Friendship Development

Yes, Mindy Kaling is the genial Hollywood celebrity who posted twelve selfies from a single Oscar party, but that smile took work. In this hilariously honest essay, Mindy reflects on the social anxiety that she traces back to the slices of white cheese her parents served at her ninth birthday party. Little has changed in thirty years--least of all the fear of being judged forever. It’s probably best to just back away.

Understanding someone who belongs to another species can be transformative. No one knows this better than author, naturalist, and adventurer Sy Montgomery. To research her books, Sy has traveled the world and encountered some of the planet's rarest and most beautiful animals. From tarantulas to tigers, Sy's life continually intersects with and is informed by the creatures she meets. This restorative memoir reflects on the personalities and quirks of 13 animals - Sy's friends - and the truths revealed by their grace.

Have you recently moved to a new city and are struggling to make friends? Do you find yourself constantly making plans with friends that fall through? Are you more likely to see your friends' social media posts than their faces? You aren't alone. Millions of adults struggle with an uncomfortable and persistent ache: platonic longing, which is the unfulfilled wish for authentic, resilient, close friendships.

Relational Intelligence is your action plan for getting smart about your purpose partners. Relationships were God's idea, writes Daniels, and when we understand and apply what God has to say about them we end up avoiding unnecessary relational turmoil, advancing in all areas of our life, and accomplishing our God-given purpose. When your purpose is on the line, the cost of relational unintelligence is too great to pay. In this audiobook, you will explore and learn how to activate the relational intelligence you need for the life of purpose you want.

When it comes to adult friendships, we’re woefully inept: We barely manage to show up for our own commitments, let alone maintain our relationships. What’s more, we’re living in an uncharted social landscape with new conventions on how to relate - one where actual phone calls are reserved for Mom (if anyone), “dropping in” is unheard-of, and “flaking out” is routine.

It's time to discover the joy of being selfish and reclaim your life through the art of boundaries! Life coach and influencer @scarrednotscared Michelle Elman is here to teach you the practical side of self-love. Creating and upholding strong boundaries will teach others how to treat you, rid your life of drama and toxic relationships and allow you to love yourself and others in the best way you can.

It’s not like she’s the only woman to ever have a baby. At 35. On her own. But Anne Lamott makes it all fresh in her now-classic account of how she and her son and numerous friends and neighbors and some strangers survived and thrived in that all-important first year. From finding out her baby is a boy (and getting used to the idea) to finding out her best friend and greatest supporter, Pam, will die of cancer (and not getting used to that idea), with a generous amount of wit and faith (but little piousness), Lamott narrates the great and small events making up a woman’s life.

Despite modern technology and the ample ways we have to keep in touch, we risk neglecting our relationships with the people who have the most profound effect on our well-being: our friends. Weaving together personal stories, interviews with experts, and social research, Friendship First empowers you to nurture relationships with friends both new and old.

Grounded in the Buddha’s teachings on spiritual friendship, Radical Friendship shares seven strategies to help us embody our deepest values in all of our relationships. Drawing on her experiences as a leading meditation teacher, as well as personal stories of growing up multiracial in a racist world, Kate Johnson brings a fresh take on time-honored wisdom to help us connect more authentically with ourselves, with our friends and family, and within our communities.

When it first appeared, A Rumor of War brought home to American readers, with terrifying vividness and honesty, the devastating effects of the Vietnam War on the soldiers who fought there. And while it is a memoir of one young man's experiences and therefore deeply personal, it is also a book that speaks powerfully to today's students about the larger themes of human conscience, good and evil, and the desperate extremes men are forced to confront in any war.

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.

After almost every presentation activist and writer Mia Birdsong gives to executives, think tanks, and policy makers, one of those leaders quietly confesses how much they long for the profound community she describes. They have family, friends, and colleagues, yet they still feel like they're standing alone. They're "winning" at the American Dream, but they're lonely, disconnected, and unsatisfied.

What Remains begins with loss and returns to loss. A small plane plunges into the ocean, carrying John Kennedy, Anthony's cousin, and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, Carole's closest friend. Three weeks later Anthony dies of cancer. The summer of the plane crash, the four friends were meant to be cherishing Anthony's last days. Instead, Carole and Anthony mourned John and Carolyn, even as Carole planned her husband's memorial.

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.

It’s the great paradox of the digital age, what Radha Agrawal calls “community confusion” - the internet connects us to hundreds, thousands, even millions of people, and yet we feel more isolated than ever, with one in four Americans saying they have zero friends to confide in. Where are our people? The answer is found in Belong, a highly energetic guide to discovering where and with whom you fit.

Whether you are engaged and afraid you won't be able to light the spark, are newlyweds who haven't started off well, or have been married five, 10, 25 years, or more and you'd like to recapture the spark you once had, this audiobook is for you! The challenges aim to spice up the bedroom while guiding you through all three levels of sexual intimacy. As you go through these challenges with lots of laughter and enjoyment, sex will stop being a source of tension and become something fun that brings you together, just the way God intended.

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.

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?

Based upon powerful insights from the scriptural book of Ephesians, and seasoned with personal stories and practical wisdom, Defined challenges you to let the One who knows you best be the One who guides your heart the most. It’s time for all of us to live in the amazing light of His acceptance, abundance, and strength.

Sisterhood is that sacred space where all the masks that are worn for the world fall off. Dr. Joy Harden Bradford has been doing the work to help Black women heal together for over twenty years. In a sisterhood community with more than half a million members, she’s the go-to therapist for Black women looking to prioritize their mental health and become the best possible versions of themselves. Now she’s sharing all she’s learned using the tenets of psychology and group therapy to help us foster relationships that are not only positive, but transformative.