Erin Sands on It's Okay to Lose and More Life Lessons @TheDunesBook #NonFiction #Goodreads

The 3 things kids from the 70s can teach today’s kids

As a kid growing up in the 1970s summer held a magical allure for me. It meant playing outside from sun-up to sundown, endless games of hide and seek, double-dutch and jacks. I loved the muggy summer walks to the corner store with my friends, to purchase Grippo’s Chips and hot pickles. It was the best of times. The laughter of children filled the air and freedom was sweet and sticky, dripping down our arms like an ice cream cone in overflow. Unlike today, darkness carried no fear. Jars in hand, we engaged the night in boldness, warning all lightning bugs to beware. There is something to be gleaned from those kids, from that time, something that they could teach the youth of today.

The Outdoors are a Good Thing

The virtual world is fun and it can get you moving, but there is nothing like the real thing. Running, jumping, learning about nature and our place in it, help to define our appreciation for the earth as well as engender a sense of boldness and exploration. Nothing against the Wii, but there is something that happens when you actually kick a ball, hold a tennis racquet and grab the metal handle bars of a bike and engage.

It’s Okay to Lose

Now a days kids get a participation trophy just for showing up. As a kid growing up in the 70s, you only got a trophy if your team won. We kept score and it taught us how to enjoy victory as well as to accept defeat. I can honestly say that I learned more about competing when I lost. I learned that I had the ability to become better and to stretch myself in ways that I hadn’t before. Character isn’t born when everything goes your way. Character is cultivated in the losses and in the trenches when you learn to work as a team and overcome.

Be Fully Present in the Moment

Modern technology is great. It gives us the ability to connect with people anywhere, 24hrs a day, 7 days a week. It can also, unfortunately, be a distraction when we are more focused on it than the life that is happening around us. In the 70s if you were at an event you didn’t stop the fun to inform the world “Hey I’m enjoying myself!” You were too busy actually enjoying yourself to advertise it. Don’t get me wrong; sharing is good, but fully experiencing all of life’s great moments is even better. Telling the world electronically that you are having a great time with a friend should not be more important than savoring the moment and actually having a great time with a friend. Share, but be there, in that moment, one hundred percent.

May the memory of those 1970s kids remind us all to experience life beyond our technology.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in the Bay Area of Northern California, Erin grew up with an innate love for dance, theatre and the written word. A graduate of Loyola Marymount University, Erin began her career in the arts as an actress and choreographer. After booking several notable roles in television and film, Erin began to use her gift of writing in blogs featuring political and social commentary, as well as developing content for theatrical use.

Although The Dunes, is a divine departure from Erin’s previous writings it is by far her most cherished work to date. “I wrote The Dunes initially as self therapy because I needed to release some painful experiences and disappointments from my past. I had this thirst to walk in the complete fullness of life with joy as my constant companion. I had no idea what effect it would have on other people. But when I saw people read it and be released from fears that had held them back for years…when I saw people forgive and be able to walk in the freedom forgiveness brings…when I saw people commit and serve and how those things opened up new opportunities in their life, I was just humbled. Humbled by the awesome power of God and humbled that I had been allowed to go along for the ride”.

When asked why she writes, Erin pauses and reflects on the truth of her heart. “I write because although I am only now beginning to truly love the process, I have always loved the outcome. Like a composer, words become my notes. I string them together in song eliciting the response of my reader, grafting a picture of my soul. Where besides the written word can you effect change so utterly and so succinctly? What besides the written word can pierce the universal collective mind? Everything begins with a thought, but it isn’t until that thought is articulated in written word and those words passed down can life changing movement happen. It must be written, it must be expressed on tablet, and when it is, we all become greater, whether the writing be genius or fatuity, it has evoked thought and debate. Why wouldn’t I want to be apart of that phenomenon? Why wouldn’t I want to share my story, give my testimony…add my paradigm to the mix? Whether it is a novel, a poem, an essay or an article, it is humanity visited. An insight into a new or sometimes shared truth. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. And with that I live my life”.

If there was a journey that could masterfully change your life in seven revelations...would you take it? 

In life, sometimes the kernels of wisdom and the richness of revelation can be found in the most innocent of stories; and so it is with The Dunes. Join one man and one woman in an exquisitely simple yet remarkably profound journey as you discover with them that the mountain you must climb in order to live the abundant life of your dreams is located squarely within your heart. 

