From the founder of the Wu-Tang Clan—celebrating their 25th anniversary this year—an inspirational book for the hip hop fan. The RZA, founder of the Wu-Tang Clan, imparts the lessons he's learned on his journey from the Staten Island projects to international superstardom. A devout student of knowledge in every form in which he's found it, he distills here the wisdom he's acquired into seven "pillars," each based on a formative event in his life-from the moment he first heard the call of hip-hop to the death of his cousin and Clan- mate, Russell Jones, aka ODB. Delivered in RZA's unmistakable style, at once surprising, profound, and provocative, The Tao of Wu is a spiritual memoir the world has never seen before, and will never see again. A nonfiction Siddhartha for the hip-hop generation from the author of The Wu-Tang Manual, it will enlighten, entertain, and inspire.
This book is not your typical book. This book is aimed to pick up your spirits. When you are feeling down pick it up read until you feel better then stash it away until you need it again. This book is positive vibes and good energy. This book is true, honest, and inspirational. Read with an open mind and it will change your life.
Photographer Poul Beckmann's first collection of larger-than-life beetles was hailed across the globe. The Houston Chronicle called it "one of the season's happiest marriages of science and art." The Wall Street Journal declared it an "original and beautiful book," while American Photo praised its "dazzling colour and sumptuous production values." Now Beckmann has compiled an entirely new collection of gorgeous beetles that are ready for their close-up. Magnified multiple times their normal size and photographed in rich colour, their true magnificence is revealed: page after page of luminescent golds, electrifying greens, fiery reds, and unearthly blues. There are beetles with leopard spots and zebra stripes, beetles shaped like rhinos and dragons, beetles with long horns and shining armour. While Beckmann's images represent the finest examples of nature photography, the presentation of his subjects takes these pictures to another level. Graphic designers, painters, architects, fashionistas, and entomologists will be amazed and inspired by the natural beauty of these tiny jewels.
The Jewels of Happiness is a treasure chest of wisdom and joy - a compilation of succinct and insightful pieces of prose, practical exercises and uplifting aphorisms and verse, many of them published here for the first time. Addressing themes such as peace, enthusiasm and love, the self-contained chapters combine to create a wonderful tapestry of inspiration. Sri Chinmoy's easy-to-follow exercises, based on perennial ancient wisdom, are truly pertinent for the modern era and perfectly suited to our fast-paced lives - his amazing ability to offer positive help and insight speaks to each reader as if the words were written just for them.
“Jewel is a truth-teller…this is a book that lingers in your heart.” – Brené Brown *The New York Times bestseller* New York Times bestselling poet and multi-platinum singer-songwriter Jewel explores her unconventional upbringing and extraordinary life in an inspirational memoir that covers her childhood to fame, marriage, and motherhood. When Jewel’s first album, Pieces of You, topped the charts in 1995, her emotional voice and vulnerable performance were groundbreaking. Drawing comparisons to Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell, a singer-songwriter of her kind had not emerged in decades. Now, with more than thirty million albums sold worldwide, Jewel tells the story of her life, and the lessons learned from her experience and her music. Living on a homestead in Alaska, Jewel learned to yodel at age five, and joined her parents’ entertainment act, working in hotels, honky-tonks, and biker bars. Behind a strong-willed family life with an emphasis on music and artistic talent, however, there was also instability, abuse, and trauma. At age fifteen, she moved out and tasked herself with a mission: to see if she could avoid being the kind of statistic that her past indicated for her future. Soon after, she was accepted to the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, and there she began writing her own songs as a means of expressing herself and documenting her journey to find happiness. Jewel was eighteen and homeless in San Diego when a radio DJ aired a bootleg version of one of her songs and it was requested into the top-ten countdown, something unheard-of for an unsigned artist. By the time she was twenty-one, her debut had gone multiplatinum. There is much more to Jewel’s story, though, one complicated by family legacies, by crippling fear and insecurity, and by the extraordinary circumstances in which she managed to flourish and find happiness despite these obstacles. Along her road of self-discovery, learning to redirect her fate, Jewel has become an iconic singer and songwriter. In Never Broken she reflects on how she survived, and how writing songs, poetry, and prose has saved her life many times over. She writes lyrically about the natural wonders of Alaska, about pain and loss, about the healing power of motherhood, and about discovering her own identity years after the entire world had discovered the beauty of her songs.
