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Correctly calibrating energy flow in your personal space is essential to living a more peaceful and prosperous life. Your environment is a part of who you are, and that energy can flow through you and influence your life’s path. Here are tips for setting up your home from The Soul Searcher’s Handbook: The Modern Girl’s Guide To The New Age World.

Entrance of the Home
The front door is considered the mouth of the chi—where energy enters the home—so make sure it is inviting. What is your front entranceway’s message to the world: come in; welcome; we’re proud, clean, tidy, beautiful? By adding in potted plants, laying down a welcome mat, and tidying up the garden by your front door, you will find more positive energy flowing up to and into the front door—and into your life.

Remove Unfriendly Furniture and Furnishings
That table you always stub your damn toe on or chair that just doesn’t sit right is a sign it is blocking chi or welcoming in negative chi. Move it or get rid of it! Can you say “garage sale”?

Bring in Natural Elements
Reintroduce nature into your home by adding plants, water, crystals or gemstone rocks, natural light, and airflow wherever possible—except for water and plants in the bedroom; that’s a Feng Shui faux pas.

Put Out the Fire in the Kitchen
The kitchen is full of fire energy elements, so it is important to not add to the fire energy with power lighting or spotlights. Use as much natural light as possible in your kitchen.

Place Water by Your Front Door
Placing flowing water in a foundation or water feature of some sort by your front door represents the flow of wealth into the home, and by positioning it by your entryway door, you are welcoming in new financial opportunity.

Close Off Drains
By closing the door to the bathroom, you are blocking off any drains that might, well, drain positive energy or material wealth from your life.

Add a Wind Chime
A wind chime hung in the right-front area of your home will attract more help and assistance in your life. Who doesn’t need a little help from their friends now and again?

The post Simple Steps to Feng Shui Your Home appeared first on Tips on Life and Love.

As you roll out of bed, you are met by the warm sunshine of spring. Finally! After months of oppressing rain and cold, warm weather is finally here. So what to do first? I know! How about we go and sit in the dark, dingy gym to work on our summer bodies we have all […]

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When author Jessica Knoll wrote a courageously detailed and emotionally vulnerable essay about her rape in Lena Dunham’s Lenny Letter, she joined a notable group of artists who have acknowledged and grieved a traumatic experience by incorporating it into their work. In Knoll’s case, the circumstances were particularly horrifying: She was gang-raped as a teenager at a party, then bullied and victim-blamed for years.

Knoll was so conditioned to think that no one would believe her that even as an adult she was unable to tell anyone about it, except a therapist and her book agent. Everyone else accepted her lie, that there was no connection between herself and the protagonist Ani in Luckiest Girl Alive. The fearless act of publicly telling her story demonstrated not only her strength and grit, but also how real life infiltrates art, even when the truth is trauma that the author wishes had never happened.

Many contemporary authors have found the transformative power of survival made them create some of the most memorable stories of our time. Alice Sebold recounted the story of her brutal rape in the 1999 memoir Lucky. A few years later, her debut novel The Lovely Bones was a critical and commercial success. It’s a story exploring the complexities of trauma and grief, told from the point of view of a deceased young woman who is raped and murdered. Sebold’s novel contains the emotional wisdom gained as a result of her own personal trauma, expressed in the form of fiction.

Not all real-life traumatic events translate into survivor novels. Stephen King wrote Lisey’s Story after being hit by a van while taking a walk. He sustained multiple injuries, including a shattered leg and broken hip, and his life was changed forever—even after he had healed from the accident, he could only sit in a chair 40 minutes at a time before the pain was too much to bear. King has noted that visualizing his empty office in the event of his own death helped portray a scene of the deceased writer in the book.

Tyler Perry has made an empire out of his comedic plays and movies, but his life began on a different path. His father was emotionally and physically abusive; in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Perry recounted the time his father beat him up so badly that Perry was knocked unconscious for three days. His first play, “I Know I’ve Been Changed,” touched on issues of domestic violence, but also forgiveness and community. After years of struggle as a playwright in Atlanta, he achieved commercial success using those same themes. When he was able to acknowledge his past and use the emotional intelligence he had gained from forgiveness in his work, he was able to connect with his audience on a deep level, even through lighthearted comedy.

