Living Well
Stop, relax mindfully, and recharge to control stress and renew mental freshness and clarity.
The fifth book in the bestselling Mindfulness Essentials series, a back-to-basics collection from world-renowned Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh that introduces everyone to the essentials of mindfulness practice. Thich Nhat Hanh says that when we relax, we "become calm water, and we will reflect reality as it is. If we're not calm, the image we reflect will be distorted. When the image is distorted by our minds, it's not the reality, and it causes lots of suffering." Relaxation is essential for accessing the tranquility and joy that lead to increased personal well-being. With sections on healing, relief from nonstop thinking, transforming unpleasant sounds, solitude, being peace, and more, How to Relax includes meditations you can do to help you achieve the benefits of relaxation no matter where you are. Scientific studies indicate that meditation contributes tremendously to well-being, general health, and longevity. How to Relax is a unique gift for those who want a simple guide to achieving deep relaxation, controlling stress, and renewing mental freshness and clarity, appropriate for those practicing in any spiritual tradition, whether seasoned practitioners or new to meditations. With sumi-ink drawings by celebrated artist Jason DeAntonis.
With theSkimm's trademark mix of real talk, humor, and inspirational messaging, this book gives you the information you need to make informed and empowered decisions in your life. Covering everything from personal finance, to career, to stress management, global politics, and more, How to Skimm Your Life breaks down some of the less glamorous parts of adulting and answers questions like: - "What's the difference between an ETF and a mutual fund?"
- "How should I negotiate my salary when I'm offered a new job?"
- "Should I claim standard or itemized deductions on my taxes?"
- "How should I tip while traveling abroad?"
- "How do I read the wine list without breaking out a dictionary?" And much more . . . Wine & Food - Travel - Networking - Job Searching - Personal Growth - Mental Health - Time Management - Budgeting - Investing - Health Insurance - International Relations - US Government With life hacks for anyone who's starting out in the real world, looking to make a change, or just wants a reset, How to Skimm Your Life will be time well spent--making it the perfect gift for graduation, birthdays, or your best friend "just because."
The impressive collection of writers here have contributed essays that celebrate knitting and knitters. They share their knitting triumphs and disasters as well as their life triumphs and disasters...These essays will break your heart. They will have you laughing out loud. --Ann Hood, from the introduction
Why does knitting occupy a place in the hearts of so many writers? What's so magical and transformative about yarn and needles? How does knitting help us get through life-changing events and inspire joy? In Knitting Yarns, twenty-seven writers tell stories about how knitting healed, challenged, or helped them to grow. Barbara Kingsolver describes sheering a sheep for yarn. Elizabeth Berg writes about her frustration at failing to knit. Ann Patchett traces her life through her knitting, writing about the scarf that knits together the women she's loved and lost. Knitting a Christmas gift for his blind aunt helped Andre Dubus III knit an understanding with his girlfriend. Kaylie Jones finds the woman who used knitting to help raise her in France and heals old wounds. Sue Grafton writes about her passion for knitting. Also included are five original knitting patterns created by Helen Bingham.
Poignant, funny, and moving, Knitting Yarns is sure to delight knitting enthusiasts and lovers of literature alike.
New York Times Bestseller
Embrace Hygge (pronounced hoo-ga) and become happier with this definitive guide to the Danish philosophy of comfort, togetherness, and well-being.
Why are Danes the happiest people in the world? The answer, says Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, is Hygge. Loosely translated, Hygge--pronounced Hoo-ga--is a sense of comfort, togetherness, and well-being. Hygge is about an atmosphere and an experience, Wiking explains. It is about being with the people we love. A feeling of home. A feeling that we are safe.
Hygge is the sensation you get when you're cuddled up on a sofa, in cozy socks under a soft throw, during a storm. It's that feeling when you're sharing comfort food and easy conversation with loved ones at a candlelit table. It is the warmth of morning light shining just right on a crisp blue-sky day.
