MSI Press Blog

  Excerpt from Awesome Couple Communication Always Exit with Words  Martin and Tina cannot end arguments successfully. When he is finished and says all he needs to say, Tina keeps going and going like a peachy pink rabbit, marching and pounding a kettle drum. Martin claims she is crazy, driven to repeat herself. Tina describes the scene as Martin huffing and puffing and blowing out of the room without a word. She is left feeling abandoned and hopeless, so she follows him around the house like a little lost puppy; that way, at least, he will throw her a meaty bone of an answer. Tina feels unimportant to Martin. Rarely does the couple agree on when or how to end an argument. Worst of all for her, when he is finished and leaves, Tina doesn’t get the closure she needs. Couples in conflict commonly differ in their sense of when an argument begins and when it is resolved. Realistically, since it takes two to tangle, it “ain’t” over until both people harmonize. There are individuals who have

  CB and the late Carl Leaver, MSI Press authors Meet our author-dads who have written absolutely splendid books for fathers (and others) about all sorts of topics! (Some are no longer with us, but their works in life and in literature live on.) And, yes, of course, we continue to sell their books. Wally Amidon (deceased) The Musings of a South Carolina Yankee Read MSI blog posts about Wally . TL Brink How to Argue with an Atheist Read more posts about TL Brink  HERE . Dave Brown (co-author) One Simple Text.. KOPS-FETRHLING.INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARD LEGACY. AWARD: INSPIRATION/MOTIVATION HOLLYWOOD BOOK FESTIVAL FINALIST Read MSI Press blog posts about Dave  HERE . Dr. Frederic Craigie Weekly Soul AMERICAN BOOKFEST BEST BOOK AWARD FINALIST; INSPIRATION BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD GOLD: MIND, BODY, SPIRIT READER VIEWS LITERARY AWARDS SILVER: MIND/BODY/SPIRIT READER VIEWS LITERARY AWARDS SILVER: RELIGION KOPS-FETHERLING INTERNATIONAL BOOKS AWARDS HONORABLE MENTIONN: INSPIRATION/MOTIVATION Read M

  Excerpt from Anxiety Anonymous Déjà Vu All Over Again All addictions begin with “stinking thinking.” After many experiences of the soothing effects of alcohol, a tranquilizer, the budding alcoholic begins to believe that she can find happiness in a bottle and cannot live without it. She continually tells herself, “I need a drink,” whether she is anxious, sad, angry, or happy. She rationalizes many reasons for drinking. Over time, as the addiction takes hold, she becomes more preoccupied with the thought of drinking. It becomes her obsession. She begins to plan her life around drinking opportunities on weekends with friends or at home alone to chill out. Her obsession with drinking spills over into compulsive behaviors. She develops drinking routines, going to the same bar every Friday evening, meeting the same people. Cocktail hour, with the same drink, mixed in the same way, happens every day at precisely 4:00 p.m. She may make rigid rules for herself to assure herself that she is n

  I have written a bit about the process of pets dying before, along with the ways in which vets can be (or not) helpful. In that post, I shared a book by Barbara Karnes on understanding the pet-dying process, which I had found very helpful and which would have provided me with a fair amount of relief and guidance had I known about while Murjan was still alive. It explained much about his dying process and death that was comforting in retrospect. You can read that post HERE . In this post, I want to share the emotional aspects not only of the dying itself but also of the role of the support community (which should be supportive but in our case was not so, at least not to the extent that we needed and that could have been). As a result, my experience with Murjan's dying days were traumatic--more traumatic than they should have been because of lack of support from the veterinary hospital that should have been my source of support.  As I explained in the earlier post, Murjan had been

  Excerpt from Anger Anonymous ANGER AS A DRUG Many label anger a negative emotion because it can be as toxic as any drug. Indulged without restraint, it causes untold wreckage to lives and relationships. When swallowed out of fear, it becomes a poison. It seeps into the body, making you depressed, nervous, and physically sick, and leaks out in passive-aggressive behavior. I prefer to call anger a difficult emotion because of the intensity of the energy it produces. The problem with anger is not in the feeling itself, which is natural, but in how it is expressed. It can be expressed beneficially in appropriately assertive behavior and in protesting injustice. Problems occur, however, when that energy is either under-controlled or over-controlled. Unchecked, it can result in aggressive, harmful behavior that destroys people and relationships. If internalized, it can wreak havoc with your body and emotions. Anger is a natural energy that helps you to survive when handled with care, compa

  For some good viewing, see Julie Gentile's  A Second for Yourself  short videos on her   Stand Up for Your Self-Care YouTube Channel .   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQUqKtnNf7VT3_Uq0_Y6DNQ      See other posts about Julie Gentile and her books HERE . Read other posts on self-care HERE                                         Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter                           Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .

  Excerpt from Andrew's Awesome Adventures with His ADHD Brain Some Days I Need to Seek Shelter from the Tornado   I wouldn’t characterize myself as a “neat freak” although my husband and children would say otherwise. Having a child with ADHD whose idea of organization is a big pile on the floor has been a bit of a challenge for me. Andrew loves to go to flea markets and shop for antiques, and his “treasures” always seem to end up thrown on a miscellaneous pile shoved into a corner on the floor of his bedroom. One weekend I mentioned to Andrew we were going to clean out his room, which was getting too cluttered with all his collections. Andrew’s response to me was “Mom, why are we bothering to clean up my room? It’s going to stay organized for all of ten minutes. You know me; I’m not organized.” Although this made me chuckle, Andrew’s statement was true. The struggle with organization for children with ADHD stems from their executive function deficits. Creating and maintaining an o