New York Times bestselling authors and journalists Cokie and Steve Roberts share their Passover traditions in this engaging version of the Haggadah for couples and families of mixed faiths. When they met more than forty years ago, Cokie and Steve Roberts found common ground in their shared values, despite their different religious beliefs. Choosing to honor both of their faiths and traditions, they began hosting a Passover Seder that has evolved from a small family gathering to a veritable event celebrated with loved ones from all walks of life.Based on the time-honored Haggadah the text read throughout the evening that gives order to the ritual meal Our Haggadah is a practical guide for interfaith families, whether they're celebrating their very first Passover or starting a new tradition. Originally composed on a typewriter and stapled together, Our Haggadah has been the Roberts family's handbook for each Seder and comes from years of adapting and expanding their Seders to welcome all who wish to take part in the celebration. From finding a Seder plate to preparing traditional and nontraditional foods, from the customary prayers to new ways for guests to participate, Cokie and Steve share their special approach to the holiday and the lessons they've learned over the years as an interfaith couple.

From the author of The Monogamy Myth, an essential guide written specifically for married couples to strengthen their relationship and prevent affairs.Based on Peggy Vaughan's 30 years of work with married couples and the issue of affairs, this new handbook challenges the assumption that monogamy can be taken for granted, and provides the tools for building a strong marriage and preventing affairs.Explaining the need to focus on preventing affairs before there is any threat to a marriage, she draws on her survey of 755 people regarding their beliefs to present "What Won't Work" and "What Will Work" to prevent affairs.Throughout To Have and to Hold, Vaughan details specific strategies and techniques, emphasizing that: Relying on attitudes and beliefs is not sufficient to maintain a monogamous relationship over a lifetime. Focusing on actions and behaviors is far more significant to strengthen a relationship. Responsible honesty is the single most important factor in preventing affairs. Everybody (society as a whole) plays a role in supporting couples' efforts to maintain monogamy. Parents have a special responsibility to break the pattern for future generations. Four appendices present Vaughan's survey questionnaire along with detailed breakdowns of responses.

Ever since the story of his transformation from homeless, single and struggling father to millionaire became known the world over, Chris Gardner --whose life story both inspired the movie The Pursuit of Happyness and became a #1 New York Times bestseller by the same name--has been inundated with two questions: How Did You Do It and How Can I Do it Too?Gardner's power-packed, transformational reply is the basis of this long-anticipated book. As a departure from standard self-help tomes that promise overnight riches and exclusive secrets for success, Gardner avoids any tilt toward magical thinking by staying with real issues and solutions impacting individuals in all walks of life. If you've had the rug pulled out from under you, or have been dealing with the loss of a home, a job, a health or financial crisis, or simply can't find the motivation to pursue new challenges,Start Where You Are abounds with life lessons that offer hope and provide a road map for starting anew. This is also the book for anyone ready to launch a personal, professional undertaking, or break generational cycles that hem in their potential. Taking stock of his own credos, including The Cavalry Aint Coming, Find Your Button,and Seek the Furthest Star-- Gardner's 44 life lessons are earthy, soulful, and always accessible. With an array of stories from the author's own life, as well as from those he has known or admired, both famous and not,Start Where You Are has arrived just in time to embolden and encourage all of us, even in our era of great global change, reminding us of the infinite resources we already have in our collective pursuit of happyness, and spurring us on in only one direction - forward!

Does your partner want to go out on Friday nights when you prefer to curl up at home with a movieDoes your neat-freak boyfriend always want to clean up your cluttered officeDoes your wife want to plan trips six months in advance while you're a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of personThe truth is, opposites attract. People who are different from each other in fundamental ways often catch each other's attention. We are attracted to the very qualities we wish we had ourselves. A shy person looks for a mate who is outgoing and gregarious to provide a social circle, and the outgoing person may need to be with someone who won't compete with him for attention. It seems like the perfect match that is, until those very differences that originally attracted us start to drive us crazy. But these differences don't have to drive couples apart. Renee Baron, a marriage and family therapist with more than twenty-five years of experience, uses the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to provide a practical program for learning to appreciate our differences, rather than fight over them. The MBTI is the most widely used personality indicator in the world. By discovering your innate personality preferences and those of your partner, you can stop having the same fights over and over again and start appreciating the gifts each of you offers to the relationship.

