In My TBR Stack:

When Eagles Soar: From Diagnosis to Death to Open Dialogue

by Candia L. Sanders

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From the book publicity:

When Eagles Soar” is a powerful story of resilience with optimistic chapters exploring expansive spiritual concepts. The short sections couple personal narrative and cosmic perceptions with clear examples for dealing with stress reader’s can utilize in their own lives. It is a conversation about being a caregiver, the journey of letting go of the physical, and life after death. “Eagles” also explores why animals don’t live as long as people, how to experience happiness under duress, absolute trust, anger as a motivator, inflammatory foods, perception is everything, what if there is better way to communicate with the divine beyond prayers, heaven and beyond, are a few examples of the many topics discussed. The author inspires a deeper investigation into self reflection and exploration of higher truths and expanded concepts of spirituality through everyday living. Candia had communication with the Other Side - Heaven, regularly through signs, symbols and direct conversations with her husband and dad after their passing, confirming that eternal relationships can live on forever, and healing through grief is only part of the equation. It is a chronicle through her underlying optimism that, no matter how a situation is perceived, there are still sparks of happiness, moments of joy and laughter, and twenty-four hours can represent a lifetime. This story captures events, experiences and hours while sharing encouragement and positivism that are the heart of “When Eagles Soar.”

In My TBR Stack:

Two Years of Wonder: A Memoir
by Ted Neill
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September 25, 2012 Ted Neill picked up a knife to cut his wrists open and kill himself. Post hospitalization and treatment for major depressive disorder, he wrote Two Years of Wonder, an autobiographical novel based on his journey towards recovery. In it, he examines the experience that left him with such despair: living and working for two years at an orphanage for children with HIV/AIDS in Nairobi, Kenya.

Neill interweaves his story with the experiences of Oliver, Miriam, Ivy, Harmony, Tabitha, Sofie, Nea, and other children, exploring their own paths of trauma, survival, and resilience. In prose that is by turns poetic, confessional, and brutal, Neill with the children he comes alongside, strive to put the pieces of their fractured lives back together as they search for meaning and connection, each trying to reclaim their humanity and capacity to love in the face of inexplicable suffering and loss.

Two Years of Wonder has been compared to BryanStevenson's Just Mercy, Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love, and BreneBrown's Daring Greatly and Dare to Lead. Fan's of these authors, theirvulnerability, their depth, and their focus on social issues will findthat Neill's story and the story of the children he knew in Kenya,resonates. 

About the Author: In addition to his time living in Kenya, Ted Neill has worked for CARE and World Vision International in the fields of health, education, and child development. He has written for The Washington Post and published multiple novels. His share of proceeds from Two Years of Wonder are donated to the children featured in its pages as well as other Kenyan based organizations that support vulnerable children and youth.

In My TBR Stack:

Beyond the Bright Lights: Memoirs of a Public Servant
by Charleston Hartfield
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Note:  Mr. Hartfield died in the Las Vegas mass shooting

From the book publicity:

Documenting the thoughts, feelings, and interactions of one Police Officer in the busiest and brightest city in the world, Las Vegas. This memoir takes you through the personal interactions experienced by a Police Officer with not only the community he seeks to serve but with his partners and their personalities. Some calls are over in an instant while others stick with you forever. Take a sneak peek into this Pandora's box and see if perception really is reality.

In My TBR Stack:

Song of Praise for a Flower: One Woman's Journey through China's Tumultuous 20th Century
by Fengxian Chu with Charlene Chu
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  Song of Praise for a Flower traces a century of Chinese history through the experiences of one woman and her family, from the dark years of World War II and China's civil war to the tragic Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, and beyond. It is a window into a faraway world,  a sweeping epic about China's tumultuous transformation and a harrowing yet ultimately uplifting story of a remarkable woman who survives it all and finally finds peace and tranquility.
  Chu's story begins in the 1920s in an idyllic home in the heart of China's rice country. Her life is a struggle from the start. At a young age, she resists foot-binding and an arranged marriage and sneaks away from home to attend school. Her young adulthood is thrown into turmoil when the Japanese invade and ransack her village. Later her family is driven to starvation when Mao Zedong's Communist Party seizes power and her husband is branded a "bad element."
  After Mao's death in the 1970s, as China picks up the pieces and moves in a new direction, Chu eventually finds herself in a glittering city on the sea adjacent to Hong Kong, worlds away in both culture and time from the place she came from.

