When Butterflies Speak is a vibrant, multicolored celebration of life which showcases overcoming life's challenges through butterflies. Belinda shares a story of hope, as the butterflies prove that miracles really do happen. Through this compilation of spectacular images and inspirational quotes, she shares the meaning of true beauty, flying with broken wings, and simply living-with joy, hope and freedom. Butterflies "whisper" messages of encouragement.
The tiny caterpillar innocently emerges and faces overwhelming challenges - all the while carrying the gift: the potential of sublime beauty. In the heat of summer many caterpillars are stung by wasps, deeply wounded and scarred. In spite of this they don't give up. I was amazed by the magnificent willpower of these fragile creatures. It seems to me that the caterpillar never questions its ability to become a butterfly. Breaking free from the chrysalis, leaving their wounds and scarring behind, the butterflies emerge. Some have wings too small to fly, some fly with broken wings, others have twisted and damaged bodies with perfect wings. All are beautiful. Perfect in their own way. Peaceful, joyful, free. Butterflies live in the moment - joyfully capturing hearts as they simply ‘live’. The complexity of their transformation is astounding. Nature is a wonderful teacher.
After raising Monarch butterflies in her primary classroom for thirty years, Barbara developed a special connection with them. Over the years, they have presented her with many life lessons in very interesting ways.
This book contains true stories of magical Monarch moments which blend science and spirituality. After winning a journal as a door prize on the anniversary of her father’s passing, the life lessons Barb has learned from her Monarch connection flowed onto the pages. It was as if a butterfly was sitting on her shoulder whispering the words of wisdom that needed to be shared with the world.
Is public speaking one of your biggest fears? This book is an essential read for everyone who wishes to improve speaking skills and confidence in front of an audience. Margaret Hiatt has brought together some of Australias most recognizable speakers who share their journey and experience with you in the pages of this inspiring book. Successfully Speaking is tribute to the fact that any-one regardless of their background or walk of life, can become a confident public speaker. The secret is out; public speaking is a learned skill that anyone can master including you!
Ecoarts practice is evolving quickly as a practice. While much of it is made by individual artists working alone, artists are increasingly combining into multi-artist collectives, and collaborating with scientists, sustainability professionals, industry or the community to develop artworks with quite far-reaching effects. This book describes an extraordinary range of artistic practices pitched to encourage people to adopt pro-environmental behaviours by provoking, persuading, providing information, creating empathy for nature or by being built into sustainability practices themselves. It brings together 28 contributors who examine different roles of the arts in encouraging pro-environmental behaviour. There is a wide range of practitioners represented here, including visual and performing artists, sustainability professionals, social researchers, environmental educators, research students and academics. The contributors to this book are united in believing that the arts are vital in promoting pro-environmental behavior in the way that they are practiced, but also in the connections they make to ecology, science and Indigenous culture.
Haunted by an urgent voice she hears each time she reads a book by Carlos Castaneda, Gail seeks out Castanedas apprentice, and she finds herself catapulted into a strange world of shamans, metaphysics, and ancient beings. She is thrust forward onto a dangerous path that takes her from the safety of her everyday world into the radiant landscape where true power lives. Here, she is introduced to an ancient couple, who have lived and loved beyond time itself. She offers up her heart to become a co-conspirator with them in an unbelievable task. She must journey into the ancient records and retrieve the knowledge that broke this ancient couple and humanity itself apart. The death-bed promise this ancient couple made to each other eons ago is also the key to humanitys own resurrection. It is thisthe Butterfly Promisethat will return us to our true powers and to our wholeness once again.
Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2024, internationally bestselling author and literary icon Julia Alvarez's In the Time of the Butterflies is "beautiful, heartbreaking and alive ... a lyrical work of historical fiction based on the story of the Mirabal sisters, revolutionary heroes who had opposed and fought against Trujillo." (Concepción de León, New York Times) Alvarez’s new novel, The Cemetery of Untold Stories, is coming April 2, 2024. Pre-order now! It is November 25, 1960, and three beautiful sisters have been found near their wrecked Jeep at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. The official state newspaper reports their deaths as accidental. It does not mention that a fourth sister lives. Nor does it explain that the sisters were among the leading opponents of Gen. Rafael Leónidas Trujillo’s dictatorship. It doesn’t have to. Everybody knows of Las Mariposas—the Butterflies. In this extraordinary novel, the voices of all four sisters--Minerva, Patria, María Teresa, and the survivor, Dedé--speak across the decades to tell their own stories, from secret crushes to gunrunning, and to describe the everyday horrors of life under Trujillo’s rule. Through the art and magic of Julia Alvarez’s imagination, the martyred Butterflies live again in this novel of courage and love, and the human costs of political oppression. "Alvarez helped blaze the trail for Latina authors to break into the literary mainstream, with novels like In the Time of the Butterflies and How the García Girls Lost Their Accents winning praise from critics and gracing best-seller lists across the Americas."—Francisco Cantú, The New York Times Book Review "This Julia Alvarez classic is a must-read for anyone of Latinx descent." —Popsugar.com "A gorgeous and sensitive novel . . . A compelling story of courage, patriotism and familial devotion." —People "Shimmering . . . Valuable and necessary." —Los Angeles Times "A magnificent treasure for all cultures and all time.” —St. Petersburg Times "Alvarez does a remarkable job illustrating the ruinous effect the 30-year dictatorship had on the Dominican Republic and the very real human cost it entailed."—Cosmopolitan.com
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Roma Downey—best known as the beloved angel on the TV show Touched by an Angel—“has created a beautiful and personal testimony to the presence of God in our lives and our world” (Most Reverend José H. Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles). Ever since she was a little girl, Roma has seen butterflies as a reminder of God’s presence. They have appeared to her in moments when she needed encouragement, reminding her that she is not alone. In this deeply personal book, Roma shares stories from her life, alongside quotes, poems, scripture, and artwork that she prays will uplift you as they have her. Reminiscent of the message of her popular television series, Touched by an Angel, this book’s central theme is that there is a God, He loves you, and that even in your most difficult moments, He is by your side. The subtle butterfly theme reminds us that the wonder of God’s love and kindness is sometimes reflected in the gentle whispers of His creation and that we all have the power to transform from simple caterpillars into exquisite butterflies. This inspirational book invites you to return to its pages again and again, as life brings new challenges, or you find yourself in need of new inspiration. Box of Butterflies “will touch you and move you and strengthen you” (Kathie Lee Gifford).
Kara Durbin's passion is for parents to capture those teachable moments and use Scripture to shape their children's behavior. She offers Parenting with Scripture, a unique topical guide to prepare parents with scriptural teaching and helpful activities on 100 specific behaviors.