Illuminated in seven revelations; The Dunes carries the reader on a journey to not only examine the obstacles that are holding them back in life but to conquer and over come them as well. With each revelation The Dunes intimately calls on the reader as the journey companion to face a challenge…a dare if you will that requires an uncompromising commitment to change. In the family of faith-based self help books, The Dunes stands alone, simultaneously taking the reader from fiction to life and back again, equipped with a tailor made journal for the readers inner most secrets and reflections. The Dunes is part allegory, part testimony and part journal, but the best part is the healing it offers your heart. When you’re ready to step out of your comfort zone and step into the miracle of your life…The Dunes awaits. 

CAUTION: Readers of this book are subject to significant changes for the better. Side effects may include frequent smiling and enjoying life in every season.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Non-fiction

Rating – G

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Connect with Erin Sands on Facebook & Twitter

Website www.thedunesbook.com

@KentBurden's Thoughts & Experience on Book Marketing with #KDPSelect (#SelfPub #AmWriting)

I have put together a synopsis of what I did for the free 5 day free promotion  on amazon .com for my book Is Your Chair Killing You?

My personal goal for the promo was 3,000 downloads, although I secretly thought that the chances of getting that many were slim to none. I told myself I would be totally jacked if I could get 1,500 and pretty darn happy with 1,000. I kept all this to myself because I wasn’t going to make the same mistake I made when we originally launched the book (I had told my wife we would never sell 10 copies of the book in the first week because most indie authors sell about 4 books a month. She said we would indeed sell 10 and I defiantly said “if we sell more than ten copies in the first week, I’ll run naked down the street.” She took the bet. We sold 40 copies… the neighbors thought my midnight run was hilarious).

In March when I first launched Is Your Chair Killing You? I set up several Google Alerts. One for my name, one for the title of the book and one for “sitting health risks.” It would prove to be very helpful to my promo.

Three weeks before my free promo I sent out my first press release to some local news outlets, magazines I have contributed to, and several health and wellness blogs and websites. As far as I can tell no one paid any attention at all.

Two weeks before my promo I sent out a second press release which generated just about as much enthusiasm as the first. I also registered with Pixel of Ink which showcases free Kindle Books as well as a couple of other free sites. Every couple of days I did a teaser on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook for the upcoming promo. I also tried to find an E-zine to post to with no luck.

One week before the promo I contacted some of the companies that have products featured in the book. Really wish I had done this sooner. Several said if had I contacted them a couple of weeks earlier they would have sent out press releases as well ( they have professionals doing theirs that actually get some attention on the web). Oh well; live and learn. The companies did agree to push the book on their social network platforms. I decided not to waste my time with a third press release. A couple of days before the promo I sent out an email blast to my data base. In all honesty I thought that this was a waste of time because I figured I had pretty much exhausted most of my people in my original March launch, but I did it anyway. The night before the promo I posted the book on 24 free book and freebies sites then headed off to bed.

Day 1. I woke up to 250 downloads. I was in shock. My wife and I danced around the bed in our pajamas. I spent the morning announcing the promo on my social network platform with a direct link to my book page. I hit Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and LinkedIn 3 times in the morning and 3 times in the afternoon with non book posts in between to keep from getting too spammy. The book started moving up in the free healthy living category and in the free personal health category. By the end of the day we had more than 800 downloads and were ranked #4 in the free healthy living category.

Day 2 . Slept in, dawdled around the kitchen making breakfast then checked our stats. Holy shitake mushrooms! We had over 1,500 downloads. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I went back and hit my social media again and by early afternoon we had 3,000 downloads. I checked our overseas downloads but they were pretty meager—just 11 in the UK and 1 or 2 everywhere else. I was starting to get a few new reviews, most of them 5 stars, and then I got my first 1 star review.  I was a little ticked about it–not because it was a bad review, because I totally expected to get a few bad reviews (you can’t please everyone) but because it wasn’t actually a review of my book. The reviewer just accused me of faking my reviews (I didn’t) and never talked about the book at all.

In the late afternoon I got a Google alert for sitting health risk. A big study in a prestigious British medical journal had just been released. The new study found that people who sat for extended periods of time doubled their risk of getting diabetes, heart disease and dying (which just happens to be the subject of my book). Eight or nine major online news outlets (BBC, New York Times, Huffington Post) were reporting the story and I plugged my book in the comment section of each one of the stories telling people about the book and where they could get it. All of the outlets posted the comments. By the time we went to bed we were #2 in free healthy living category and had 4,500 downloads.

