MSI Press Blog

From Midwest Book Review Synopsis: Jeremy Feig was at rock bottom - broke, alone, and living in a shoebox-sized apartment. At the same time, his cat was perfectly content. What was her secret? She couldn't say it out loud, but it was clear she had all the answers to living a good life. How My Cat Made Me a Better Man is a hilarious self-help book for guys, based on the lessons of an edgy cat named Shelly. It's packed with useful advice on topics like relationships, dealing with stress, and even grooming habits. If you feel like your life is spinning out of control, this book will help you set things right - and keep you laughing along the way. Critique: Witty, whimsical, and featuring life-changing "Cat Lessons", How My Cat Made Me a Better Man is filled with everything from dating tips to coping with anxiety and pursuing life goals. Although written with a spry dash of feline humor, How My Cat Made Me a Better Man is a genuine self-help book filled with nine l...

Farewell to Mother  Reading Dr. Alexander’s book about his near-death experience, I was immediately struck by the experience I’d had when my mother was in a coma. It was so vivid I can remember how it felt to this day, though it was now 29 years ago. My mother was a very healthy woman. In her 70s, she swam every day, worked on her writing and maintained a busy social life with the local garden club and other organizations. When my father died, Mom was 75 and her abilities were undiminished. After two years, sShe seemed to be rebounding nicely from Dad’s deathafter two years, yet something may have been missing that I wasn’t aware of. Or perhaps, as a neighbor hinted, she’d met a new man… One night I was awakened by a phone call around 1 a.m. “You’d better come down to Florida,” an unfamiliar voice said. “Your mother’s in a coma.” I was astonished. Just four days earlier I had talked to my mother and she’d told me she was on her way to Miami to see the Pope, who was visit...

The Passive-Aggressive Predator  The urban dictionary defines Passive-Aggressive as: “A defense mechanism that allows people who aren’t comfortable being openly aggressive to get what they want under the guise of still trying to please others. They want their way, but they also want everyone to still like them” (Urban Dictionary, 2005). I merely added the noun of predator because it means: 1) an animal that naturally preys on others, “wolves are major predators of rodents,” or 2) a person or group that ruthlessly exploits others. Both definitions fit in this case. The more talented the soccer team, the more problems they have with parents. Many of the select soccer teams report that they have a plethora of families that simply don’t pay to be in the club, and then come up with every excuse in the world not to pay their dues. It is typically the same families every year that say, “the check is in the mail,” but the money never seems to arrive. This type of behavior puts ...

The continuity principle: How parents, teachers and social leaders can help children in times of Corona This post was written together with Dr. Rina Omer The continuity principle is a unified concept for coping with disaster and trauma formulated at the time of the First Golf War. Based on a review of the literature (Omer, 1991) the principle of continuity stipulated that "during crisis and disaster , one should aim at preserving and restoring functional, interpersonal and personal continuities, at the individual, family, organization and community levels." Functional continuity is the ability to go on functioning in spite of disturbances. Interpersonal continuity refers to the maintenance of contacts with family, friends, colleagues and any other circles to which one belongs. Personal continuity refers to feelings of sameness and coherence in our sense of self. For instance: for a 10-year old boy, functional continuity will comprise routines such getting-u...

Given a growing number of states with stay-home orders, many parents find themselves home with their children whose schools have been closed and searching for ways to both entertain and education them. Here is one easy-to-use at home tip from 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents . #11 Thinking Out Loud    Enthusiasm is contagious. Start an epidemic.  ~Unknown     Did you know that talking to yourself not only helps you organize your thoughts but also helps your child? When you are working through a problem, make it a point to say what you are thinking out loud. Look for opportunities to do this. For example:  "I need to make 100 cupcakes for the bake sale. If each muffin tin makes 12 cupcakes and I have 2 muffin tins I can make 24 at a time. So, let’s see… how many batches will I need to bake? I will divide 100 by 24…."     Your child will realize that adults, like children, must go through a series of steps to conque...

