Showing results by narrator "Scott R Smith" in All Categories

Would you like to understand the deeper spiritual meaning of miscarriage, abortion, caregiving, abusive relationships, sexuality, adoption, poverty, suicide, rape, and mental illness? In his groundbreaking first book, Your Soul's Plan: Discovering the Real Meaning of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born, Robert Schwartz brought the idea of pre-birth planning into the mainstream. Now, his brilliant sequel Your Soul's Gift delves even deeper by exploring these subjects and others, such as spiritual awakening and even the pre-birth planning we do with our future pets.

The new era of gamification and human-focused design optimizes for motivation and engagement over traditional function-focused design. Within the industry, studies on game mechanics and behavioral psychology have become proliferate. However, few people understand how to merge the two fields into experience designs that reliably increases business metrics and generates a return on investment.

In his third book, Your Soul’s Love, author Robert Schwartz explores the pre-birth planning of challenges related to romantic relationships or their absence: infidelity, impotence, raising children alone after the death of one’s partner, being single, and celibate relationships.

Jason Thorpe was content living a quiet life in New Orleans. He and his best friend, Ode, opened their cozy curios shop in the French Quarter, and he was making some new, albeit interesting, friends.... Then Jason met Varic Maedoc, the prince of the vampyrs, and his life changed forever. Named the prince’s consort, Jason quickly became the most important subject in the vampyr realm, the man who holds the wolf of Maedoc’s heart - a position that comes with certain obligations and no small amount of influence.

Explaining Postmodernism is intellectual history with a polemical twist, providing fresh insights into the debates underlying the furor over political correctness, multiculturalism, and the future of liberal democracy.

Deputy US Marshal Eli Kohn is doing fine. As the Director of Public Affairs for the Northern District, he represents the USMS in Chicago and that suits him. Yes, it’s wearing to always be on, to smile and wave even in the face of adversity, but he’s good at his job, and no one ever sees him sweat. His personal life, though, has been stagnant, and that doesn’t seem likely to change. But that’s fine too. Eli would much rather spend his free time with his best friend Cel. And lately, when they’re not together, he’s been missing him more and more….

De Brevitate Vitae (frequently referred to as On the Shortness of Life in English) is a moral essay written by Seneca the Younger, a Roman Stoic philosopher, to his father-in-law Paulinus. The philosopher brings up many Stoic principles on the nature of time, namely that men waste much of it in meaningless pursuits. According to the essay, nature gives man enough time to do what is really important and the individual must allot it properly.

Ash is a walking red flag. He is domineering and always in a bad mood. Tragically widowed, yet still in love with his long-dead wife, a single dad to three mini versions of himself, and much too old for me. But I’ve wanted him since I was 16. Seeing him again more than a decade later, all those old feelings just rush back in. Every time when I look up into his deep green eyes, dark scruffy beard, and kissable dimples, all I want is to fall into his arms and never leave. Too much wine and one bed-rocking night later, everything changed.

As the bassist for the band Caged, the last three years have been one, long non-stop party. Sure, I've had some regrets. Everyone does. But getting trapped in a relationship isn't one of them. I know good and well what happens when the attraction fades. I've seen it firsthand. Love is a zero sum game, so why play? As long as I'm upfront about my feelings, no one gets hurt. Besides, I'm never in one place long enough to worry about tomorrow. That is, until the band decided to take an extended hiatus in our hometown. That's when I met Melody Sullivan.

Fixer. Bodyguard. Advocate. Brann Calder is expected to play all these roles and more as a member of Torus Intercession, a security firm guaranteed to right what’s wrong. In the military, catastrophe was his specialty. Five months out of the service, Brann is still finding his way, so a new assignment might be just what he needs. Unless it includes two things sure to make a seasoned, battle-trained veteran nervous: life in a small town, and playing caregiver to two little girls.

Do you wish you could lead a mindful life where you're completely present for yourself, completely aware of what you're doing and not reactive to the noise and distractions of your surroundings? No matter where you lie on the spectrum of life, mindfulness is always the end goal - and it should be. The good news is that you can be mindful regardless of how busy your schedule is: all you need is a few minutes to find quietude and joy in your frantic life.

Sometimes it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Siberia in April isn't in any tourist guidebook. But that is where Trapp finds himself. It's cold, dark, and the vodka tastes like gasoline. After brawling with half a dozen corrupt Russian cops, he's taken to the infamous penal colony marked on maps as IK-29, but known to inmates as the Black Eagle. The guards are brutes, their prisoners little better than animals. It's hell on earth.

If you are constantly longing for love from someone else such as your parents, partner, or friends, you might want to revisit your childhood. As children, we didn’t receive the love we desire from our parents. So we are still seeking someone to fulfill this void in us. The truth is we have the capacity to love ourselves. The purpose of this book is to help you learn how to love yourself and be your own parent. What your parents failed to do for you in the past, you can do it for yourself now.

Do you feel lonely even when you are with people? When we are alone and isolated, many of us think we will feel better once we surround ourselves with friends, family, or a romantic partner. We are constantly looking for someone else to complete us, accompany us, and give us love and attention. But instead of feeling less lonely, we often end up feeling empty and disappointed.

Detective Roese looked up, a strand of lank hair hanging across her face. Blood staining her bare hands and forearms, she kept her weight pitched forward, pressing down on the sucking chest wound, fighting desperately to prevent another tally on the list of recently deceased. “You can’t go out there. Best case, you never find him in the middle of all this. Worst, it’s a trap". Outcomes Reed had already considered and dismissed, his faith placed in the inky black K-9 partner by his side. “Even a ghost leaves a scent".

When Reed Mattox and his K-9 partner, Billie, received a direct summons to the personal residence of Governor Thomas Cowan, he assumed it was another escalation over the particulars of their new position as liaisons between the Columbus Police Department and the state Bureau of Criminal Investigations.

My best friend roped me into baking for her stepson’s wedding. I had just moved into town and I couldn’t exactly turn that kind of money down. But getting drunk enough to sleep with that tall, dark blond wedding guest? That was all on me. I should have known he’d leave without a word or even a proper introduction. But that wasn’t the last I saw of him. Kiefer just turned out to be my brand-new neighbor.

In this Pocket Guide to Postmodernism, author Andrew Colgan, PhD, explores the fundamental premises and ideas of postmodernism by summarizing and interpreting Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault by Stephen Hicks, PhD. In his discussion of the philosophical foundations of this intellectual movement, Colgan presents a concise guide into the views of one of the most influential schools of the 20th century and its real-life consequences.

This book contains proven steps and strategies on how to generate great business ideas. Statistics suggest that most start-ups don't make it through the first two years. Basing a company on the wrong idea is one of the major reasons behind this!

Can’t stop your critical thoughts? With mindfulness, you have critical thoughts… without the suffering. From an early age, many of us have this critical voice in our head that we call the inner critic. We have tried many different exercises and techniques to get rid of it, but nothing works. These intrusive thoughts keep popping up whenever they want. And they make us feel frustrated! Instead of overcoming our self-criticism, we end up making the inner critic our enemy and blame ourselves for having such self-loathing thoughts.