Self-Development Audiobooks

“It’s like the meanest, wildest monkey running around my head, constantly looking for ways to bite me.” That was how Kirsten Pagacz described her OCD to her therapist on their first session when she was well into her 30s she’d been following orders from this mean taskmaster for 20 years, without understanding why. Initially the tapping and counting and cleaning and ordering brought her comfort and structure, two things lacking in her family life. But it never lasted; the loathsome self-talk only intensified, and the rituals she had to perform got more bizarre. By high school she was anorexic and a substance abuser, common "shadow syndromes" of OCD. By adulthood, she could barely hide her problems and held on to jobs and friends through sheer grit. Help finally came in the form of a miraculously well-timed public service announcement on NPR about OCD -- at last her illness had an identity. Leaving the OCD Circus reveals the story of Pagacz’s traumatic childhood and the escalation of her disorder demonstrating how OCD works to misshape a life from a very young age and explains the various tools she used for healing including meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy, yoga, exposure therapy, and medication.

Become a Writing Hero A creative writing mentor in inspirational book form. Imagine having your own personal mentor―someone encouraging yet honest, supportive yet empowering, who could help you set and achieve your goals, turn your moments of doubt and fear into sources of strength, and discover what you’re truly capable of when you’re at your best. Kendra Levin is that mentor. And with The Hero is You , she’s here to help you do the best writing of your life―and live your best life while doing it. A motivational self-care book for writing aficionados. Using a fresh new approach to Joseph Campbell’s archetypal Hero’s Journey, Levin reveals how to be a hero in the narrative of your own process. She weaves together wisdom drawn from her years as a life coach for writers and an editor at the world’s biggest publishing house with behind-the-scenes stories from a panoply of best-selling authors and career entertainers. With over thirty exercises designed to help you reinvent your creative process from the inside out, this book will show you how to: Identify your biggest challenges and render them powerless Start a project that you love―and stick with it Design a structure for writing regularly Great motivational book for anyone dealing with writer's block or other writing obstacles. Whether you’re a first-time writer with a brand-new project or a seasoned pro, you’ll reach the end of this book feeling fulfilled, inspired, and ready to mentor the next writer on their creative journey. Readers of self-help books and personal development books for writers and creatives like The Artist's Way , Bird by Bird , The Artist's Way Workbook , and Big Magic will be inspired and encouraged by The Hero is You .

Erotic Love and Marriage is written for couples who are searching to establish or restore a fulfilling sexual relationship and a meaningful and gratifying connection. Using history, everyday life situations, and careful analysis, Frederick Mondin makes the case for liberation from the fear, guilt, and shame that mark so much of human sexuality. He offers insight on sexual issues almost everyone struggles with in their relationships and promotes a healthier approach that highlights connection, communication, and exploration. Including an exploration of the role of religion and culture in shaping sexual attitudes and behaviors, he offers guidelines for establishing a healthier outlook on and understanding of sexual choices and desires. Intended to help the many couples struggling to break free of negative scripts, inhibition, fear, guilt, and shame surrounding intimacy and sexual connection, he offers real life examples and solutions that will help readers enjoy a closer more meaningful sexual and emotional relationship with their partners. Couples will learn how to improve their sexual experience by understanding male sexual functioning and female orgasm. Erotic Love and Marriage also explores what role pornography, infidelity, masturbation, sexual addiction, erotica, romance, and emotional connections play in a couple’s affairs. Mondin’s insights provide a positive and nurturing perspective that inspires and instructs in a way that leaves couples feeling more secure, grounded, and connected.

Blindsided by a breakup, and asking herself the usual why, how, what questions, Tatiana Jerome went online. She used social media as a way to uplift and empower herself by venting but also working through her own part in the relationship’s demise. Her posts struck a chord with thousands and then hundreds of thousands of readers — no surprise since most (approximately 85 percent) relationships end. Jerome’s action plan — “crowd-tested” by her many online followers — walks readers through a clear-eyed view of why the break-up happened, what NOT to do on the rebound, and how to start over. Starting over involves rebuilding one’s self-esteem by caring for oneself in body, mind and spirit. Jerome’s posts spread online because she shares these ideas with a winning combination of sympathetic best friend, straight-shooting counselor, and inspiring cheerleader. This is for anyone who has loved, lost, and wants to love again — only better and smarter.

This novella is also published as part of the collection SWEET HOME COWBOY. The Hathaway sisters might have grown up apart, but when they agree to move to Jasper Creek, Oregon, to revitalize their grandfather’s farm, it seems a straightforward decision. Until they meet their neighborhood cowboys… Tomboy Joey has more affinity with farm equipment than men, until a brooding cowboy changes her mind. The sisters’ feelings are anything but simple, but with the love and support of each other, they discover that a cowboy might be the sweetest thing of all about coming home.

A clinical psychologist specializing in behavioral medicine presents a dozen practical approaches to transforming loss, pain, and suffering into positive growth and hope. Just as some flowers only bloom in the dark, so too, some people only grow by experiencing tough times. Each chapter explains an empirically based principle for handling adversity, followed by writing prompts designed to help readers experience the axiom personally. Tools such as self-reflection, meaning-making, narrative creation, benefit-finding, and inspired value-based action help readers move through their trauma toward a new exuberance for life.