It is only through bravery and tenacity that these authors were able to talk about their tragedy, and in turn, tell their story. It is a testament to the strength and the power of the human spirit, and the creation of art as an act of heroism.

The post The Transformative Power of Trauma: True Stories Hidden in Popular Fiction appeared first on Tips on Life and Love.

Think back to the time before you had kids, when you could sleep until noon, go to brunch with your friends, and tell stories that made you laugh so hard you spit out your bloody mary—and none of it involved diapers. Those days may be over, but irreverent humor never dies. Parents with complicated and hilarious things to say about life are here to help. These books will help get you through your transition to parenthood, especially on the days when you are wondering how you got here.

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Confessions of a Scary Mommy

by Jill Smokler

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When Jill Smokler was first home with her small children, she thought her blog would be something to keep friends and family updated. To her surprise, she hit a chord in the hearts of mothers everywhere. I end up doing my son’s homework. It’s wrong, but so much easier.Total strangers were contributing their views on that strange reality called motherhood. As other women shared their stories, Jill realized she wasn’t alone in her feelings of exhaustion and imperfection. If you’ve not encountered Scary Mommy before, break out a glass of champagne as well, because you’ll be toasting your initiation into a select club. I know why some animals eat their young.In chapters that cover husbands (The Biggest Baby of Them All) to homework (Didn’t I Already Graduate?), Confessions of a Scary Mommy combines all-new essays from Jill with the best of the anonymous confessions.

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Gummi Bears Should Not Be Organic: And Other Opinions I Can’t Back Up With Facts

by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor

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From the popular mommy blogger and seasoned author of Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay and Naptime Is the New Happy Hour comes this hilarious book of honest, no-holds-barred musings on motherhood.Stefanie Wilder-Taylor is officially fed up with the endless mommy fads, trends, studies, findings, and facts about how to raise children. The mother of three young girls, Stefanie has finally decided to hell with Google—she’s going to find out how to be a mom all on her own.

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Go the F**k to Sleep

by Adam Mansbach

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Go the F*** to Sleep is a bedtime book for parents who live in the real world, where a few snoozing kitties and cutesy rhymes don’t always send a toddler sailing blissfully off to dreamland. Profane, affectionate, and radically honest, California Book Award-winning author Adam Mansbach’s verses perfectly capture the familiar–and unspoken–tribulations of putting your little angel down for the night. In the process, they open up a conversation about parenting, granting us permission to admit our frustrations, and laugh at their absurdity.

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Pat the Husband Mid-Life Crisis: A Parody

by Kate Nelligan

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A wildly amusing addition to Pat the Husband, this parody continues the story of Paul and Judy, from their beginnings as newlyweds to celebrating the everyday grind of married life, and now to the stereotypical matters of a mid life crisis. Every spouse and married couple will appreciate the interactive humor as they use pull tabs, touch-and-feel, and other designed elements to see Paul and Judy through unnecessary purchases, vision loss, a dying sex life and marriage counseling; but in the end their love is always for better or worse!Paul and Judy have been through the demands of married life from wedding planning to parenting, and everyday co-habitation. But now that they’re a little older, things have changed. In this wildly amusing continuation of Pat the Husband, Paul and Judy face mid life crises with humor that that any couple can relate to! With interactive flap-lifts, pull-tabs, touch-and-feel and other design elements, readers see Paul and Judy through unnecessary purchases (pull Judy’s shopping bags out of the closet!), sleeping troubles (help Judy insert her ear plugs!), vision loss (find Paul’s glasses!) and a boring a sex life (pull tabs to reveal their thought bubbles!) This humorous take on the quirky characteristics of middle-aged husbands and wives makes the perfect gift for married couples, girlfriend-to-girlfriend and anniversaries; always great for a laugh, especially when these marital matters seem all too familiar!

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All My Friends Are Dead

by Avery Monsen

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If you’re a dinosaur, all of your friends are dead. If you’re a pirate, all of your friends have scurvy. If you’re a tree, all of your friends are end tables. Each page of this laugh-out-loud illustrated humor book showcases the downside of being everything from a clown to a cassette tape to a zombie. Cute and dark all at once, this hilarious children’s book for adults teaches valuable lessons about life while exploring each cartoon character’s unique grievance and wide-eyed predicament. From the sock whose only friends have gone missing to the houseplant whose friends are being slowly killed by irresponsible plant owners (like you), All My Friends Are Dead presents a delightful primer for laughing at the inevitable.