In My TBR Stack:

Devotion: Humans and Their Four-Legged Soulmates
by Dobie Houson
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From the book publicity:

Devotion celebrates the magical connection between humans and their four-legged heroes. It illustrates what our animal companions teach us, the advice our animals would give us if we took the time to ask, and the beautiful partnership between people and their beloved  animal companions as they help each other navigate their life path.

About the author:

DOBIE HOUSON is an activist for animal rights, an animal communicator, and the award-winning author of Finding Forever: The Dogs of Coastal German Shepherd Rescue, and Four-Legged Wisdom: Sacred Stories from an Animal Communicator. An ardent activist for animal rescue, Houson is founder and executive director of Finding Forever, a foundation dedicated to raising money and awareness for animal rescue causes through the arts.

 A lifelong animal lover and animal communicator, she has worked with dogs, cats, and horses. But it was her desire to understand and connect with animals on a deeper, more meaningful level that ultimately led her to study animal communication, including honing her telepathic skills. She has trained with some of the country's most respected intuitive counselors and animal communicators and, today, is a sought-after teacher and trainer herself. 

 A professional communicator and prolific writer, she contributed to Why We Ride: Women Writers on the Horses in Their Lives (Seal Press, 2010), a popular anthology edited by writer and educator Verna Dreisbach. She also heads StrategiCreation, a marketing and communications consultancy for business start-ups. 

 When she's not working with animals, Houson serves as director of marketing research for The Ken Blanchard Companies, a global consulting firm specializing in leadership and talent development. Her research has been published in many world-class academic journals. Dobie Houson lives in Valley Center, California, north of San Diego, with her family, her animal companions and her lively horse, Bear.

BookSpin Excerpt

Szen Zone: Reaching a State of Positive Change
by Gary Szenderski
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Excerpt:

Introduction

My earlier book, The Book of Szen, is a compilation of stories written and shared over many years. The response was very positive and inspired and encouraged me to continue writing, and now, a few years later, the SZEN ZONE emerges. It contains lighthearted and positive narrative on life and its possibilities, with stories that cover the gamut from interesting to profound. The general overarching theme has been on change and all of the aspects of it - Creating, surviving, and managing change with the goal to recognize the power we have to become what we choose, both when we’re feeling in control and how to manage when we’re not in control.

In terms of how to go about reading this book, it is up to you. Open it anywhere and find a short story that may make your day or make you think. My own copy has dog-ears, postit notes and sections highlighted and underlined. I find it useful to review key ideas that remind me that change is constant and so is life and that our perspective makes a difference in how all of it unfolds. 

The SZEN ZONE focuses on identifying the lift-off point for creating positive change. Although everyone is different and it’s a very individual and sometimes internalized process, the principles in this book can help you establish the context and right frame of mind to embrace and manage change. After many years of professionally helping individuals and companies navigate change, I’ve observed how some changes seem

to take forever while unforeseen change can come right at you and in an instant move your world.

To that end, wherever you may find yourself at this moment, you will find an insight or example in this book to help you change course and take charge.

The files that they are drawn from will help guide you too. I’ve categorized them here:

Szenabling File – Ideas and insights to spark motivation

Szenippets – The end point of each story

Now & Szen – Memories and perspective recast

60 Word Szen Story – Stories to introduce the topic

Make Shift – Time to take charge

Szenippet: If I told you that change would be easy, you may not believe me. But if I said that it’s possible, you would cast your doubt aside. Once we see “it”, we can be “it.”

An Excerpt from: A Course in Creation

We are not our resume. Nor are we what we own or how we look or sound. We

Author Gary Szenderski

are not what others see when they look at us. We are not the title, or the paycheck, or the car or the house. We are not without power. We are not weak or limited. “Where” we are does not define who we are.

What all of us are, is how we end this sentence: I am…”____.” If we could take some time to consider how

often we sabotage our day or our thinking by finishing that sentence with a debilitating premise such as I am sick or tired or poor or alone etc. we could turn the moments of doubt and discomfort into something different, and better. To say to ourselves: I am strong, rich, powerful, healthy, alive and in love etc. are viable options too.

Creation takes place when we change the sentence. By listening to our inner voice within we can begin contemplating a grander presence and a new day and life. Filling in the blanks with a dream actually begins the process of bringing the dream to life. The pronouncement of I am “___” is whatever we want to be, or feel called to be; it is the key to change, which is where we find the seeds to create.

“I am” triggers thoughts, actions and events that will confirm what we believe. We literally live up to our own declarations of self. Change the script and everything changes with it. It’s a simple notion, and it works, and I am really happy that you let me share this with you. I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I have writing it.

In every seed of change is the power to create something new. To leave what was, close a door and move toward a new, better version of ourselves.

