Lean has never published a book before this one. She hopes there are many more to come. Butterflies have been her favorite insect ever since she can remember. She loves clothing, pictures, and other things with butterflies on them. Butterflies are a symbol of new beginnings, so writing a book with butterflies in it just made sense to her. One night sitting in the quiet, she asked for guidance. "What is her purpose? What is going to make her happier and successful in life?" All of a sudden, the book came rushing into her head; she couldn't write it down fast enough! She's never written a book before, so it was all new to her. Later, when the book was more than half written, she started typing it onto the computer, again, she couldn't type fast enough because the words were still flowing like water. The book was finished in a month; editing and tweaking took a while longer. Now, it's ready for you to read: six little bedtime stories. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it for you.
The Butterfly On My Shoulder is an inspiring book composed of poems and commentary about the grief process. Its purpose is to share the love, pain and growth that so many have lived through and to inspire healing by all who grieve. This book lets mourners know that they are not alone and they are not going crazy, they are grieving and they can heal. It was written over a 22 year period by a mother after the death of her 24 year old son by suicide in 1986. Many of the poems have been previously published in newsletters, brochures and on the internet. They have proven to be very encouraging to those who grieve by helping them to deal with and understand their grieving journey. The book offers a clear explanation of the grief journey and grief process as experienced from the perspective of all family members, friends and fellow grievers in fourteen chapters. The chapters are divided by the stages and the friend or family member's perspective. The poems and commentary offer suggestions and information about helpful methods and modalities that a grieving person can use to better negotiate the different stages of grief. The author uses her experiences and education as the Executive Director/CEO of the Florida Initiative for Suicide Prevention, Inc. and a member of the Florida State Suicide Prevention Coordinating Council to explain and share the experiences of thousands of grieving individuals which she has come in contact with over the last 22 years. The commentary and poems express the perspective of both the author and survivors with which she has worked and describes their pain and ultimate healing. This book is a useful tool for anyone who is grieving the loss of a loved one including those dealing with a death by suicide.
The Butterfly On My Shoulder is an inspiring book composed of poems and commentary about the grief process. Its purpose is to share the love, pain and growth that so many have lived through and to inspire healing by all who grieve. This book lets mourners know that they are not alone and they are not going crazy, they are grieving and they can heal. It was written over a 22 year period by a mother after the death of her 24 year old son by suicide in 1986. Many of the poems have been previously published in newsletters, brochures and on the internet. They have proven to be very encouraging to those who grieve by helping them to deal with and understand their grieving journey. The book offers a clear explanation of the grief journey and grief process as experienced from the perspective of all family members, friends and fellow grievers in fourteen chapters. The chapters are divided by the stages and the friend or family member's perspective.
Have you ever wondered if life could change for you? Could a word or an action change the course of your life? Can a supernatural force out there influence you or your family? Does God send His representatives, angels, to accomplish His means? Find out what he did for the main character, Cassandra, in "An Angel Over My Shoulder." Watch what happened in her life. Could it happen for you? Cassandra was an ordinary child in an ordinary home. Find out why she became so extra ordinary as an adult. Cassandra's story begins as an eleven year old child in a chaotic home. Her life changes after high school. She is involved in the world of high finance and romance. Her life has many ups and downs until a mysterious stranger comes into her life. Someone she feels she has known and not known all of her life. Does God send people? Could the changes in her life be your changes? Find out what God can do. Can He intercede in your life even if you don't believe in Him? Even if you worship another god? Could this be for you also?
“Once upon a time, I dreamed I was a butterfly...” This is how Chuang Tzu’s famous anecdote begins. It is a short parable about the relativity of perception, written more than two thousand years ago. Many of us have experienced similar situations and wondered at times if we could tell dreams from reality. “Butterfly’s Dream” expands Chuang Tzu’s story into a surreal quest of adventure, romance, and self-discovery at the end of the 18th century. Despite the fantasy-like atmosphere, the novel accurately follows the laws of physics and would best fit into the “hard sci-fi” category. Alberto is the second lieutenant on Excelsior, a military brig involved mostly on sea-patrolling missions. He has a keen interest in science and a mind inclined towards exploration and introspection. Most of his sailing trips are uneventful, with his ship transporting troops and ammunition to various locations managed by the navy. But things are about to change. When the ship encounters a magnetic storm, the crew members find themselves sailing in uncharted waters. The next day, Excelsior casts anchor at the pier of a mysterious city that doesn’t seem to be located on Earth. Soon, Alberto becomes involved in complex events that make him question the surrounding reality and even his sanity. The fabulous world he gets to explore looks nothing like the world from his space and time. And what are space and time, after all? In this place so different from Earth, Alberto meets Nivit, a beautiful and accomplished physician, and falls in love with her. Soon, they are swept into an unexpected journey of adventure and self-discovery that carries them through stranger and stranger realms and realities. Can the rational mind defy the irrational? Can love defend against extreme weather and death? Does time always flow in the same direction? What is real? What is a dream? A mirror reflecting itself. What would it show? A mirror reflecting another mirror. What would it see? Look inside the mirror, open the door, step onto the path stretching beyond its surface, and you might find out. Are you ready? If you enjoy reading this story, I have a favor to ask: Please write a review about it and recommend it to your friends! But only if you like it!