Day 3. I sent out a follow up email to my list and suggested that if they had already gotten the book they could also go on Amazon and gift a copy to a friend or family member. Got more Google alerts and again left comments. Went back to all the free sites and reposted (the original posts had been pushed down below the first page by then because of newer posts). At the end of the day we had a little over 6,500 downloads and had climbed to the #1 spot in the free healthy living category as well as the free personal health category. Even more surprising, we had cracked the free Kindle top 100 list at 38.

Day 4. Things started to slow down a bit on the fourth day in the USA but the UK was on fire. I had gone from 11 downloads to almost 300 and every time I looked the numbers were going up. I kept hitting my social media while trying not to piss off my followers by being spammy. Headed to bed with a little more than 8,000 downloads. We were still #1 one in both free healthy living and personal health and in the top ten of free Kindle nonfiction. Even better we hit #13 on the free Kindle top 100 list.

Day 5. I spent most of the day just checking the numbers. It had been an incredible ride. Now I had to figure out how to keep this momentum going and try not to worry… “is there going to be anyone left to actually purchase the book?” Somehow even though it had been five days, it still didn’t feel real. It was like a great dream that I really didn’t want to wake up from. As day turned to night I started to feel sad, which is nuts because it’s one of the coolest things I had ever experienced, but sad none the less because it was almost over. I turned off the computer at 9pm. We were #1 in both free healthy living & personal health and cracked into the top 10 of the kindle free top 100 list. My book had been downloaded 10,542 times worldwide in those five days. Honestly it still doesn’t feel real, but it certainly feels good. I think that when my next book is published (in the next three weeks) I think I’ll do a two or three day free promo and position it to start mid-week—I’ve heard that the numbers can be bigger during the week. That’s all I know.

Sitting for extended periods of time is as bad for your health as smoking cigarettes. And exercising for 30-60 minutes a day isn’t enough to undo the damage from extended periods of sitting. Is Your Chair Killing You reveals shocking new research showing that sitting for long periods greatly increases your risk of developing obesity, heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer. Our bodies were designed to move constantly over the course of the day, but most of us sit for hours a day at work and at home! Fitness and wellness expert and award-winning author Kent Burden has created brief, simple movements you can incorporate into your daily life to combat the damaging effects of sitting. These simple movements, done standing for 1-5 minutes each hour will burn calories, energize and refresh you, and you won’t even break a sweat; you’ll even improve your back pain. This book is a how-to for weight loss and disease prevention. Read this book–you’ll be healthier in as little as 8 minutes a day.

Nominated for the Dan Poynter Global Ebook Awards and won honorable mention at the Los Angeles Book Festival

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Non-Fiction

Rating – G

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Connect with Kent Burden on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.kentburden.com/

Writing is a Skill That Can Be Learned, Says @CarinKilbyClark #WriteTip #IndieAuthors #AmWriting

Writing is a skill. And like any skill, it can be learned. And even for those who are naturally gifted in writing, there’s always room to improve. You can learn to become a better writer –with study, practice, and commitment to the craft.

When I first started writing about a year and a half ago, I wondered how some of the best writers do it. How do they write such powerful pieces – and make it seem so easy and effortless. It wasn’t until I had a conversation with my writing idol, where she indicated she rarely feels like a great writer, that I realized the most important aspect in becoming a great writer – staying humble – and always looking for ways to hone your craft.

Any writer can be great. It just takes a little time, and a lot of effort. For anyone looking to improve their writing, here are my five best tips for becoming a better writer.

1) Become a better writer by writing more. Sounds so simple, I know. But I can’t tell you how many writers I talk to that are frustrated with their ineffective writing process. The only way to improve the process is to practice. Write, write, and write some more. At some point, writing will be easier. But it takes time, and lots of practice.

2) Become a better writer by being consistent. Writing consistently is one of the most important things you can do in order to improve your writing. Set a publishing schedule and stick with it. Being consistent will also help you build your following. And your readers are what will keep you going.

3) Become a better writer by following other writers. Find a few writers whom you admire and really like to read. Don’t ever try to copy them, but let their writing entertain you, and inspire you to continue on in your own writing career.

4) Become a better writer by networking with other writers.  Networking with other writers is a great way to meet people that have similar interests and find the folks who will support you as you move forward in your writing career.

5) Become a better writer by staying abreast of industry trends. It’s important to know what’s happening in the industry if you want to become a better writer. Trends, challenges, and opportunities are always there – you just need to know about them and be able to use that information to strengthen your posture as a writer.

