If you could know how your life would turn out ten years before it happened, would you still do everything the same? Would it change the way you lived your life? Would you make the same choices? Would you have the same friends, date the same people, live the same life? Would the life you lead be a reflection of your desires? Of who you want to be? Would the person you are now be the same person you are then? What would you change? What would be important to you? What would people say your life was, productive or incomplete? Brady McEwing is the dependable one. The shoulder his friends lean on, the one they go to when things are bad. However, over the course of 10 years, Brady comes to find that he is no longer the source for their comfort, for their joy. His search for his own happiness in his life leads him down paths of disappointment and unhappiness. What will it take to bring him the joy that he is missing? Where will Brady find the ultimate source for his joy and see... Better Days?

This book helps those aspiring toward recovery and wellness and also those in recovery, because it addresses and challenges the individual - in very real, basic and honest ways - to make significant cognitive adjustments in how they live their lives. The beauty of this curriculum is that people like to do it and don't consider it a chore, a demand, or a requirement, because every page subtly encourages the individual to think in realistic and forward-moving ways. This allows them to feel good about doing the work. This book is for any person who struggles with their mental health and who wants to live a happier life as well as for any person who wants to improve their quality of life, how they deal with stress, obstacles, difficulties and other people and live a happier, healthy and much more stable life. I based this book on my personal life and recovery, and every page has been used successfully in peer group settings.

This is a collection of stories provided from personal experiences of Stan Stoops. The stories take place on the east and west coasts of the United States, the Hawiian Islands, the Filipino Islands, and the now nonexistent South Vietnam and finally end up where it all started, in Southeast Iowa. The topics range from stories about inmates, stories about women, and the most preferred subject of all, fishing. There are a few other topics thrown into the mix, hopefully for the enjoyment of the reader. The author's mentality in writing these stories was to crowd the element of humor and to take the best out of each day no matter what the day may have had to offer. So make it a better day, and enjoy reading

Five Ways to Better Days is a guide to using expressive writing to achieve health and happiness, bringing the reader through a programme of expressive writing and other important practical mental health and wellbeing strategies. In doing so it focuses on five key areas of positive psychology: Gratitude: recognition and appreciation for what you already have in your life Flow: how to immerse yourself in the present moment Flexible thinking: how to appreciate other viewpoints and become more tolerant Goals: how to identify what is most emotionally important and practically achievable in your life Connections: how to value and deepen your connections with others In an exceptionally practical way, each section of the book provides the reader with writing and non-writing suggestions, practices, ideas and activities to deepen their sense of wellbeing. Linking the fields of expressive writing and positive psychology in a new and dynamic way, this book provides a practical guide for both the general reader and mental health professionals in counselling, health and social care settings. The practicality of the book also makes it an ideal book for workshops and expressive writing/psychology course material. The techniques provided are based on psychological principles but also on the author’s own knowledge and experience of the rich field of expressive writing. Five Ways to Better Days is for anyone who wants to use writing to enhance their creativity and their sense of wellbeing, health, resilience and happiness.

Flame-haired beauty Chloe Collard watched her mother struggle through life, scraping together pennies in order to provide for her and her brothers, so Chloe promised herself something a long time ago: she would get a proper education and make something of herself. This vow would carry Chloe through her entire life. When Chloe is offered a job as a personal assistant in a prestigious firm, she finally feels that her hard work is paying off. And with romance knocking at her door, a happy and fulfilled life is just around the corner. But all is not as it seems and the decisions Chloe has to make may not be as straightforward as they first appear . . . From the East End of London to Brighton, this rags-to-riches romance is a story of how a little hope and a lot of determination will see you through the toughest of times. It's the perfect read for fans of Maureen Lee, Annie Murray and Pam Weaver.

Arthur Briggs's life was Homeric in scope. Born on the tiny island of Grenada, he set sail for Harlem during the Renaissance, then to Europe in the aftermath of World War I, where he was among the first pioneers to introduce jazz music to the world. During the legendary Jazz Age in Paris, Briggs's trumpet provided the soundtrack while Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and the rest of the Lost Generation got drunk. By the 1930s, Briggs was considered "the Louis Armstrong of Paris," and was the peer of the greatest names of his time, from Josephine Baker to Django Reinhardt. Even during the Great Depression, he was secure as "the greatest trumpeter in Europe." He did not, however, heed warnings to leave Paris before it fell to the Nazis, and in 1940, he was arrested and sent to the prison camp at Saint Denis. What happened at that camp, and the role Briggs played in it, is truly unforgettable. Better Days Will Come Again, based on groundbreaking research and including unprecedented access to Briggs's oral memoir, is a crucial document of jazz history, a fast-paced epic, and an entirely original tale of survival.

After the events of Pandora Black and witnessing the lives of the original individuals bearing the Stones of Virtue, Violet Diamond and others alongside her encounter unfortunate circumstances that spiral out of control. Sometimes living is a bad dream with a craving for a better one. The small-town tailor knows all too well that desire for good dreams when one is awake.