Change is one of life's absolute certainties, but so many of us are held back by a fear of the unknown, by constant procrastination and by living in the shadow of negative thinking about what the future holds for us. This book shows us how to bring positive energy into our life by breaking out of the cocoon, shifting our focus from the negative and embracing change. Written by life coach, clinical hypnotherapist and healer Karen Whitelaw-Smith, The Butterfly Experience reveals how changing your mindset, focusing on abundance, living in the present and learning the skills of relaxation will help you overcome your fears and become the person you deserve to be. The book offers a wealth of practical tools such as visualizations, meditations and affirmations to help you to forget about past mistakes and habits and find the inspiration for change deep within yourself. Learn how to take responsibility for your own thoughts, stop waiting for the miracle that will make you happy, and trust your intuition rather than looking to other people for approval. The journey from caterpillar to butterfly is full of profound transformations and stubborn obstacles to overcome, but this book shows us that if we continue to focus on what we don't want, or on what makes us fearful, then we are certain to stay where we are and we will never experience the exciting challenges and wonders that lie ahead. Apply the groundbreaking techniques of The Butterfly Experience and discover the key to a healthy, happier life.
Forty-one-year old Elizabeth Bishop's life has begun to feel like a string of empty successes. While her international career has prospered, her personal affairs have not and the almost urgent sense that something vital is missing inspires her to make a pilgrimage to idyllic, small town Montague to visit her closest childhood friend, Annie. Until recently, Annie's life has appeared to be perfect. She married her pillar-of-society psychiatrist husband, Arthur, while they were both still in college, became a full-time mother to their two young children and devoted her self to caring for her family. Her life seemed to be postcard perfect until just the year before, when Arthur committed suicide, leaving her to raise now eight-year-old Sam and fourteen-year-old Betsy on her own. When Elizabeth arrives in Montague, she is plunged into the dark and tangled mystery surrounding Arthur's death. Nothing, apparently, is as it seems. Annie's life has been a lie for years. Arthur was a violent, angry man who scarcely spoke to his wife. Betsy and her father shared an unnaturally close relationship that excluded Annie and everyone else. Only Sam -- sweet, cheerful, buoyant Sam -- seems to have survived unscathed, but has he? And why is Annie so afraid of Jackson, Arthur's boyhood chum who was close to both Arthur and Annie for many years before he was banished from the family? Why has he resurfaced now and what secrets are he and Annie hiding? As Elizabeth tries to sort through the web of deceit in Annie's life, her own demons begin to emerge. She is haunted in her nightly dreams by a recurring vision from childhood of a brooding moonlike face hovering just above her but remaining out of reach. Who is the face, why has it returned and what does it want? Annie believes that only Luke, her high school confidant and Elizabeth's long ago boyfriend, can provide the key to their shared crises. Without telling Elizabeth, Annie invites Luke to join them in Montague. An unexpected love story ensues as the protective layers surrounding each of the characters begin to unravel. Annie finds courage and perspective as she sees her life from a new vantage point. Betsy learns that Arthur was not her biological father and that the insanity she was so afraid of inheriting from him is not her birthright. Elizabeth recovers the deeply buried memories of her own mother's death and finally confronts the face that has been haunting her dreams since childhood. At the center of Betsy and Elizabeth's growing friendship is their shared search for a relationship with God as He is revealed in the Psalms and Proverbs. Ultimately, each of the characters finds a Higher Power to whom they can turn for strength and comfort.
In five sections—Childhood, Migration, Half/First Generation, Return, and Future—the thirty-three contributors to this anthology write movingly, often hauntingly, of their lives in Haiti and the United States. Their dyaspora, much like a butterfly's fluctuating path, is a shifting landscape in which there is much travel between two worlds, between their place of origin and their adopted land. This compilation of essays and poetry brings together Haitian-Americans of different generations and backgrounds, linking the voices for whom English is a first language and others whose dreams will always be in French and Kreyòl. Community activists, scholars, visual artists and filmmakers join renowned journalists, poets, novelists and memoirists to produce a poignant portrayal of lives in transition. Edwidge Danticat, in her powerful introduction, pays tribute to Jean Dominique, a sometime participant in the Haitian dyaspora and a recent martyr to Haiti's troubled politics, and the many members of the dyaspora who refused to be silenced. Their stories confidently and passionately illustrate the joys and heartaches, hopes and aspirations of a relatively new group of immigrants belonging to two countries that have each at times maligned and embraced them.
“What a wonderful idea for an adventure! Absolutely inspired, timely, and important.” —Alistair Humphreys, National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and author of The Doorstep Mile and Around the World by Bike Outdoor educator and field researcher Sara Dykman made history when she became the first person to bicycle alongside monarch butterflies on their storied annual migration—a round-trip adventure that included three countries and more than 10,000 miles. Equally remarkable, she did it solo, on a bike cobbled together from used parts. Her panniers were recycled buckets. In Bicycling with Butterflies, Dykman recounts her incredible journey and the dramatic ups and downs of the nearly nine-month odyssey. We’re beside her as she navigates unmapped roads in foreign countries, checks roadside milkweed for monarch eggs, and shares her passion with eager schoolchildren, skeptical bar patrons, and unimpressed border officials. We also meet some of the ardent monarch stewards who supported her efforts, from citizen scientists and researchers to farmers and high-rise city dwellers. With both humor and humility, Dykman offers a compelling story, confirming the urgency of saving the threatened monarch migration—and the other threatened systems of nature that affect the survival of us all.
One of the great natural scientists of her age, Eleanor Glanville was a woman ahead of her time-the beautiful daughter of a seventeenth-century Puritan nobleman whose unconventional passions scandalized society. Her life was marked by two reckless preoccupations: a fascination with science-especially the study of butterflies-and a tempestuous love affair with the dashing soldier Richard Glanville that nearly cost her everything she held dear.