Carin Kilby Clark is the author of the ebook, Time Management Made Easy for Busy Moms: 5 Simple Tips on How to Control Your Time and Get Things Done (April 2014, Clue Consulting, LLC). If you want to learn how to finally put time on your side, then this book has the goods that you need – and for less than the cost of a cup of coffee. Buy your copy today!

Do any of these excuses sound familiar?

I’m just too busy

I have too much on my plate

There’s never enough time

I have to do it all

I don’t know how to manage it all

If you answered yes, then prepare to put an end to the overwhelm once and for all. In Time Management Made Easy for Busy Moms, Carin Kilby Clark shares five simple tips that moms can implement right away to improve how they control their time and get things done.

Time Management Made Easy for Busy Moms offers insight into the one major block that prevents us from maximizing our time, gives readers practical information that is easily applied to everyday life, and helps you along the path to your “aha” moments about how and why you’ve been ineffective in managing your time; and how to to finally put time in its rightful place {on your side, of course!}.

As the mother of three very active children who also works full-time, runs a business in her “spare” time, publishes a lifestyle & parenting site, manages a growing motherhood community, and regularly contributes parenting advice to many popular sites in the parenting/family life niche, Carin’s advice is solid; based on methods that she has successfully implemented in controlling her time and getting things done.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Parenting, Relationships

Rating – G

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Connect with Carin Kilby Clark on Facebook & Twitter

INSIDE/OUTSIDE by Jenny Hayworth @JennyHayworth1 #Abuse #Memoir #AmReading

The breathing is what I remember noticing first. Heavy, rapid, and sharp intakes of breath increasing in volume as whoever it was came closer. It struck me as odd in the library setting I was in, sitting at a computer. I looked up from processing my Internet banking and hesitated.

Then I heard a female voice speaking rapidly and heard fear and panic intermingled in her words. “Someone tried to abduct her. He had her by the arm and on the ground.” The voice rose in volume. I stood up as the breathing became louder and laced with sobs, and a stab of pain went through my chest and caught there within a block of fear as I recognised the sobs were coming from my eleven-year-old daughter, Rose. She suddenly materialised, walking out from an aisle to the right of me, with a lady alongside her, holding on to her.

Everything then erupted.

Rose, the instant she saw me, became hysterical, screaming out, “Mum, Mum.” She took great gulps of breath, and the only clear words I could hear as she forced them out of her lungs, which were constricted by a lack of oxygen and panic as she hyperventilated and collapsed on the ground in front of me, were, “Man….He was touching me, Mum….I couldn’t get away.” I was holding on to one side of her, with the lady I didn’t know on the other side, trying to pull her up.

“Mum, my legs don’t work,” Rose said. She was heavy in my arms. A chair appeared in front of us by the information desk, and we half dragged and half carried Rose the last few feet to sit on it. I stood up and kept my hand on her shoulder.

People were moving around, appearing in front of me and disappearing. I could hear voices around me, but wasn’t aware of their meaning. It must have been only a couple seconds, but it felt like minutes until a lady tapped me on my shoulder. She had two policemen by her side. Suddenly all the sounds and voices became louder and clearer to me, and I was conscious of all the people looking at us. I felt like we had to get away.

“Please, can we move somewhere more private?” I asked, and this time all the held-back emotion came through me and sounded in my voice. I nodded to the doorway I thought led to the sorting room.

“Yes,” said the lady.

I remembered my handbag with everything in it next to the computer about ten feet away. I said, “I just have to get my bag,” and I ran back and grabbed it.

I was conscious of about four other people at each side of me and behind me, staring at their screens and typing. As much as I was grateful that they didn’t meet my eyes or speak to me, as I wanted to rush as quickly as I could, I was also silently asking myself, What are they thinking? Why aren’t they talking to me? Do they blame me? And the huge question, What happened? I could feel my face burning and my heart pounding as I turned and ran back to Rose.

We walked through the door into the back room, and I felt the relief of not being on public view. I could feel that Rose was starting to shake all over. I wanted to pull her onto my knee and hold her and ask her what had happened, but I didn’t.

We sat down at someone’s desk, and papers and items were moved from in front of us. I put my bag on the floor, under the legs of the chair, and suddenly a librarian appeared and said, “Sorry, but we need to ask you these questions quickly so we can try to catch him. What was he wearing? What did he look like?”

