""I find few more satisfying exhibitions of power and control than deliberately creating desire - only to capriciously deny it."" Ms. Rika uses her extensive experience in the world of D/s to create five reality-based stories of desperation, lust, and love in a world of female dominance. If you've ever enjoyed the thrill of control, you'll love reading Ms. Rika's evil, creative, and somewhat sadistic accounts of women taking control of a man's desire. As with Rika's non-fiction books on D/s, her approach to power dynamics is centered around the dominant - what they want, what they need. In ""The Joy of Denial"" she explores how Tease and Denial (T&D) can be used as a tool to that end.
Two ministers share their own stories about struggling to live out their faith. It’s the sort of experience familiar to many: Somewhere between illness and divorce, abusive relationships and brushes with death, faith failed to provide answers . . . or we failed to live as though we believed faith held answers. But surely, it’s different for clergy, the ones who preach and practice faith? But faith requires more, and authors Martha Spong and Rachel G. Hackenberg, who grew up in the church and became ordained ministers, know first-hand about coming to terms with God and life, the need to search for answers . . . or at least assurance we are not alone in struggling for renewed hope. Denial is My Spiritual Practice is a companion for the wondering and struggling. The authors offer their own stories as evidence that God remains, both when faith fails and when faith finds new understanding. They combine stark life experiences, offbeat spiritual perspectives, and Scripture to offer comfort, grace, laughter, and a few tears along the way.
This is NOT your typical D/s manual. Uniquely Rika provides a practical, intelligent, common-sense approach to adding D/s to your relationship; with long-termed success. You'll see how fulfilling the inner desire to serve or be served is within your reach - without having to mask yourself in artificial roles and games. Ms. Rika explains why several popular approaches fail to last. She then details her approach to creating successful D/s relationships; one which has proven as effective with seasoned D/s players as with those who never thought themselves to be a 'dominant' or 'submissive'. Regardless of your experience level, Uniquely Rika will provide a new insight, a heightened awareness, and a fresh perspective on D/s that will enhance your relationships, forever. Though written from the 'female-led' perspective, the concepts are applicable to any loving partners. If you're serious about a lasting and meaningful D/s-based relationship, you'll want to read "Uniquely Rika."
Hailed by critics and readers alike, Jessica Stern's riveting memoir examines the horrors of trauma and denial as she investigates her own unsolved adolescent sexual assault at the hands of a serial rapist. Alone in an unlocked house, in a safe suburban Massachusetts town, two good, obedient girls, Jessica Stern, fifteen, and her sister, fourteen, were raped on the night of October 1, 1973. The rapist was never caught. For over thirty years, Stern denied the pain and the trauma of the assault. Following the example of her family, Stern—who lost her mother at the age of three, and whose father was a Holocaust survivor—focused on her work instead of her terror. She became a world-class expert on terrorism and post-traumatic stress disorder who interviewed extremists around the globe. But while her career took off, her success hinged on her symptoms. After her ordeal, she no longer felt fear in normally frightening situations. Stern believed she'd disassociated from the trauma altogether, until a dedicated police lieutenant reopened the case. With the help of the lieutenant, Stern began her own investigation to uncover the truth about the town of Concord, her own family, and her own mind. The result is Denial, a candid, courageous, and ultimately hopeful look at a trauma and its aftermath.
Victor Izes, now thirty years of age, recalls the events leading up to the day he viciously murdered his father less than a decade ago. As he tries to make sense of the madness that gripped his fateful act, he anticipates opening a lengthy letter that he recently received from his former girlfriend - his very first love - Bree Yeager. She sent it to the maximum security state hospital where Victor bides his time, waiting for his release back into society, for he is certain that he has regained his sanity. "...Gazing out the window, I witnessed the beauty of the season - lush and abundant. But where was I? Winter disappeared into spring, and, like winter, I too disappeared. Where was my spring? My winter of delirium remained and grew into an unknown season of psychosis, yielding invisible blossoms, blistering my mind. The condition I experienced is now distinct. And, although I couldn't see it then, I can see it clearly as I look back, like a child looking through a window. I want to shake the fiend out of my body, out of my mind, but it's too late. Any wish I have to return to that moment is wasted. My memory serves me well, however, and I see him - him that is I, standing before the outset of fear. There he is, Victor Izes, smoking a Chesterfield cigarette in the window of his room, thinking thoughts absurd about a Japanese woodcut and a silent war."