Let's be honest. No woman really wants to be alone for the rest of her life. But does being alone mean you're doomed to be miserable foreverDefinitely not! And does being single have to equal lonelyNo way! You can have the best time of your life when you're single, but you wouldn't know that from our relationship obsessed society, where celebrity magazines devote the majority of their content to who's dating whom and the wedding industry is a $100-billion business. Yet more than a third of marriages end in divorce, and countless other couples languish in unions that shouldn't have happened in the first place.Don't become a statistic love yourself and never settle!Jen Schefft knows that better than almost anyone. In 2003, she got engaged in front of millions of people on television's The Bachelor, only to see it end nine months later when the relationship just wasn't right anymore. A year later, she turned down an engagement on The Bachelorette, and the backlash was relentless. She was labeled a "spinster" by a celebrity magazine, and a noted national talk-show host remarked that she would be "a bachelorette for the rest of her life."This is a terrible message to send to the millions of sensational single women out there, and in Better Single Than Sorry Schefft makes it her mission to let women know that it's better to be single than to be in a relationship that doesn't make you happy. With testimonials from women of all ages single, married, in committed relationships, with children (even single moms) and without this book tells you how to let go of your fear of being alone and how to love yourself and never settle for a relationship that is anything less than you deserve.Written in a conversational style, as if talking with your best friend, Schefft helps you navigate the pressures of a culture that places an unhealthy importance on being in a relationship and shows you how to find happiness in work, home, and the simple pleasures of everyday life. Above all, she shows you how it's far, far better to be single than sorry. Being single is a time to have fun, learn new things, grow, and blossom not a time to feel desperate or depressed, so cherish it!

"Everyone gets dressed and getting dressed affects everything." —Bobbie Thomas, the TODAY show style editor Beyond understanding your best colors and figure-flattering clothes, Bobbie takes a unique step back in this inspiring guide to empower you to feel stylish, smart, sexy, and satisfied—with a look that's uniquely your own… You can't live life naked, so after you brush your teeth in the morning, you put "something" on. It's the first decision of your day, but have you ever considered that it's also one of the most importantStyle goes far beyond fashion and beauty and is a powerful way to say who we are and get what we want. Your "style speak" comes through in a louder "voice" than anything you might scream from a rooftop. But often, there is so much focus on the outside that we forget to step back and understand that style really starts inside. From your love life to your career, and the less obvious moments in between, the way people see you will filter your opportunities. Ultimately, what they see is what you get. In part I of this must-have style guide, Bobbie Thomas will help you identify what you'd like others to see and boost your confidence, and in part II , she'll show you how to find your best colors and cuts, edit your closet, and more, so you can build a better, more useful wardrobe.

Join Brad on his wild ride as he transforms from a small-town boy into a big-time Hollywood fashionistaFans know Brad Goreski as the fun-loving, bow-tie-wearing celebrity stylist. They have watched the reality star climb his way through the ranks of the fashion world, as he transformed himself from an assistant stylist into a full-fledged style icon. Along the way, they have experienced his near-fashion disasters and red-carpet victories.But what they might not know is that Brad's first clients were his Barbie dolls or that he grew up in a small town far removed from the glitz of Hollywood. His love of glamour, sparkles, and costume jewelry set him apart from the other boys at school. In spite of this, he embraced his differences and followed his passion. Landing an internship and later a job at Vogue helped the young Brad break into the competitive fashion world and eventually capture the hearts of millions as the quirky and endearing assistant on The Rachel Zoe Project.Now, for the first time ever, Brad reveals the moving story of his road to success, and offers a glimpse into his world today, filled with insider access to the countless red carpets and awards shows he has worked across the globe. Of course, Brad also shares his fashion advice, style tips, and tricks to help you look your best. Part style guide, part memoir, and full of inspiration, Born to Be Brad will delight both loyal fans and newcomers alike.