Rose said, “His hands were dirty and felt rough on my legs.” She started crying. “He was kissing me all over and on my neck, and I kept telling him to stop, and he wouldn’t.”

The minute she said his hands were rough, I went cold all through me. When I had been assaulted as a child, one of the main things I remembered at the time was how sharp his fingernails had felt and how dirty his hands had been.

It was all swirling around in my head, emotions from past and present. My own emotions and awareness of them and my awareness of my daughter’s emotions and how I needed to keep mine in check for her. The heaviness and weight in my chest tightened, and my head felt light and dizzy.

Someone called out that a librarian had chased him, and they had the registration number of his car. I immediately felt so relieved and grateful for whoever had done this, as I knew it could make a big difference in catching him. Two other women came over with the police and sat down next to us. One of them was about seventeen years old and was crying. They introduced themselves as Julia and Candice, and the older lady said, “Candice saw what happened. She called out to me, and when I came around the corner the man started pulling on Rose’s arm and trying to drag her with him. Then he dropped her and ran out the door.”

Then one of the police said, “We need to speak to Rose on her own and take a statement.” The librarian showed them the kitchen next to us, and they went in there with Rose. It didn’t feel right letting her go in with them on her own, but when she hesitated and looked nervous, one said to her, “It’s all right. Your Mum is right next door, and you can go back to her as soon as we have finished speaking with you.” I gave Rose a quick kiss and hug, and she went with them through the door.

When the door shut, and I was left with Candice and Julia, I asked them, “What did you see happen?”

Candice said, “I came around the corner and looked up, and I saw Rose crouching on the floor with her arms over her head. The man was leaning over her, and she was saying, ‘Leave me alone, leave me alone.’ I first of all thought he was her Dad, the way he had hold of her, but something didn’t feel right or look right about it. He said to me, ‘What are you looking at?’ and I looked away, but Rose was crying. I just called out, ‘Mum’ as she was in the next aisle. Mum came around the corner, and I started to cry and point. The man was dragging Rose by the arm toward the door. He looked up and saw my Mum, and both of us called out, ‘Hey,’ and he dropped Rose’s arm and started to run out the door. A librarian heard us both call out and saw the man run and Rose on the ground, and she chased him out the door.”

I thanked Candice and her Mum repeatedly for what they had done and for helping Rose. I said to Candice that if she hadn’t come around the corner when she did and taken notice of her gut feeling that something wasn’t right, who knew what might have happened.

When Rose at last came out of the staff kitchen after having given her statement to the police, I was so relieved to see her again. She seemed calmer. She sat next to me and smiled, and laid her head on my shoulder.

Candice said, “Are you all right, love?”

Rose said yes and smiled at them and me.

She told me he kept kissing her neck and face, and his hands were all over her breasts and legs and up her skirt. He kept saying something under his breath like, “So beautiful, so beautiful….” Then she started crying again. I felt like crying, but nothing would happen.

I just held on to her. I felt sick and upset and angry and in shock. I couldn’t believe this had happened to my girl, and even more, going through my head was the question, “Why Rose?” Why, out of all the people in the library, did he have to pick on Rose?

She was the only one out of my three eldest children who had not been sexually abused, and now she had. It seemed unbelievable, especially as it was ten o’clock in the morning, and we were in a public place. We had to keep waiting in the library until police took all the statements from everybody concerned. Rose had to walk the police through the library and show them exactly where everything had happened. They took her books, which the man had held on to, for fingerprinting reasons, and that upset Rose again as she had been looking forward to reading the ones she had chosen. The police surveyed the closed-circuit television camera footage and identified the man walking directly behind Rose and me as we had entered the library, and following her as she went to the young-adult section.

We both were hungry, and the police let us walk over to the shopping centre, which was five minutes away, to buy something to eat and come straight back. Once we were in the mall, I noticed Rose’s head moving around, looking everywhere, and she clung to my hand tightly.

“What happens if we see him, Mum?” she whispered to me with tears running down her face.

I held her hand tightly and said, “He can’t hurt you anymore. I am here, and he would run a mile if he saw you now, as he would know he is in trouble.”

When we were standing in line, people were walking past behind her and bumping into her. She kept grabbing me; she was terrified. I was so upset and angry that this man, a stranger, had in one instant taken away her sense of safety in the world. Her ability to stand in a public place and feel safe and not worry about whether someone would grab her or touch her inappropriately had disappeared.