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Many thanks to Book Publicity Services for their involvement in obtaining this excerpt for BookSpin.

Triumphs of a Herd's Girl

Madam Leah's Life Against All Odds
by Catherine Makhanu
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From the publisher's website:

Educational opportunities were few and far between for rural Kenyans living under British colonial rule in the 1940s. For women, such opportunities were practically nonexistent.

As a young girl watching over her father’s cattle, sheep, and goats, Madam Leah longed for an education. At thirteen, she made the daring decision to pursue learning, despite the odds in her way.

Her age and gender were obstacles. Her impressive height led to bullying and teasing from her fellow students, but Madam Leah persevered. She valued education too much to fail.

Triumphs of a Herd’s Girl recounts Madam Leah’s journey from humble goatherd to teacher, eventually serving twenty years as headmistress of a local primary school, cofounding women’s organizations, and helping needy children receive the education they so desperately needed.

Catherine Makhanu, Madam Leah’s oldest daughter, remembers her mother in this inspiring memoir: A woman who ensured her seven children all received college educations. A woman who was an exceptional farmer, teacher, and humanitarian. A woman who began as a young girl watching over her father’s herds and dreaming of a better life.

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What's In It For Me?

What's in it for me? A Personal Journal of Recovery...and Hope
by John L.
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Living in a world clouded with shadowy images of what constitutes a real man caused John to suffer from misguided perceptions for years. Although he meant well, reactions to his “reality” always led to disasters in every area of his life. He was incarcerated and didn’t know it. Untreated alcoholism and addiction have the only prison cells on the planet where the keys to escape are located on the inside… Follow John’s voyage of recovery as he navigates a myriad of adversities - some would stop people in their tracks - in efforts to become the person he always wanted to be but didn’t know how...

In My TBR Stack:

Recovering Agency: Lifting the Veil of Mormon Mind Control
Luna Lindsey
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From the book website:

Recovering Agency was released on July 22nd, 2014. As the title suggests, this book explains the concepts of mind control from a scientific perspective, and offers evidence of how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints employs these methods to baptize and retain faithful members. For many of these members, this creates lasting detrimental psychological and emotional effects that don’t just go away on their own, even when the member leaves the Church’s sphere of influence.

Luna Lindsey left the LDS Church in 2001 at the age of 26. She then spent years studying many different cults and how thought reform works. She found many parallels between those other high-demand groups and the religion she had been born into. She discovered many myths about brainwashing and that the realities are simultaneously much less dramatic, and yet much more insidious and potentially dangerous in their effects. The presence of mind control is always, by nature, invisible, but no less powerful.

The terms “mind control” and “brainwashing” conjure images from the visual gimmicks and cheap plot devices of movies. Truth serums, hypnotic spirals, and torture techniques  transform an unwilling victim into a mindless zombie? These are entirely fabricated for your entertainment.

In real life, a manipulated subject has to be completely unaware that it is happening. She must be in full cooperation with the process, which goes something like this:

An influencer gains your trust through friendship and promises, perhaps comforting you during a difficult time, and perhaps appealing to your existing ideals. Once you trust him, you’re ready to believe him. You are convinced that everything he says is true and for your own good and for the good of others. Then he has the power to influence all aspects of your life.

That’s when he teaches you a series of beliefs that will keep you from ever wanting to doubt those teachings or leave his group – even if later those promises are broken or the people turn unfriendly or you end up going against your original ideals.

Mind control is a type of persuasion that bypasses mental defenses against new beliefs, followed by:

• establishment of beliefs to deflect all skepticism and criticism of the doctrine and leaders
• suppression of critical thinking skills (while maintaining the illusion of logic)
• isolation of  members from doubt-inducing information
• the creation of dependency on the group for social and psychological fulfillment
• the instillment of emotions like fear and guilt to keep members from leaving.

It is key that all the while, members maintain perfect trust in the person or group doing the manipulating.

No one knows when they’re being controlled in this way – that’s entirely the point.

Like “mind control,” the word “cult” is loaded with lots of false notions. Many researchers, myself included, prefer the term, “high-demand group,” because it is more descriptive, even if it is more of a mouthful.

A high-demand group, or cult, instills complete trust in its members and demands an inordinate amount of time, energy, and money, using a totalist and inflexible ideology that permeates most or all aspects of the members’ lives. Such groups are known for isolating members either physically or culturally, suppressing serious questions and flexibility in thought, leaving little room for doubts or dissent, and never allowing criticism of leadership. The goal is for ideological purity and unanimity among all members.

The LDS Church fits this definition. These claims are backed up with research and examples within the pages of Recovering Agency.