A man infatuated with ivy. A woman pining for lost love. In a Turkish square, ancient buildings lament a devastating explosion. An unlikely friendship struck up with a homeless person. A journey to a magical place that once visited can never be found again. The camaraderie between the patients in a cancer ward. A writer who has lost his muse. A tragedy that leads to dementia. These are just a few of seventy individual tales set in locations straddling continents, which portray war, love, hate, hope, greed, revenge, despair, humour, mystical happenings, fantasy, and so much more. Like ripples expanding on the surface of a pond to reach its banks, they converge in this anthology of flash fiction and short stories by Sebnem E. Sanders in her debut release.
Even the smallest acts of kindness can make a difference. Ripples in the Water is a heartwarming story about a loving grandfather who shares a valuable lesson of kindness with his grandson. The grandson takes this lesson to heart, living a life full of kindness. Years later, he shares the wisdom his grandfather instilled in him with his own son. This story illuminates the importance of inspiring kindness in each generation. We don't always see the effects of our actions, but every action has a ripple effect. "Always be the kindest person you can be, and watch as your kindness spreads to others like ripples in the water."
Notwithstanding the importance of modern technology, fieldwork remains vital, not least through helping to inspire and educate the next generation. Fieldwork has the ingredients of intellectual curiosity, passion, rigour and engagement with the outdoor world - to name just a few. You may be simply noting what you see around you, making detailed records, or carrying out an experiment; all of this and much more amounts to fieldwork. Being curious, you think about the world around you, and through patient observation develop and test ideas. Forty contributors capture the excitement and importance of fieldwork through a wide variety of examples, from urban graffiti to the Great Barrier Reef. Outdoor learning is for life: people have the greatest respect and care for their world when they have first-hand experience of it. The Editors are donating all royalties due to them to the environmental charity, The Field Studies Council, to support student fieldwork at the Council's field centres.
Emigration is a psychological process of transitional change. It filters through everything, ripples across your world - often a devastating experience, but also a soul-searching journey where you may find that your destination does not necessarily lie in the city in which you will have arrived, but at a place much more personal, somewhere deep within you. This unique, timely and thought-provoking book looks at what and why emigration works for some, but not for others. It highlights the meaning of your endless yearning for loved ones back home, the intensity of loss experienced on various levels of your life, and the interaction between the different cycles, with their unique phases that run parallel, overlap, lapse and relapse. There are your own developmental phases, those of your family members individually, those of families as units going through their own cycles of development and change, and those of the family who had to stay behind. How do these different, but so similar, entities come together in the emigration melting pot, especially when you are exposed to the impact of culture shock? The book explains the link between the psychological, neurological and immunological aspects when you experience the intensity of emigration stress and its impact on you. It helps you to identify those issues beneath the surface that you have never realized exist, and you learn how to cope in order to make it work in the new country. You will understand the powerful role of social, emotional and spiritual intelligence in shaping your new life. It suggests new and effective ways of coping and it motivates you towards greater understanding of living as being a mindset. A powerful book for the emigrant, his/her family back home, and the professional alike - comprehensively written by Christa de Vries, an immigrant and professional herself.
The old timber town of Woody Creek has a way of getting under people's skin... But as the clock ticks over to 1970, Georgie's determined that the new decade will be the one that sees her finally break free of it. For Cara, Woody Creek will forever be tied to a devastating mistake that cannot be undone. She's vowed never to set foot in the place again. Meanwhile, Jenny's estranged son, Jim, has inherited an estate in the United Kingdom and is trying to make a new life for himself. If only he could shake off his one terrible attachment to Australia. As Woody Creek draws Joy Dettman's much-loved cast of characters back into its grip, confessions, discoveries and truths seem certain to explode in the most shocking of showdowns...
