Relationship Development

What makes stepmothering so hard? And why are we, as people and a culture, so hard on stepmothers? How can we make it easier? Stepmonster is a truly unique and groundbreaking book for women with stepchildren, men with kids who repartner, adult stepchildren, and anyone who cares about them. It is a comprehensive, cross-cultural, research-based reconsideration of stepfamily dynamics - from the perspective of the stepmother.

In this compassionate guide you'll find tips and tools to help you set boundaries with others, honor and validate your emotions, and thrive in the face of life's challenges. You'll discover how to protect yourself from hurtful behavior, stop making excuses for others' limitations, forge healthier relationships, and feel more confident in your life. Most importantly, you'll learn how to stop putting others' needs before your own and manage daily stressors.

Based on a groundbreaking in-depth survey of 22,000 Christian women, The Great Sex Rescue unlocks the secrets to what makes some marriages red hot while others fizzle out. Generations of women have grown up with messages about sex that make them feel dirty, used, or invisible, while men have been sold such a cheapened version of sex, they don't know what they're missing. The Great Sex Rescue hopes to turn all of that around, developing a truly biblical view of sex where mutuality, intimacy, and passion reign.

A deeper look at an old-fashioned quality. We've all heard the phrase, "Patience is a virtue", and doubtless responded with a sigh, as usually it's spoken with a tone of reproach. But this virtue carries with it a wealth of wisdom that can actually help us find happiness in our day to day. Author Mary Jane Ryan details just what living with patience can bring to our lives and how it can change us for the better.

Drawing on psychoanalysis, literature, and personal experience, Necessary Losses is a philosophy for understanding and accepting life's inevitabilities. In this book Judith Viorst turns her considerable talents to a serious and far-reaching subject: how we grow and change through the losses that are certain and necessary parts of life.

Drawing on forty collective years of research and decades of clinical experience, the authors present the best practical advice science has to offer. Delivered with warmth, optimism, and humor, Beyond Addiction defines a new, empowered role for friends and family and a paradigm shift for the field.

What do you do with a little kid who...won't brush her teeth...screams in his car seat...pinches the baby...refuses to eat vegetables...runs rampant in the supermarket? Organized according to common challenges and conflicts, this book is an essential emergency first-aid manual of communication strategies, including a chapter that addresses the special needs of children with sensory processing and autism spectrum disorders.

For Christian parents, there is no greater joy than seeing their children learn to walk with the Lord. And there is no greater fear than that their children will walk away from God. After serving together in pastoral ministry for 40 years, Phil and Diane Comer know those hopes and fears well. Thirty-seven years ago, they became parents themselves. And like all new parents, they were intimidated and unsure about how to take on the task of spiritually training their young children.

Left as a newborn in a box outside Stoke City Football ground, her grandparents took her into their home. But instead of finding a sanctuary, Nicky was subjected to horrific sexual abuse throughout her childhood. In 1951, when Nicky was six years old, her glamorous-looking estranged mother arrived on the doorstep to 'rescue' her. But Nicky's hopes of a safe and loving family were very soon smashed, and her world became darker still.

As thought-provoking as Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence, psychologist Mary-Elaine Jacobsen's The Gifted Adult draws on a wide range of groundbreaking research and her own clinical experience to show America's 20 million gifted adults how to identify and free their extraordinary potential. The Gifted Adult presents the first practical tool for rating your Evolutionary Intelligence Quotient through an in-depth personality-type profile.

Devastating family drama, abandonment, and drugs are balanced with laugh-out-loud humor that will keep you turning pages. You'll laugh, cry, and be left begging for more. The story begins with an episode that occurred in 1974. When Tom Bross (age 12) experiences a sudden move from Davis to San Anselmo to live with their God Family. Just two months later they move back to Davis with no place to live. His brother and sisters are dropped off at their friend's houses.

The voices of adopted children are poignant, questioning. And they tell a familiar story of loss, fear, and hope. This extraordinary book, written by a woman who was adopted herself, gives voice to children's unspoken concerns, and shows adoptive parents how to free their kids from feelings of fear, abandonment, and shame. With warmth and candor, Sherrie Eldridge reveals the 20 complex emotional issues you must understand to nurture the child you love.

The simple truth is that PTSD can be extremely debilitating - not just for the person who has experienced trauma firsthand, but for their partners, as well. And while there are many books written for those suffering from PTSD, there are few written for the people who love them. In Loving Someone with PTSD, renowned trauma expert Aphrodite Matsakis presents concrete skills and strategies for the partners of those with PTSD.

If you are grieving the loss of your beloved pet, the uplifting and insightful stories within these chapters will help you break through your grief to begin healing. There are messages from departed animals who share details about what they experienced as their life ended and from beyond the veil of the afterlife. Discover how pets feel about dying, euthanasia, cremation, reincarnation and so much more. Award-winning Animal Communicator and Afterlife Expert Karen A. Anderson reveals tantalizing evidence that our pets communicate with us throughout their lives and after their physical death.

Drawing upon his twenty-five years as a holistic psychotherapist, John Ruskan presents a brilliant self-therapy system for complete inner healing and well-being. Based on a unique synthesis of Eastern meditation-mindfulness principles and Western humanistic psychological insights, the Deep Clearing program will empower you with a feeling-based, holistic, inner process that will clear the subconscious, restore and maintain emotional balance, overcome inner and outer negativity, and spontaneously shift you into authentic unconditional joyfulness and Higher Consciousness.

Your thoughts shape your life, create your reality, and ultimately limit or expand your true potential. Everything from relationships and love, to health and well-being, to wealth and prosperity are directly connected to how you think and what you think about most of the time - for better or for worse.

At 211º water is hot. At 212º, it boils. And with boiling water, comes steam. And steam can power a locomotive. It's that one extra degree that makes all the difference. Use this powerful metaphor to reach new heights.

We are often on a quest for more, giving in to pressure every day to work more, own more, and do more. For Courtney Carver, this constant striving had to come to a stop when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Stress was like gasoline on the fire of her symptoms, and it became clear that she needed to root out the physical and psychological clutter that were the source of her debt and discontent. In this book, Carver shows us how to pursue practical minimalism so we can create more with less - more space, more time, and even more love.

Although a mother's mortality is inevitable, no book has discussed the profound lasting and far reaching effects of this loss until Motherless Daughters. More than 20 years later, it is still the go-to book that women of all ages look to for comfort, help, and understanding when their mother dies. Building on interviews with hundreds of mother-loss survivors, Edelman's personal story of losing her mother, and recent research in grief and psychology, Motherless Daughters reveals the shared experiences and core identity issues of motherless women.

For decades we've been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F*ck positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let's be honest, shit is f*cked, and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn't sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is - a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is his antidote to the coddling, let's-all-feel-good mind-set that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.