After we walked back to the library, we had to go down to the police beat for Rose to describe the man to a sketch artist, who would do a “wanted” poster from it. After we had done that, we were allowed to go home. By that time it was nearly three in the afternoon. We had been at the library since ten that morning. Both of us were exhausted. I had rung Rose’s Dad and arranged for him to go pick Thomas from school, and to let him know what had happened. It was a boiling-hot day. We had parked just down the road from the library, and as we got back into the car to start it, I couldn’t help but think how much had changed from when we had parked it there that morning.

Then the car wouldn’t start.

I turned the key in the ignition for half an hour. Both of us sat in the car with sweat pouring down our faces and backs as the sun poured in the windows and I tried to start it. I felt like bursting into tears. I wanted a cold drink, and I knew Rose did too, but I had no money left to buy one. I desperately wanted friends and family around for support.

Eventually the car started, and we drove home.

***Award winning book (finalist) in 2014 Beverley Hills International Book Awards***
Jenny Hayworth grew up within the construct of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, which she describes as a fundamentalist cult-like religion. She devoted her life to it for over thirty years. Then she left it. The church “unfellowshipped” her-rendering her dead to those family and friends still committed to the church.Hayworth is a sexual abuse survivor. The trauma changed her self-perception, emotional development, trust, and every interaction with the world.

Inside/Outside is her exploration of sexual abuse, religious fundamentalism, and recovery. Her childhood circumstances and tragedies forced her to live “inside.” This memoir chronicles her journey from experiencing comfort and emotional satisfaction only within her fantasy world to developing the ability to feel and express real life emotion on the “outside.”

It is a story that begins with tragic multigenerational abuse, within an oppressive society, and ends with hope and rebirth into a life where she experiences real connections and satisfaction with the outside world.

Those who have ever felt trapped by trauma or circumstances will find Inside/Outside a dramatic reassurance that they are not alone in the world, and they have the ability to have a fulfilling life, both inside and out.

Foreward Clarion Review – “What keeps the pages of Hayworth’s life story turning is her honesty, tenacity, and sheer will to survive through an astounding number of setbacks. Inside/Outside proves the resilience of the human spirit and shows that the cycle of abuse can indeed be broken”

Kirkus Review – “A harrowing memoir of one woman’s struggle to cope with sexual abuse and depression while living in – and eventually leaving – the Jehovah’s Witnesses”

Readers Favourite 5 Star Review – “The book is an inspiring story for those who are going through traumatic times…”

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Memoir

Rating – PG-13

More details about the author

Connect with Jenny Hayworth on Facebook & Twitter

Lisa Consiglio Ryan on "Anytime" Detox & Why You Should Do It @LisaConsiglioR #Health #Diet

Oh, glorious spring! Time to wake up and move!

Spring means rebirth, renew…starting over.  Many actually start their “new year” in the spring. You have more energy, a spark, to carry your health goals through all the way into next fall. 

Now, I’m talking about popping a bunch of pills or mixing up powders for a detox. I believe a simple whole foods based cleanse is perfect.  Detox doesn’t have to mean deprivation, starvation, and torture.   It’s not a diet, a quick fix…just a simple clean living plan you can incorporate in life.

Detox signifies glow, vibrancy, sexiness if done safely.  Eating lots of veggies (especially spring ones like peas and asparagus), dark greens (kale, spinach, watercress), fruits, grains, beans and legumes is the ticket. You know, all that good wholesome stuff.

You are probably wondering then WHY you should detox.

Here are 3 reasons why you should detox:

1.  Over the past 60 years or so, we have seen a tremendous increase in the use of chemicals in all types of industry, including factory farming.  This has brought with it a bunch of toxins.  Pesticides and herbicides were virtually unknown 70 years ago are now widely used on our crops.  Despite the fact that most of us are fastidious about cleaning our homes, cars, clothes and so on, few of us pay attention to cleaning ourselves-on the inside, that is.  Over the years, the debris of everyday toxins accumulates in your blood, liver, lungs, gut, and in fact in your body’s cells.  We become acidic, imbalanced within our blood. This leads to inflammation, and therefore, chronic disease.  It is so important to cleanse, at least seasonally to help your body get back to a balance and stay healthy to ward off any illness.

(Okay, enough with the science lesson! But I had to give you the low-down on the basics)

2.  When body is overloaded with toxins, much of your energy is spent on trying to eliminate the toxins rather than on enabling you to live life to the fullest. Additional pressures like stress, insomnia, and emotional issues can aggravate the symptoms of toxic overload.  You know how you tend to break out more when you are stressed? Just the body’s way of eliminating toxins and letting you know to either slow down or pump some healthy foods into your system.