From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Secret World of Weather and The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs, learn to tap into nature and notice the hidden clues all around you Before GPS, before the compass, and even before cartography, humankind was navigating. Now this singular guide helps us rediscover what our ancestors long understood—that a windswept tree, the depth of a puddle, or a trill of birdsong can help us find our way, if we know what to look and listen for. Adventurer and navigation expert Tristan Gooley unlocks the directional clues hidden in the sun, moon, stars, clouds, weather patterns, lengthening shadows, changing tides, plant growth, and the habits of wildlife. Rich with navigational anecdotes collected across ages, continents, and cultures, The Natural Navigator will help keep you on course and open your eyes to the wonders, large and small, of the natural world.
What If Your Biggest Challenges, Struggles, and Heartbreaks Were Actually Preparing You for Your Greatest Transformation... and Contribution to the World? Can your most difficult moments be the ones that shed the greatest light in your life? These courageous visionaries say YES! Join these transformational authors as they share their own touching, amazing, and deeply inspiring true stories of their trials, triumphs, and ultimate transformations. In this fifth wave of Pebbles in the Pond, you'll connect with a diverse group of messengers whose stories are unique, yet whose messages have a common thread of inspiration, hope, healing, transformation, and new possibilities. As they share their straight-from-the-heart experiences, they invite you to discover how to transform your own challenges into the greatest gifts and blessings in your life. You'll also discover how one transformed life can cause ripples of good that expand out into the world - just like a "pebble in the pond." Our hope is that you'll also be inspired to discover what your pebble is so you can create a wave of positive change too! As you'll discover on these pages, it doesn't matter where you came from or what you've been through... you are loved and you do make a difference! "A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history." Gandhi Read this book and be inspired by this small body of determined spirits. They are indeed helping to shift the course of history through their own transformations and the ways they choose to live their lives every day. They look forward to sharing their journeys with you.
Newbery Award honoree Ashley Bryan has hand-selected a dozen of National Book Award winner Nikki Giovanni’s poems to illustrate with his inimitable flourish. There is nothing more important to a child than to feel loved, and this gorgeous gathering of poems written by Nikki Giovanni celebrates exactly that. Hand-selected by Newbery honoree Ashley Bryan, he has, with his masterful flourish of color, shape, and movement, added a visual layering that drums the most impartant message of all to young, old, parent, child, grandparent, and friend alike: You are loved. You are loved. You are loved. As a bonus, one page is mirrored, so children reading the book can see exactly who is loved—themselves!
Charlie O'Shields is the creator of Doodlewash®, founder of World Watercolor Month in July, and host of the Sketching Stuff podcast. Every single day, for over three years, he created a watercolor illustration and wrote a short essay about whatever came to mind that day and posted it on his blog. These are some of the collected favorites along with some brand new musings. With over 180 illustrations, this book is part personal memoir and sometimes just a randomly fun romp through the sillier bits of this crazy world we all inhabit. Written to take on the impossible task of inspiring creativity, unleashing your inner child, and instilling hope, it will, at the very least, make you smile and touch your heart.
What If Your Biggest Challenges, Struggles, and Heartbreaks Were Actually Preparing You for Your Greatest Transformation... and Contribution to the World? Can your most difficult moments be the ones that shed the greatest light in your life? These courageous visionaries say YES! Join bestselling authors Lisa Nichols, SARK, Christine Kloser, and many other Transformational Authors from around the world as they share their own touching, amazing, and deeply inspiring true stories of their trials, triumphs, and ultimate transformations. In this third wave of Pebbles in the Pond, you'll connect with a diverse group of messengers whose stories are unique, yet whose messages have a common thread of inspiration, hope, healing, transformation, and new possibilities. As they share their straight-from-the-heart experiences, they invite you to discover how to transform your own challenges into the greatest gifts and blessings in your life. You'll also discover how one transformed life can cause ripples of good that expand out into the world - just like a "pebble in the pond." Our hope is that you'll also be inspired to discover what your pebble is so you can create a wave of positive change too! As you'll discover on these pages, it doesn't matter where you came from or what you've been through... you are loved and you do make a difference!