Inspired by memories of her beloved grandmother, photographer and author Alysia Burton Steele -- picture editor on a Pulitzer Prize-winning team -- combines heart-wrenching narrative with poignant photographs of more than 50 female church elders in the Mississippi Delta. These ordinary women lived extraordinary lives under the harshest conditions of the Jim Crow era and during the courageous changes of the Civil Rights Movement. With the help of local pastors, Steele recorded these living witnesses to history and folk ways, and shares the significance of being a Black woman -- child, daughter, sister, wife, mother, and grandmother in Mississippi -- a Jewel of the Delta. From the stand Mrs. Tennie Self took for her marriage to be acknowledged in the phone book, to the life-threatening sacrifice required to vote for the first time, these 50 inspiring portraits are the faces of love and triumph that will teach readers faith and courage in difficult times.
Told with an unflinchingly honest voice as real as the flawed people that populated her world, The Making of a Woman is an unexpected memoir exploring the path less traveled. Childhood abuse and trauma powered an alcoholism that would nearly defeat Jewels. Yet Jewels assures us that even when we lose those things that give shape to our soul--belonging, the need for touch, and safety in our own home--we can go on to devise a new way of being that surpasses our childhood haunts. Jewels was seven years old when her father attempted a family suicide, so her mother whisked her away to the arms and family of another man. Ruled by her mother's delusional survival aspirations and the ignored evidence of her suffering at the hands of her new relatives, life became a daily struggle for survival for Jewels. But when the truth could no longer be hidden, the family split, leaving Jewels to navigate a new world, not of her making. Deciding to use her earlier trauma to enter recovery, sexually liberate herself, and enter the competitive world of professional bodybuilding, Jewels created a life that inspires others to push forward no matter the details. In this uncommon ode to survival, Jewels creates a quite unexpected career from her truth--underscored by her complicated relationship with the allure of sexuality. Through a tangle of forgiveness and understanding emerges an elevated journey of the mechanisms for survival, of pain and joy, and of discovering that family is what you make of it.
Life is the choicest gift in the bounty of heaven entrusted to your wise and diligent keeping. God has given you power and opportunity to improve it and be happy. He has also given you equal power to despise the gift and be miserable. Which you do is up to you. You may make life what you please and give it as much worth, both for yourself and others, as you desire. How are you doing so far on this journey called life? Are you striving to make the most of its possibilities? When your life is nearly ended you will think of the past and perhaps contemplate a different course you would take if only you could turn back the hands of time. But this is not possible. Therefore, make the most of your life now. Live no longer as though you are indifferent to life's prizes. You are invited to discover the real "jewels of life" that will prepare you to fill with honor and usefulness the places you are destined to occupy. You'll find the inspiration and help you need to make real your hopes of success and happiness.
Do you sometimes wonder if God is talking to you?Are you looking for direction and purpose in your life?Do you need practical spiritual guidance for everyday living?You are not alone.Jewels of Wisdom is a devotional from God's heart. Yes, the God who knows your struggles, witnessed your past, and sees your present-that God has plans for your future and wants to guide you into your destiny. At times we are unwise, selfish, and bent on following our own plans without regard for God and His ways. But just as we value and prize the jewels of the earth, we desperately need to value God's jewels of wisdom and receive His instruction.This book will teach you how to have a face-to-face encounter with Jesus as you hear His heart for you. In these short readings-written in His voice and accompanied by His Word-you will capture the insight and understanding you need to walk with God by your side. Get ready: the journey is going to be breathtaking, adventurous, and full of hope!Marilyn Gray is a woman after God's heart who has overcome addictions and survived cancer. She and her husband, Wayne, are ordained ministers and founders of Freedomtrain Ministries. They have been involved in ministry for twenty years, bringing a prophetic and healing ministry to a world audience as they train and equip the body of Christ to hear God's voice. Marilyn is a member of the Northwest Christian Writer's Association in Seattle.
'I have learned to be content in whatever state] I am'' (Phil. 4:11) Anyone who lacks true contentment may find it in this book. If not, it will be because that one would not follow the very clear and simple instructions given. The teaching is from the Bible, yet it must be described as unique. Nowhere else will you find such unusual, but Biblically authenticated thoughts: He will teach you that contentment lies in subtraction, not in addition; that the ABC's of Christianity are nothing like what you thought them to be; that there is a mystery of contentment, but that once you have learned the way from Christ's word, you will be able to attain such a depth of contentment as you never before dreamed existed. This is a key book for building up Christian maturity. Christian Contentment, what is it? ''It is a sweet, inward heart thing. It is a work of the Spirit indoors. It is a box of precious ointment, very comforting and useful for troubled hearts in times of troubled conditions.