How corporate denial harms our world and continues to threaten our future. Corporations faced with proof that they are hurting people or the planet have a long history of denying evidence, blaming victims, complaining of witch hunts, attacking their critics’ motives, and otherwise rationalizing their harmful activities. Denial campaigns have let corporations continue dangerous practices that cause widespread suffering, death, and environmental destruction. And, by undermining social trust in science and government, corporate denial has made it harder for our democracy to function. Barbara Freese, an environmental attorney, confronted corporate denial years ago when cross-examining coal industry witnesses who were disputing the science of climate change. She set out to discover how far from reality corporate denial had led society in the past and what damage it had done. Her resulting, deeply-researched book is an epic tour through eight campaigns of denial waged by industries defending the slave trade, radium consumption, unsafe cars, leaded gasoline, ozone-destroying chemicals, tobacco, the investment products that caused the financial crisis, and the fossil fuels destabilizing our climate. Some of the denials are appalling (slave ships are festive). Some are absurd (nicotine is not addictive). Some are dangerously comforting (natural systems prevent ozone depletion). Together they reveal much about the group dynamics of delusion and deception. Industrial-Strength Denial delves into the larger social dramas surrounding these denials, including how people outside the industries fought back using evidence and the tools of democracy. It also explores what it is about the corporation itself that reliably promotes such denial, drawing on psychological research into how cognition and morality are altered by tribalism, power, conflict, anonymity, social norms, market ideology, and of course, money. Industrial-Strength Denial warns that the corporate form gives people tremendous power to inadvertently cause harm while making it especially hard for them to recognize and feel responsible for that harm.
"This book is about dying, not about death. We are always dying a big, always giving things up, always having things taken away. Is there a person alive who isn't really curious about what dying is for them? Is there a person alive who wouldn't like to go to their dying full of excitement, without fear and without morbidity? This books tells you how." -- Front cover.
A futuristic thriller about climate change by the acclaimed screenwriter of First Cow, Meek’s Cutoff, and HBO’s Mildred Pierce. The year is 2052. Climate change has had a predictably devastating effect: Venice submerged, cyclones in Oklahoma, megafires in South America. Yet it could be much worse. Two decades earlier, the global protest movement known as the Upheavals helped break the planet’s fossil fuel dependency, and the subsequent Nuremberg-like Toronto Trials convicted the most powerful oil executives and lobbyists for crimes against the environment. Not all of them. A few executives escaped arrest and went into hiding, including pipeline mastermind Robert Cave. Now, a Pacific Northwest journalist named Jack Henry who works for a struggling media company has received a tip that Cave is living in Mexico. Hoping the story will save his job, he travels south and, using a fake identity, makes contact with the fugitive. The two men strike up an unexpected friendship, leaving Jack torn about exposing Cave—an uncertainty further compounded by the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness and a new romance with an old acquaintance. Who will really benefit from the unmasking? What is the nature of justice and punishment? How does one contend with mortality when the planet itself is dying? Denial is both a page-turning speculative suspense novel and a powerful existential inquisition about the perilous moment in which we currently live.
A New, Expanded Edition of Renovaré's Classic Companion to the Devotional Life Updated to incorporate all six traditions, or "streams," that comprise a healthy and holistic life of faith, these fifty–two selections have been organized to introduce the reader to the great devotional writers over the course of one year. Edited by James Bryan Smith, each reading is accompanied by an introduction and meditation by Richard J. Foster. In addition, each entry includes a related biblical passage, discussion questions, and individual and group exercises. With devotional readings in 1. The Prayer–Filled Life 2. The Virtuous Life 3. The Spirit–Empowered Life 4. The Compassionate Life 5. The Word–Centered Life 6. The Sacramental Life Foster and Smith sift through works from the great spiritual writers of the past as well as readings from contemporary spiritual leaders to create a guide that is indispensable for those looking for a deeper and more balanced spiritual life.
An instant New York Times bestseller. Over 1 million copies sold! Two spiritual giants. Five days. One timeless question. Nobel Peace Prize Laureates His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have survived more than fifty years of exile and the soul-crushing violence of oppression. Despite their hardships—or, as they would say, because of them—they are two of the most joyful people on the planet. In April 2015, Archbishop Tutu traveled to the Dalai Lama's home in Dharamsala, India, to celebrate His Holiness's eightieth birthday and to create what they hoped would be a gift for others. They looked back on their long lives to answer a single burning question: How do we find joy in the face of life's inevitable suffering? They traded intimate stories, teased each other continually, and shared their spiritual practices. By the end of a week filled with laughter and punctuated with tears, these two global heroes had stared into the abyss and despair of our time and revealed how to live a life brimming with joy. This book offers us a rare opportunity to experience their astonishing and unprecedented week together, from the first embrace to the final good-bye. We get to listen as they explore the Nature of True Joy and confront each of the Obstacles of Joy—from fear, stress, and anger to grief, illness, and death. They then offer us the Eight Pillars of Joy, which provide the foundation for lasting happiness. Throughout, they include stories, wisdom, and science. Finally, they share their daily Joy Practices that anchor their own emotional and spiritual lives. The Archbishop has never claimed sainthood, and the Dalai Lama considers himself a simple monk. In this unique collaboration, they offer us the reflection of real lives filled with pain and turmoil in the midst of which they have been able to discover a level of peace, of courage, and of joy to which we can all aspire in our own lives.
