Showing results by narrator "A'rese Emokpae" in All Categories

Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets. Zikora, her best friend, is a lawyer who has been successful at everything until she must turn to the person she thought she needed least. Omelogor, Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America – but faces an unthinkable hardship that threatens all she has worked to achieve.

Author, mental health expert, and professor David Bedrick helps us understand how shame shows up—and offers a revolutionary, stigma-free model to help us unshame and release its hold on our happiness. Shame is more than feeling guilty, sad, or responsible. It develops when we experience a trauma but can’t access the tools or freedom to express how we feel—or are denied the ability to ask for the care we need. It shows up when we aren’t witnessed—whether by a loved one, our community, our culture, or anyone from whom we need to hear.

Workplace leaders: white comfort comes at the safety of women of color—and it costs lives and livelihoods. Microaggressions, structural barriers, unpaid emotional labor: WOC in leadership disproportionately bear the burdens of white supremacist work cultures, even as they’re expected to take charge of reforms. But building better workplaces—less toxic, racist, and misogynistic workplaces—is everyone’s responsibility and for everyone’s benefit. And letting it fall solely to women of color is causing real harm. The stakes are high, and it’s past time for change.

The Tiny Things Are Heavier follows Sommy, a Nigerian woman who comes to the United States for graduate school two weeks after her brother, Mezie, attempts suicide. Plagued by the guilt of leaving Mezie behind, Sommy struggles to fit into her new life as a student and an immigrant. Lonely and homesick, Sommy soon enters a complicated relationship with her boisterous Nigerian roommate, Bayo, a relationship that plummets into deceit when Sommy falls for Bryan, a biracial American, whose estranged Nigerian father left the States immediately after his birth.

Today, a new generation of Buddhists searches for ways to adopt Vajrayana while staying true to its historical legacy. Modern Tantric Buddhism unpacks the principles and applications of this esoteric practice in an accessible and meaningful manner, connecting its roots to a socially engaged, modern-day dharma. Von Bujdoss challenges assumptions about what it means to be a socially engaged Buddhist, and presents Tantra as an ideal vehicle for critically examining today’s most pressing social issues.

Looking back at her encounters over the past fifty years, the author has put the events of her life together that seem to fit like a grand puzzle. She realized that she has been walking through Ancient Doors that were being opened and directed by the Ancient One Himself. Now He has called Jean to publish her witness for such a time as this - a time when myriads of His angels are being released to help accomplish His plans and purposes for mankind. When an Ancient Door opens for you, will you recognize it? Will you have the understanding, faith, and courage to walk through that door?

Here’s an idea: exercise should be enjoyable—not punishing, elitist, or overly competitive. Nor should gym work cause us harm or bring us shame. Part exercise manual and part workbook, Movement for Every Body celebrates this approach and champions an inclusive movement practice for anyone who doesn’t fit the "typical" fitness mold and doesn’t wish to—who refuses burdensome narratives that tell them they're broken and need to be fixed, cured, or mended to be whole.