The Little Book of Hygge introduces you to this cornerstone of Danish life, and offers advice and ideas on incorporating it into your own life, such as:
From picking the right lighting to organizing a Hygge get-together to dressing hygge, Wiking shows you how to experience more joy and contentment the Danish way.
The triumphant sequel to Home Cooking by "a home cook, like you and me, whose charm and lack of pretension make her wonderfully human and a welcome companion as she chatters on about the small culinary accomplishments and discoveries that occur in her kitchen" (Chicago Tribune).
Following the success of Home Cooking, Laurie Colwin returned to the kitchen to cook up this delightful mix of culinary recipes, advice, and personal anecdotes. With down-to-earth charm and wit, she discussed the many pleasures and problems of cooking at home, including such topics as "Desserts that Quiver," "The Duck Dilemma," "Real Food for Tots," "Turkey Angst," and "Catering on One Dollar a Head."
As informative as it is entertaining, More Home Cooking is a rare treat for Colwin's many fans and for anyone who loves to spend time in the kitchen.
A NATIONAL BESTSELLER
"My Grandmother's Hands will change the direction of the movement for racial justice."-- Robin DiAngelo, New York Times bestselling author of White Fragility
In this groundbreaking book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology.
The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze, and it endures the trauma inflicted by the ills that plague society. Menakem argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies. Our collective agony doesn't just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans--our police.
My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not only about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.
Kaysen and Higgins have spent more than two decades interviewing experts and demystifying all aspects of home buying and care. This guide, drawn from their work, will be with you at every turn, whether you're unpacking the kitchen for the first time, moving in with your significant other, or figuring out what to do with all those baby bottles and sippy cups now that the last child is out of diapers and the cabinets are bursting. Including pro tips from experts such as Marie Kondo, Bunny Williams and Justina Blakeney, and a removable annual home maintenance checklist, Right at Home is the indispensable guide that you will return to again and again.
If "violent" means acting in ways that result in hurt or harm, then much of how we communicate--judging others, bullying, having racial bias, blaming, finger pointing, discriminating, speaking without listening, criticizing others or ourselves, name-calling, reacting when angry, using political rhetoric, being defensive or judging who's "good/bad" or what's "right/wrong" with people--could indeed be called "violent communication."
What is Nonviolent Communication? Nonviolent Communication is the integration of four things:
- Consciousness: a set of principles that support living a life of compassion, collaboration, courage, and authenticity - Language: understanding how words contribute to connection or distance - Communication: knowing how to ask for what we want, how to hear others even in disagreement, and how to move toward solutions that work for all - Means of influence: sharing "power with others" rather than using "power over others"
Nonviolent Communication serves our desire to do three things:
- Increase our ability to live with choice, meaning, and connection - Connect empathically with self and others to have more satisfying relationships - Sharing of resources so everyone is able to benefit
A hospice chaplain passes on wisdom on giving meaning to life, from those taking leave of it. As a hospice chaplain, Kerry Egan didn't offer sermons or prayers, unless they were requested; in fact, she found, the dying rarely want to talk about God, at least not overtly. Instead, she discovered she'd been granted a powerful chance to witness firsthand what she calls the "spiritual work of dying"--the work of finding or making meaning of one's life, the experiences it's contained and the people who have touched it, the betrayals, wounds, unfinished business, and unrealized dreams. Instead of talking, she mainly listened: to stories of hope and regret, shame and pride, mystery and revelation and secrets held too long. Most of all, though, she listened as her patients talked about love--love for their children and partners and friends; love they didn't know how to offer; love they gave unconditionally; love they, sometimes belatedly, learned to grant themselves. This isn't a book about dying--it's a book about living. And Egan isn't just passively bearing witness to these stories. An emergency procedure during the birth of her first child left her physically whole but emotionally and spiritually adrift. Her work as a hospice chaplain healed her, from a brokenness she came to see we all share. Each of her patients taught her something about what matters in the end--how to find courage in the face of fear or the strength to make amends; how to be profoundly compassionate and fiercely empathetic; how to see the world in grays instead of black and white. In this hopeful, moving, and beautiful book, she passes along all their precious and necessary gifts.