We’re having different experiences of what’s happening (like we always do), and it’s causing some highly volatile emotional weather out there. Clearly we are not all in the same health/economic/job/home/legal status/mental health situation, but also we process and adapt differently. I changed my views and practices last week several times, often after reading or talking to someone with a viewpoint I hadn’t considered. It’s a good thing, different voices. It’s also easy to get pulled into an emotional landmine you didn’t mean to step in.  Read the rest of the post HERE . Julia Aziz is author of Lessons of Labor .

Man vs. Cat: Signs You Might Be Overweight  Lack of Energy: Man: Too much effort to get off the couch. Cat: Too much effort to get on the couch. Favorite sound: Man: Ice cream truck. Cat: Electric can opener. Body Fat: Man: Losing sight of everything below the belly button. Cat: Can’t lick below where her neck used to be. Unexpected Side Effect: Man: Growing resemblance to John Goodman. Cat: Can use own blubber as a pillow. Excerpt from  How My Cat Made Me a Better Man (Code FF25 for 25% discount at MSI Press webstore) Also available on  Kindle Jeremy Feig is originally from a small town in slightly upstate New York. After graduating from New Paltz College, he moved to Los Angeles for TV and film production work before stumbling into a career in digital marketing. Jeremy spends much of his time working on creative projects, usually involving comedy. He’s written numerous screenplays and TV scripts, created original cartoons, and directed quirk...

Most children are naturally possessive and territorial. Shouts of "Don't touch my things!" "It's my money!" "Get out of my room!" are part of the daily soundtrack in many families. As the child grows, he has to learn that there are acceptable and unacceptable ways of clinging to what's his own. For instance, he has to learn that others also have a right to their property. He has to learn how to share. And he has to learn not to use his things in damaging ways. Many parents come to us because their children (whatever their age – the oldest "child" whose parents we treated was 62!) abuse their computer, their room and their money. Read the rest of the post HERE . Dr. Omer is the author of Courageous Parents .

Joanna J. Charnas is a social worker with over thirty years of experience as a licensed mental health provider. She received her master’s degree from Boston University School of Social Work in 1988 and has earned the highest level of social work licensure in California (Licensed Clinical Social Worker, 2001.) She has worked in numerous service sectors, all of which placed fragile people in her care and enhanced her clinical acumen and skills. Since 1995, she has worked specifically with people with mental and physical illnesses. She published on HuffPost Blog for two and a half years, and her writing has appeared in PopSugar, The San Francisco Review of Books, and SteadyHealth. More about her writing can be found at  www.joannacharnas.com Her first book ,   Living Well with Chronic Illness ,  was released August 25, 2015. Her second book,  1 00 Tips and Tools for Managing Chronic Illness , was released in April 2018. Her third book, A Movie Lover's Sear...

I don’t know who wants to hear this right now, but I hope you will share this with anyone who needs it. I promise you, there are people you love out there right now who are scared, and they don’t feel like they can talk to anyone about what they are truly afraid of. You probably also have loved ones in high risk groups who are not afraid and who are ready to talk, but they may be quite lonely because no one will listen.  As many of you know, I used to work as a hospice chaplain, visiting people in their final months, weeks, days, and hours, as well as sitting and praying at the deathbed after a loved one’s passing. I’ve had terrifying experiences as well as profoundly blissful ones, but every single encounter with death has been humbling. There were times I felt the pull of dark energies nearby and times I was floating in bottomless peace. Yet one of the most important insights that came from those families I had the honor to witness and care about was this: much ...

Just up! Managing Editor, Dr. Betty Lou Leaver, traveled to Austin, Texas recently. While there, she met with author of Lessons of Labor, Julia Aziz, and conducted an interview. Listen to the podcast on our podcast page on our website by clicking HERE .

" My favorite part of Easter at the Mission by Sula Parish Cat at Old Mission is the humor." Read the full review at Readers' Favorite . 