3.  When you detox, especially during spring, you are more apt to keep up with your goals. This is the perfect time of year to devise a health plan and stick to it.  How do you want to feel?  What do you want to change?  Let those goals blossom.  During springtime you have the opportunity to look at old patterns in your life with new awareness and detox can help you obtain some long-term habits that you can keep up with for your life.

Are you ready to get your detox on this spring?

Lose weight, energize, and glow with over 50 recipes and complete 10 day detox plan. This whole foods cleanse includes detailed menu plan, shopping list, and bonus recipes to make after your cleanse. Renewal "Anytime" also includes pre-detox plan, daily instructions, FAQ's, and post-detox next steps.

Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords

Genre – Wellness

Rating – G

More details about the author

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Praying for Men of P.O.W.E.R. by Nina Elaine Borum #Prayer #Christian #Excerpt

Father, I thank you today that ____________________ is keeping his way pure. I release a hunger for your word into his heart that he may desire to live according to it. May he seek you with every fiber of his being and thirst for you daily. I rebuke any plans of Satan that would deceive him to stray from your commands. Hide your word in his heart that he may not sin against you. Lord, be slow to anger concerning any idols in his life. Convict him with the areas of his life that he has broken his covenant with you. Open his eyes to see the things, people, opinions, ideas, organizations, etc. that he has put before you. May he be pure in his covenant with you.

You didn’t learn these prayers in Sunday school. Put your armor on, and get ready to see God move!

Do you ever get sick of praying? It’s okay to admit. We all do. It is emotionally draining to beg God without ceasing. Christians often forget that under Christ’s authority, we have the power to command God’s promises to be released from heaven to earth and into our lives.

In Praying for Men of P.O.W.E.R., author Nina Elaine Borum challenges readers to stand confidently and command the promises of God for the men in your life. As someone who has struggled with prayer, Nina believes that God does not intend for his children to feel helpless in praying. His Word has instructed us in how to bring the kingdom of heaven to a world where Satan runs freely. We are all in the midst of a vicious spiritual battle, and Nina hopes this book will help you to fight on behalf of Christian men.

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Genre - Christian non-fiction

Rating – G

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The Invisible Sorority by Ty Johnson-Anderson @invisible_soror #AmReading #Abuse #SelfHelp

I stand here for all survivors of sexual assault to make our struggle evident. I am starting a movement—the “I Am Not Invisible” movement. Why? Because it’s needed. Some estimates state that as many as one in four women will be raped or sexually assaulted sometime during their lives. That makes them members of our not-so-exclusive sorority.

We walk among society faceless, mainly because of our own shame. We fake our bright smiles-behind them are our lifeless eyes. We are lost in the crowd. But not for long. It’s our time-our time to step out of the shadows, and finally make the world take notice of this horrid epidemic.

I too am a survivor. Notice I didn’t say “victim.” I was violated by a boyfriend, although initially I didn’t categorize what had happened to me that way. More on that later.

As in all healthy relationships, we had sex-lots of consensual, teenage, lust-filled sex. But we also had a lot of non-consensual sex. While we were living together, I would often wake up to him having sex with me.

In my heart of hearts, I knew this FELT wrong. But I had never been in any other sexual relationship, so I had no reference- no handbook to tell me what was healthy. As with many parents, my mother never shared her sexual exploits with me or talk to me about my role in a sexual relationship, albeit not her fault, but a societal fault. So, being a naïve teenager, I thought maybe this was normal, this is what girlfriends do.

My thoughts as it was happening were; if you had sex with a person once, you had to continue to give it to them, right? I mean, we were in a relationship. So I shut up and I took it. For a year, I took it! In that year, I lost count of how many times I “engaged” in nonconsensual sex-nights with him rolling off me and me rolling over and crying myself to sleep.

Like many survivors, I suffered in silence. I was jaded . . . conflicted. On one hand, I had a boyfriend who took me out, opened doors, showered me with the kind of affection you’d expect from a lover. On the other hand, I had a secret, a deep, dark secret.

It couldn’t be rape. That’s what I kept thinking. In fact, at that time, I wore a smile every day. The only time I cried was when he was on top of me. But . . . it couldn’t be rape. I didn’t say “no.” You have to do that, right? I didn’t fight him off. You should do that too, right? I thought these things were the truth.