“When you FIND and LIVE your purpose, you discover the essence of your existence and why you are here. This will transform your life forever.”—Karen Hoyos PURPOSE: The Ultimate Quest , is designed to uncover the answers to life’s most important questions: Who am I, and why am I here? Once you know who you really are, and what your purpose is, you can travel beyond the labels in your mind and surrender to fulfill your destiny. PURPOSE features stories of Karen Hoyos’ personal challenges and victories, as well as those of her coaching clients and seminar participants. It also includes “ do now ” exercises that will transform your life immediately. Be ready to delve into your essence as you laugh, cry, become inspired, and have fun with Karen’s refreshing wit and profound wisdom. Above all, this is a book of transformation. Within these pages, you will uncover access to a new life of happiness, health, and abundance. “Karen Hoyos is a true example of success: From coming to the US with nothing, to building a multimillion dollar company, all through helping people to fulfill their purpose! The best part is that this book will show you HOW!” — Bill Walsh, America’s Business Expert “Karen’s transformational book will empower you to live your legacy and make powerful contributions to the world!” — Liz Stern, Legacy Expert, Globetrotter of 95 Countries “PURPOSE will elevate your consciousness and transform your personal and financial life forever.” — Rocio and Alfonso Martinez, Real Estate Investors

Prior to 1990, fewer than five percent of domestic infant adoptions were open. In 2012, ninety percent or more of adoption agencies are recommending open adoption. Yet these agencies do not often or adequately prepare either adopting parents or birth parents for the road ahead of them! The adult parties in open adoptions are left floundering. There are many resources on why to do open adoption, but what about how? Open adoption isn't just something parents do when they exchange photos, send emails, share a visit. It's a lifestyle that may feel intrusive at times, be difficult or inconvenient at other times. Tensions can arise even in the best of circumstances. But knowing how to handle these situations and how to continue to make arrangements work for the child involved is paramount. This book offers readers the tools and the insight to do just that. It covers common open-adoption situations and how real families have navigated typical issues successfully. Like all useful parenting books, it provides parents with the tools to come to answers on their own, and answers questions that might not yet have come up. Through their own stories and those of other families of open adoption, Lori and Crystal review the secrets to success, the pitfalls and challenges, the joys and triumphs. By putting the adopted child at the center, families can come to enjoy the benefits of open adoption and mitigate the challenges that may arise. More than a how-to, this book shares a mindset, a heartset, that can be learned and internalized, so parents can choose to act out of love and honesty throughout their child’s growing up years, helping that child to grow up whole.

Love is one of our strongest biological drives, but it can be frustratingly elusive and misunderstood. Music, literature, and movies are filled with common folklore about love and millions of TV viewers tune in to shows like The Bachelor and read the latest relationship tome with one simple hope: to uncover some nugget of mystic wisdom that will help them understand the exciting, addictive, insane experience called 'love'. Men Chase, Women Choose, is the first book to offer cutting-edge research that explains how the brain works when two people first meet, start to date, fall in love, and then move into long-term, real love. Maslar's unique approach brings together the latest and most relevant neurological, physiological, and biochemical research on the science of love while incorporating stories and examples of composite characters based on participants of her popular classes and seminars. She explains that 'love' is actually neural activity as well as the presence or absence of certain neurotransmitters that bathe the brain, and it follows a precisely timed path of four, easy-to-understand phases: the exciting norepinephrine-charged meeting phase; the addictive dopamine dating phase; the insane falling-in-love and losing your mind phase; and finally, the safe, warm and wonderful, true, long-term love phase. For the past decade Maslar has made it her mission to learn all she can about the science behind falling in love, including its evolutionary benefits. Her goal?and the purpose of this book?is to help men and women find and maintain love by understanding and applying the science behind it. The bottom line? We actually can have long-lasting, nourishing, exciting, passionate love with little or no risk!

Give your best friend more purr and pounce with this whiskers-to-tail guide to the good life! One reason we’re wild for cats is that our cats are still wild at heart. On our laps, they’re purring lovebugs, but on the prowl, they’re fearsome hunters—with territorial instincts to match. The Handbook for a Happy Cat takes us inside the feline mind to decode what our cats really want in life and how they try to tell us. You’ll learn: Why a bigger water bowl does away with “whisker stress” How to move like a mouse for maximum fun at playtime Skills to teach your kitten for a lifetime of easy vet visits, grooming, and more Subtle signs of stress such as excessive scent-marking and lip-licking How to tell frolic from fighting in the multi-cat household (and how to give frenemies a fresh start) What makes a scratching post so tempting that your sofa will be spared How to reassure a spooked cat with the “slow blink” Why it’s pointless to “punish” a cat—but training is possible! Certified behaviorist Liesbeth Puts traces every feline mystery to cats’ natural behavior and needs. A happy cat is a cat who can be herself!