Along the years I've received requests for help from parents of children from the age of 3 to 62! Actually, in the case of the 62-year old "child", not the parents, but his sisters came for help, asking how they could protect their old and frail parents from blackmail, exploitation and abuse. Read the rest of the post HERE . Haim Omer is author of Courageous Parents .

Dave Brown Dave Brown is the author of five previous books.  He lives in Downingtown, Pennsylvania with his wife and three children. He co-authored  One Simple Text…The Liz Marks Story  with Betty Shaw. The book is a poignant tale of the drama that Liz and her family suffered as a result of her nearly dying from an accident that resulted from texting while driving. Email author

"Under the guise of a "pet book," Jeremy Feig has written an excellent "self-help book." Yeah, it's that good. In fact, it should be issued to ever high school senior, boys AND girls." Read more reviews at The Cat Site.

The Priority of the Present Finally, I recognized that my will could no longer compete with my body. I put the half-cooked meal in the freezer and the mostly packed bags by the door. I needed to direct my full attention to labor. I moved slowly around the house, resting over the arms of couches and chairs, breathing deeply, and moaning quietly. Without the pressure of tasks to accomplish, I was able to notice that my contractions had progressed from the menstrual-like cramping sensation of before. They were now much stronger and more substantial. Something was really happening here. When necessity pulls me into the present, I know exactly what matters. One of the blessings of labor for me was the inability to attend to everyday minutiae. The sensations of my body became so powerful that my usual multi-tasking mindset started to fade into the distance. Though the mental chatter continued, it wasn’t in command anymore. I was able to access a deeper focus, the same mental focu...

Just posted a lovely book review for Easterling's book, Of God, Rattlesnakes, and Okra , on the book's page at our website. The review appears on Know Doubt Ministry website , and conccludes:: You may have never been raised on a farm, lived in the rural South, eaten okra, or experienced pre-WWII life, but you will be captivated by Ben's tales as if you had.  I strongly encourage you to read my friend's book. Click on the site link above to read the entire review. Other delightful reviews can be found at Barnes and Noble -- HERE . Our favorite from among them is: "Are you sure this little rascal is a preacher's kid? Pity his poor mother! This demands a sequel!" Are you sure this little rascal was a preacher's kid? Pity his poor mother! This demands a sequel. Are you sure this little rascal was a preacher's kid? Pity his poor mother! This demands a sequel. Are you sure this little rascal was a preacher's kid? Pity his poor mot...

Daybreak Press has published Kan Ya Ma Kan , a new book Muna Imady. Kan Ya Ma Kan is a labor of love and fidelity to the ancient tradition of oral storytelling in Muna Imady’s beloved Syria.  This collection of stories, recipes, games, songs and wisdom meticulously and fervently collected is a gift of love from Muna.  Muna persevered through illness to ensure that these stories and traditions would be preserved despite the war that has scattered Syria’s peoples like seeds throughout the world. Elaine and Susan birthed Muna’s words into the world  to ensure that present and future generations will hear the stories that Muna learned at the feet of her Tete, and collected from the generous people of Syria.     The stories depict clever, resilient and resourceful characters written in a style that lends itself to read alouds in a classroom or library setting.  The bold illustrations are reminiscent of Ed Emberly’s early wood-cuts.  These stories are n...

One year after his divorce, Maurice started noticing changes in the behavior of his son, Gabriel (17). When he slept over at his father’s, Gabriel would often absent himself for hours or come back very late without notifying his father. Maurice felt this was the result of a weakening in his parental function, a process that had been aggravated by the stress of the divorce and his fear of losing his son's affection. Maurice decided that he had to change his attitude, if he wanted to keep Gabriel from getting into trouble. When Gabriel next returned at two o’clock at night, he found his father waiting for him in the hall. Maurice said: “Tomorrow we'll have a talk about the rules regarding your outings.” Gabriel began raising his voice in protest, but Maurice told him: “I don’t want to talk now, because both you and I are not in condition to have a good conversation. We'll talk tomorrow when I come back from work.” In the morning, Maurice called Gabriel from his work place ...