With over 200 pre*ions for giving yourself a break, this book helps the reader to sort out guilty feelings about self nurture and to define her comfort/self nurture needs.In this book the author delivers a host of creative and comforting programmes like the self care schedule, creative selfishness, creating a comfort network, body delights, a personal sanctuary, the comfort journal, bathing pleasures and comfort rituals. Organised by topic and cross referenced throughout, this guidebook is designed to appeal to women of all ages. The new edition has been revised and updated for modern women.

Each of us is born brilliant. Then we spend the rest of our lives having our brilliance buried by people, circumstances, and experiences. Eventually, we forget that we ever had genius and special talents, and our brilliance is locked away in a vault deep within. So we settle for who we are, instead of striving for who we were meant to be. Release Your Brilliance provides the combination to the vault where your brilliance is kept. After struggling for thirty-two years with disillusion, defeat, and despair, author Simon T. Bailey cracked the code to personal transformation, turning his life around and becoming a highly successful entrepreneur, respected family man and community leader. Using the metaphor that we're all diamonds in the rough, Simon shares the four key steps to cut and polish the gem that is you in order to reawaken your genius, reignite your internal light, and release your potential. He guides your transformation with interactive tools such as Personal Appraisal exercises, Diamond Polishing action steps, and true stories of Living Diamonds. Join the thousands of individuals and organizations worldwide who've sat down with Simon and learned to create lasting change and release their brilliance!

A bestselling author shows how we can reclaim and make peace with the shadow side of our personality.

The authority on panic and anxiety newly revised and expandedAre you one of the more than nineteen million Americans who suffer from anxietyDon't panic. Newly revised and expanded, this edition offers a straightforward and remarkably effective self-help program for overcoming panic and coping with anxious fears. With insight and compassion, Reid Wilson, Ph.D., demystifies anxiety attacks and provides indispensable advice, including: how a panic attack happens, what causes it, and how it can affect your life how to recognize, manage, and control the moment of panic how to control the chronic muscle tensions that increase anxiety how to conquer fear and face problems with confidence how to decide which medication is right for you how to establish reachable goals and rediscover the joy of living

"By the time you finish this book, there will be nothing holding you back." from the Introduction Most people have a vision for their lives that they're not pursuing, half-heartedly pursuing, or pursuing with all their might yet somehow falling short. This vision can be modest or grand. It may involve breaking free of a destructive habit or finding a truly healthy relationship. It might have to do with making a real difference in the world or helping to lead a company to extraordinary success. In The One Thing Holding You Back, Raphael Cushnir, a leading voice in the world of personal and professional development, reveals that whenever people aren't living their dreams it's because they're not yet willing and able to feel specific emotions related to those dreams. Once we access and understand these emotions, our dreams can and will come true.Cushnir asserts that mere emotional awareness, commonly referred to as emotional intelligence, is not enough. For maximum benefit we must directly and consistently connect with our emotions. In particular, we need to connect with the emotions we routinely avoid, resist, or attempt to dismiss. It's these emotions that possess the key to our greatest goals. And learning to connect with them is another rarely taught but essential skill.The One Thing Holding You Back provides real solutions that can be implemented immediately and without external support and includes true stories of people who have put Cushnir's process to work and transformed their lives. Delivering a step-by-step program in accessible language, this landmark book will turn the obstacles in front of us into tremendous opportunities for achieving the life we always wanted.

Two leading experts provide an authoritative and reassuring guide to the issues and concerns of adoptive and birth families through all stages of the open adoption relationship.

Transactional Analysis delineates three observable ego-states (Parent, Adult, and Child) as the basis for the content and quality of interpersonal communication. "Happy childhood" notwithstanding, says Harris, most of us are living out the Not ok feelings of a defenseless child, dependent on ok others (parents) for stroking and caring. At some stage early in our lives we adopt a "position" about ourselves and others that determines how we feel about everything we do. And for a huge portion of the population, that position is "I'm Not OK -- You're OK." This negative "life position," shared by successful and unsuccessful people alike, contaminates our rational Adult capabilities, leaving us vulnerable to inappropriate emotional reactions of our Child and uncritically learned behavior programmed into our Parent. By exploring the structure of our personalities and understanding old decisions, Harris believes we can find the freedom to change our lives.