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Moms Who Drink and Swear: True Tales of Loving My Kids While Losing My Mind

by Nicole Knepper

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Attention all potty-mouthed, cheap-wine-drinking mothers: Prepare to meet your match. Any bad thought you’ve had about your kids, Nicole Knepper has had worse. Much worse. It’s not that she doesn’t love her kids. It’s that she understands what a mind-f*?% it can be to try to civilize those wild little beasts.

Based on her hugely popular Facebook page, “Moms Who Drink and Swear,” this book reveals why family dinners are like herpes, how to avoid smashing toys that are being fought over, and the joy of hearing that your son has murdered his imaginary friend. As Nicole rants and raves about caring for children (without crushing their souls), family togetherness (without too many tears), the saving grace of girlfriends (and wine), and love and marriage (and all the baggage that goes with them), she gets to the heart of what every exasperated mom is thinking, just much funnier.

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Your Baby’s First Word Will Be DADA

by Jimmy Fallon

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Your baby’s first word will be . . .

“Dada!”

Right?

Everyone knows that fathers wage a secret campaign to ensure that their babies’ first word is “Dada!”

But how does it work?
One of the most popular entertainers in the world and NBC’s The Tonight Show host, Jimmy Fallon, shows you how.

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Sh*tty Mom: The Parenting Guide for the Rest of Us

by Laurie Kilmartin

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Sh*tty Mom is the ultimate parenting guide, written by four moms who have seen it all. As hilarious as it is universal, each chapter presents a common parenting scenario with advice on how to get through it in the easiest and most efficient way possible. With chapters such as “How to Sleep Until 9 A.M. Every Weekend” and “When Seeing an Infant Triggers a Mental Illness That Makes You Want to Have Another Baby,” as well as a Sh*tty Mom quiz, this is a must-have, laugh-out-loud funny book for the sh*tty parent in all of us.

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People I Want to Punch in the Throat: Competitive Crafters, Drop-Off Despots, and Other Suburban Scourges

by Jen Mann

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Jen Mann doesn’t have a filter, which sometimes gets her in trouble with her neighbors, her fellow PTA moms, and that one woman who tried to sell her sex toys at a home shopping party. Known for her hilariously acerbic observations on her blog, People I Want to Punch in the Throat, Mann now brings her sharp wit to bear on suburban life, marriage, and motherhood in this laugh-out-loud collection of essays. From the politics of joining a play group, to the thrill of mothers’ night out at the gun range, to the rewards of your most meaningful relationship (the one you have with your cleaning lady), nothing is sacred or off-limits. So the next time you find yourself wearing fuzzy bunny pajamas in the school carpool line or accidentally stuck at a co-worker’s swingers party, just think, What would Jen Mann do? Or better yet, buy her book.

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Toddlers Are A**holes: It’s Not Your Fault

by Bunmi Laditan

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Toddler a**holery is a normal part of human development—not unlike puberty, except this stage involves throwing food on the floor and taking swings at people who pay your way in life. For parents of toddlers, it’s a “you better laugh so you don’t cry” period.

Bunmi Laditan’s hilarious, satirical guide to toddlerhood offers parents instant (and very welcome) comic relief—along with the very good news that “It’s Not Your Fault.” Chapters cover the cost of raising a toddler, feeding your toddler, potty-training, tantrums, how to manage the holidays, and “how not to die inside.” Parents will see themselves in the very funny sections on taking your toddler to restaurants (“One parent will spend their time walking your toddler around the restaurant and outside like a cocker spaniel, while the other, luckier parent will eat alone.”), Things You Thought You’d Never Say That You Now Say As a Parent of a Toddler (“I can tell you’re pooping because your eyes are watering.”), and how to order pizza (“Spend $40 on pizza delivery. Listen to your toddler cry for 30 minutes about how the pizza is all wrong. Watch your toddler take a small bite of crust. Google ‘can anger give you a heart attack?’ Start the bedtime routine.”).

Laditan’s wildly funny voice has attracted hundreds of thousands of fans of Honest Toddler on social media; here she speaks parent-to-tired-parent, easing the pains and challenges of raising toddlers with a hefty dose of adult humor and wit.

The post 10 Hilarious Books for Parents Questioning It All appeared first on Tips on Life and Love.

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