Friendship Development

Skip the small talk and learn how to build a supportive community, engage with new people, and cultivate authentic, long-lasting friendships at every stage of life. It sometimes seems like everyone has a big, happy, fulfilling social life, full of lifelong friendships...except you. As we grow older and school friendships fade, it can be difficult to meet new people and cultivate meaningful friendships. How do you strike up a conversation with a stranger? How do you move from mutual acquaintances to real friends?

By the time Will Schwalbe was a junior at college, he had already met everyone he cared to know: the theater people, writers, visual artists and comp lit majors, and various other quirky characters including the handful of students who shared his own major, Latin and Greek. He also knew exactly who he wanted to avoid: the jocks. The jocks wore baseball caps and moved in packs, filling boisterous tables in the dining hall, and on the whole seemed to be another species entirely, one Will might encounter only at his own peril.

Andrew didn’t realize he might be autistic until his girlfriend, Michelle, approached him about it months into their relationship. No amount of life experience could’ve prepared Michelle for the confusion she felt while dating Andrew, as he was unlike any man she had ever dated before. The thought never dawned on her that she could fall deeply in love with a man who was autistic or that he might be unaware of this, even into his 30s.

Sought-after speaker and writer Rabbi Daniel Lapin delivers an inspiring and insightful discussion of how to bring joy and confidence to all of life's many challenges. Rabbi Lapin introduces you to his unique 5F system, weaving together family, faith, finance, friendship, and fitness. He demonstrates how to organize your life so that you're not neglecting one area to achieve success and connection in another.

Contains volumes one and two of Reincarnated as a Familiar. A young teacher finds herself reborn with only fuzzy, damaged memories of her past life. Even worse, she's stuck in the body of a cat and can't remember her own name. Summoned by a young mage girl named Lesti, she takes up the name Astria and becomes the girl's familiar.

For more than 30 years, Gay Hendricks has served as one of the major contributors to the fields of relationship transformation and body-mind therapies. In his updated classic, Learning to Love Yourself, Dr. Hendricks provides a honest, fresh, yet timeless, approach to handling your feelings and developing a deeply positive sense of self-worth. This book has helped tens of thousands.

Zara has always felt a little ordinary next to her spirited best friend Ivy. Even her dreams seem mundane: a boyfriend, marriage, children. Besides, who would pick her when they could choose Ivy? So when Zara meets Henry and there's an instant spark, she can't believe her luck. A wealthy CEO who wants to settle down? He's perfect...until Ivy insists he's too good to be true.

In this easy-to-follow self-help manual sprinkled with relatable stories, Florence Ann Romano introduces the six roles commonly found in villages and provides a road map to help the listener build their own support systems.

Far from being fluffy sentiments, acts of kindness–whether given, received, or witnessed–are potent elixirs that have a profound and lasting impact on our mental and physical health. From boosting happiness to soothing the soul, kindness isn’t just a feel-good notion–it’s a powerhouse. It relaxes your nerves, lowers blood pressure, reduces inflammation, and even slows down ageing at the genetic level. This audiobook serves as a beacon of light, urging you to spread kindness like wildfire.

Author A.J. Jacobs discovers that his coffee - and every other item in our lives - would not be possible without hundreds of people we usually take for granted: farmers, chemists, artists, presidents, truckers, mechanics, biologists, miners, smugglers, and goatherds. By thanking these people face-to-face, Jacobs finds some much-needed brightness in his life. Gratitude does not come naturally to Jacobs, but he sets off on the journey on a dare from his son. And by the end, it’s clear to him that scientific research on gratitude is true. Gratitude’s benefits are legion.

Do you find it hard to connect with other people? Do your relationships feel stale and lack real, meaningful connections? Do you wish you were more confident, charismatic, and likable? How to Make People Like You is a book with detailed insights on everything you need to know when it comes to going from a shy, anxious, and awkward individual and transforming yourself into someone who can unapologetically be your real, genuine, and authentic self.

In Frientimacy, award-winning speaker Shasta Nelson shows how anyone can form stronger, more meaningful friendships, marked by a level of trust she calls "frientimacy". Shasta explores the most common complaints and conflicts facing female friendships today, and lays out strategies for overcoming these pitfalls to create deeper, supportive relationships that last for the long-term.

Sally O'Malley made a promise to her daddy before he died. She swore she'd look after her sister, Troo. Keep her safe. But like her Granny always said, actions speak louder than words. And Sally would have to agree with her.

Did you know that 8 out of 10 people ponder upon dating their best friend at one point or another? If you’re considering “taking friendship to the next level,” you’re not alone! Dating someone who knows you inside out makes a lot of sense. Your best friend knows everything about you. You enjoy spending time together, and if the chemistry is there, why not? But, wait. What if your BFF doesn’t feel the same way? What if both of you turn out to be different people in the relationship than you were in a friendship? What if the romance fades?

When journalist Isabel Vincent befriends Edward, both are at a crossroads: He wants to follow his late wife to the grave, and she is ready to give up on love. Isabel's friend, Edward's daughter, lives far away and has asked Isabel to check in on her dad in New York. At first Isabel is just doing her duty. But soon this charming, elegant, cultured man has become her dear friend. She gives him a reason to go on without his beloved wife of 72 years, and he gives her a renewed faith that happiness is possible.

Briallen Hopper's Hard to Love honours the categories of loves and relationships beyond marriage, the ones that are often treated as invisible or seen as secondary - friendships, kinship with adult siblings, care teams that form in times of illness, or various alternative family formations. She also values difficult and amorphous loves like loving a challenging job or inanimate objects that can't love you back.

Making new friends doesn't have to be a chore. Learn how to do it quickly, efficiently, and effectively.

In this “entertaining mix of social science, memoir, and humor, as if a Daniel Goleman book were filtered through the lens of Will Ferrell” (The New York Times Book Review) a middle-aged man embarks on an entertaining and relatable quest to reprioritize his ties with his buddies and forge new friendships, all while balancing work, marriage, and kids.

Sometimes we have huge expectations for the ideal relationship, but dating isn’t about being perfect or catching the perfect partner; it’s all about creating compassionate self-awareness and stronger self-esteem. A must-listen for Millennial daters, this no-nonsense guide from clinical psychologist Carla Marie Manly, PhD, takes the guesswork out of dating with real-life examples, the latest research, and 33 vital mindset shifts. Self-discovery is key to healthy relationships. Your life will change when you discover how to date strong, date fearlessly, and date smart.

A memoir of the author's decades-long friendship and spiritual journey with the late singer, songwriter, novelist, and poet Leonard Cohen. Funny, revealing, self-aware, and deeply moving, Matters of Vital Interest is an insightful memoir about Eric Lerner's relationship with his friend, whose idiosyncratic style and dignified life was deeply informed by his spiritual practices.