Rose Rock child advocate, educator, and mother of ten-plus children, including comedian Chris Rock shares her heartfelt and no-nonsense advice on parenting Uber-mom Rose Rock raised ten children and seventeen foster children. She did it by never shying away from hard conversations and by not being afraid to present strong ideas about boundaries, discipline, choices, and consequences. In short, Rose Rock tells it like it is.In Mama Rock's Rules, Rock shares the funny and highly practical lessons she learned both as a parent and an educator, while offering strategies for teaching children to be self-reliant. Her advice delivered with a dose of wit and homespun humor will inspire you to teach your kids right, whether your brood is one child or ten.

The critically acclaimed author of Good-bye and Amen, Leeway Cottage, and More Than You Know returns with a sharply perceptive and emotionally resonant novel about all the ways we talk about one another, the sometimes fine line between showing concern and doing damage, and the difficulty of knowing the true obligations of friendshipGossipBeth Gutcheon "Did you know that the origin of the word gossip in English is 'god-sibling'It's the talk between people who are godparents to the same child, people who have a legitimate loving interest in the person they talk about. It's talk that weaves a net of support and connection beneath the people you want to protect."Loviah "Lovie" French owns a small, high-end dress shop on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Renowned for her taste and discretion, Lovie is the one to whom certain women turn when they need "just the thing" for major life events baptisms and balls, weddings and funerals or when they just want to dish in the dressing room. Among the people who depend on Lovie's confidence are her two best friends since boarding school: Dinah Wainwright and Avis Metcalf. Outspoken and brimming with confidence, Dinah made a name for herself as a columnist covering the doings of New York's wealthiest and most fabulous. Shy, proper Avis, in many ways Dinah's opposite, rose to prominence in the art world with her quiet manners, hard work, and precise judgment. Despite the deep affection they both feel for Lovie, they have been more or less allergic to each other since a minor incident decades earlier that has been remembered and resented with what will prove to be unimaginable consequences. These uneasy acquaintances become unwillingly bound to each other when Dinah's favorite son and Avis's only daughter fall in love and marry. On the surface, Nick and Grace are the perfect match a playful, romantic, buoyant, and beautiful pair. But their commitment will be strained by time and change: career setbacks, reckless choices, the birth of a child, jealousies, and rumor. At the center of their orbit is Lovie, who knows everyone's secrets and manages them as wisely as she can. Which is not wisely enough, as things turn out a fact that will have a shattering effect on all their lives.An astute chronicler of everything that makes us human, Beth Gutcheon delivers her most powerful and emotionally devastating novel to date. Gossip is a tale of intimacy and betrayal, trust and fidelity, friendship, competition, and motherhood that explores the myriad ways we use and abuse "information" about others be it true, false, or imagined to sustain, and occasionally destroy, one another.

It has become common knowledge that childhood obesity rates are increasing every year. But the rates continue to rise. And between busy work schedules and the inconvenient truth that kids simply refuse to eat vegetables and other healthy foods, how can average parents ensure their kids are getting the proper nutrition and avoiding bad eating habitsAs a mother of three, Jessica Seinfeld can speak for all parents who struggle to feed their kids right and deal nightly with dinnertime fiascos. As she wages a personal war against sugars, packaged foods, and other nutritional saboteurs, she offers appetizing alternatives for parents who find themselves succumbing to the fastest and easiest (and least healthy) choices available to them. Her modus operandiHer book is filled with traditional recipes that kids love, except they're stealthily packed with veggies hidden in them so kids don't even know! With the help of a nutritionist and a professional chef, Seinfeld has developed a month's worth of meals for kids of all ages that includes, for example, pureed cauliflower in mac and cheese, and kale in spaghetti and meatballs. She also provides revealing and humorous personal anecdotes, tear out shopping guides to help parents zoom through the supermarket, and tips on how to deal with the kid that "must have" the latest sugar bomb cereal. But this book also contains much more than recipes and tips. By solving problems on a practical level for parents, Seinfeld addresses the big picture issues that surround childhood obesity and its long term (and ruinous) effects on the body. With the help of a prominent nutritionist, her book provides parents with an arsenal of information related to kids' nutrition so parents understand why it's important to throw in a little avocado puree into their quesadillas. She discusses the critical importance of portion size, and the specific elements kids simply must have (as opposed to adults) in order to flourish now and in the future: protein, calcium, vitamins, and Omega 3 and 6 fats. Jessica Seinfeld's book is practical, easy to read, and a godsend for any parent that wants their kids to be healthy for a long time to come.