As children we are taught by our parents and the media that rape is something that a stranger does to you in a dark alley. I kept a wary eye out for “those” guys, but my antenna was not tuned to the rapist in my bed. My guy, who by day was a dream, became “that guy,” at night. He wasn’t violent, maybe because I didn’t resist his advances or fight back. So again, it couldn’t be rape, could it?

Let me tell you that any sex that is engaged in without consent is rape. Your lack of fighting back is not giving your consent. Your failure to scream, “No, please don’t do this!” is not giving your consent.

…

I must have a guardian angel because although they weren’t the best people for me to be in a relationship with, they weren’t pure evil either.

…

I still have trust issues. I still have intimacy issues. I still have communication issues. My journey is still not over. And I’m sure your journey, whether you’re at the beginning or in the midst of it, is ongoing.

Ty Johnson-Anderson is the creator of The Invisible Sorority, a community of intimate partner sexual assault victims ushering one another into healing and thriving post-assault. Ty launched the movement, I Am Not Invisible, in an effort to humanize the victimless statistics. Once a young adult spiraling out of control, she has managed to emotionally liberate herself from her dark past and move forward to manifest her future. She lives in Edgewood, Maryland with her wonderful husband and beautiful little girl. Visit her at www.theinvisiblesorority.com

The Invisible Sorority will show you:

Why forgiveness can be your best healing tool

Several techniques you can use to heal your heart through mastering your mind via hypnosis and guided meditations

How to increase your ability to manifest your ideal future

How to embrace your tears to strenthen your emotional stability

Improve your sex life using several intimacy exercises designed to show you to live in the NOW

The invisible sorority is like a phone conversation with your best friend. It will inspire you to make positive changes in your life while helping you to ease the pain of your past assault.

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Genre – Non-Fiction, Self Help-Abuse

Rating – PG-13

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#Author Tami Urbanek On What Inspired Her To #Write Her #Book @tamiurbanek

What Inspired Me to Write My Book

My book is a memoir and I never really thought I would write my story. It especially was not on my mind when I was experiencing the pain of my first marriage and then later my daughter’s adolescence! During that distressing period, all I was trying to do was survive.

As I began making my way out of my hurt and fear and I was seeing results in my own healing process, a few friends wanted to know how I did it: How I helped my daughter start moving past her anger at her father and to begin embracing her life. I had to think what did I do to start that process?

My change was my inspiration. If I could move past my own fear and help my daughter heal her male abandonment issues-her anger at her biological father and embrace her son, then I could write a book showing those steps. My difficulty became in how do I share my story?

I was able to quickly write out my abusive year-long first marriage that occurred at age eighteen, my experience as a financially struggling single mother, my second husband who became my rock, my advancement in education and becoming an award winning teacher, changing professions to medium/clairvoyant work, my daughter’s painful adolescence, and her son who came into our lives. That was easy. What wasn’t easy was refining it, fine-tuning it, making it GOOD! No, not good. Excellent! I needed help, so I sought out an editor.

My editor made me dig into my own emotions to pry out those painful years as a teenage bride in an abusive marriage. She made me dig into the fear and frustration around my own teenage daughter’s choices that mimicked mine from years before. I had to recall old memories and feelings and be able to translate that on paper for anyone to feel and understand too.

As the editing process took on a life of its own, my book did so too. I felt inspired to share about why bonding with our children is of the utmost importance as a parent. I wanted to share with the world how important our children are and how much love can be passed between parent and child. My daughter’s growth and my grandson became my inspiration.

Broke, with a month-old baby, nineteen-year old Tami Urbanek walks away from an abusive marriage only to find herself wallowing in anxiety and confusion, wondering how she will survive. At the time, she had no idea that the journey in front of her would guide her so far away from fear of financial survival and instead would push her into the realm of healing and spirituality. 

As the daughter of internationally renowned medium, Hossca Harrison, Tami seeks the assistance of her loving parents and a spiritual teacher named Jonah. With their help, she begins to understand herself and her daughter, whose adolescent path of destruction threatens to tear apart their relationship. As Tami's own clairvoyant abilities surface, she is challenged with the task of helping not just her daughter, but the child that her sixteen-year old daughter is carrying: a child whose painful past life still haunts him and which must be resolved before his birth. Told with humor, insight and honesty, Tami's story challenges readers' minds as it touches their hearts, and when the last page is turned, it is a story not easily forgotten.

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Genre - Memoir

Rating – PG-13

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