love on Facebook and self-published a book I wrote over a year ago during a summer trip to Japan.

Healing Hearts Like Love started as an inspirational blog about self care and spiritual purpose. My goal is to help others by encouraging them through writing and art.

New Children’s Author Alaina Deanne Coleman Publishes Picture Book

Book Title: モカと私の海の道 / Moka and My Path to the Sea

I’m very excited to announce the publishing of my first children’s book! It’s a bilingual Japanese and English picture book that tells a story of two young Japanese girls who- upon meeting for the first time- decide to take a walk to the beach. Along the way the girls see animals, flowering trees, and much more while noticing how things look different during the day than at night. Of course, when they get to the beach they enjoy their time there.

I was inspired to write this story by my trip to Shimoda, Japan which is located near Hakone and Tokyo. Shimoda is particularly famous for being the place where Commodore Perry attempted to force the Japanese people to open their borders to the American government- the first time in 1853 and the second in 1854 with his black ships- in a time when Japan was still a country of self-isolation and in political turmoil. I walked on a path to the beach with my friend, who lives 5 minutes from the beach, and recorded what I saw in pictures and video. I commissioned local illustrator Jennifer Stolzer to draw the renditions. Thus, many people may feel the beach and drawings look familiar to them. Some of the illustrations highlight Japanese wooden plank walkways and hamabou flowers which bloom during the day and close at night.
 
The book is aptly named モカと私の海の道 / Moka and My Path to the Sea. There are no romaji or ruby letters. I believe that both the English and Japanese languages should appear in their normal writing forms for this version of the bilingual book. As such, モカと私の海の道 / Moka and My Path to the Sea serves as a great teaching tool with pages in the back of the book for language learners and teachers to write the Japanese syllabaries, English alphabet, and keywords that language learners should know in order to read the book. Typed in big print, parents and children will be comfortable reading from different angles. The book is also very lightweight, easy to handle and fits into many types of bags and purses even with its 40-page count. In short, this book is perfect for little hands and perfect for adults.

A bit of good news- I sold book copies during the Japanese Festival at the JASWA booth. Portions of those sales will go towards supporting JASWA. Please consider purchasing the book so I can support more organizations and promote JASWA. The book is currently available for purchase on Amazon.com as well as my personal website www.healingheartslikelove.com. Thank you and happy reading!