Now in paperback, revised and redesigned: This is Thomas Merton's last book, in which he draws on both Eastern and Western traditions to explore the hot topic of contemplation/meditation in depth and to show how we can practice true contemplation in everyday life. Never before published except as a series of articles (one per chapter) in an academic journal, this book on contemplation was revised by Merton shortly before his untimely death. The material bridges Merton's early work on Catholic monasticism, mysticism, and contemplation with his later writing on Eastern, especially Buddhist, traditions of meditation and spirituality. This book thus provides a comprehensive understanding of contemplation that draws on the best of Western and Eastern traditions. Merton was still tinkering with this book when he died; it was the book he struggled with most during his career as a writer. But now the Merton Legacy Trust and experts have determined that the book makes such a valuable contribution as his major comprehensive presentation of contemplation that they have allowed its publication.

New York Times bestselling author Debbie Ford offers her most personal, powerful, and practical work to date a proven process for overcoming insecurity and fear and unlocking the courage that resides within.Every day we are confronted with hundreds of choices that either make us feel confident and strong or rob us of the things we desire the most. When we lack confidence, we feel unworthy of having what we want, of speaking the truth, of making decisions that improve our lives. When we feel weak, helpless, or powerless, we lack the strength to ward off the thoughts of defeat, negativity, and fear that fill our minds and prevent us from moving forward and living in harmony with our deepest desires.For decades, Debbie Ford has been helping people break free from the emotional baggage that has held them hostage. In Courage, Debbie Ford provides a life-altering path to discovering confidence and authentic self-expression. By learning to accept all of who we are, including our histories, our flaws, our misgivings, our weaknesses, and our fears, we discover that what keeps us stuck and feeling weak is nothing more than an illusion of the past. By showing us how to be confident, stand in our strength, and feel great about ourselves, a new self emerges with the power to accomplish anything. Introducing seven guiding principles, Ford expertly leads readers out of the common pitfalls of fear and insecurity and into the strength, power, and freedom of a courage that has been present all along.

Everyone knows the New Testament begins with the Gospel of Matthew, but how many know Matthew was actually one of the later books to be written(It wasn't even the first Gospel!) But Evolution of the Word is not your typical New Testament.Marcus J. Borg, esteemed Bible scholar and bestselling author, shakes up the order of the New Testament as we know it by putting the books in a completely new order the order in which they were written. By doing so, Evolution of the Word allows us to read these documents in their historical context. For the first time, see how the core ideas of Christianity took shape and developed over time.Borg surveys what we know of the Jewish community of Jesus followers who passed on their stories orally. Into this context emerges the apostle Paul, whose seven authentic letters become the first collected writings that would later become the New Testament. Borg offers helpful introductions for each book so that as we read through these biblical documents, spanning over a century in time, we see afresh what concerns and pressures shaped this movement as it evolved into a new religion.In this groundbreaking format, Borg reveals how a radical and primitive apocalyptic Jewish faith slowly became more comfortable with the world, less Jewish, and more pre- occupied with maintaining power and control. Evolution of the Word promises to change forever how we think about this historic work.

"The Bible and the social and moral consequences that derive from its interpretation are all too important to be left in the hands of the pious or the experts, and too significant to be ignored and trivialized by the uninformed and indifferent.