Book Pick of the Week: A Needle in a Haystack: How to Find Love in the Rubble

Lifetime romance doesn’t just happen; you must first know yourself and do the self-work before you can find your needle in a haystack, says Pastor Jameliah Gooden. Based on her own experiences with finding her soulmate, Gooden’s book, A Needle in a Haystack: How to Find Love in the Rubble, guides readers toward finding and recognizing love, and is perfect for anyone looking for their ideal partner.

Following her first bestselling book, The Death of the Angry Black Woman, which details how Gooden worked to rid herself of anger and negative stereotypes, this second bestseller continues the journey of self-improvement as readers gain firsthand knowledge for navigating the dating world. Gooden encourages people to break away from the enormous pressures of modern dating and find playfulness in their social lives.

“We should be putting ourselves out there and just having fun,” says Gooden. “There shouldn’t be any forced end goal or expectation. That’s how you find your needle.”

Searching for love in today’s society can be a daunting task, especially with dating apps and blind dates, because these scenarios come with preconceived notions and a fear of unmet expectations. Gooden suggests that dating is much easier if you are true to yourself and who you are. Societal notions and definitions about dating are to blame: they add too much pressure instead of allowing freedom for personal acceptance and growth. Gooden advises that readers stop presenting themselves as perfect and start showing the world who they truly are.

“That’s the beauty of a ruby,” Gooden says. “It understands its value. It doesn’t have to work to be beautiful. It just is, and it doesn’t have to do anything to convince anyone of that.”

As a social media celebrity and pastor, Gooden has a proven ability to guide and lead others. She finds joy in sharing her personal story and inspires others to find their own. Gooden hopes A Needle in a Haystack will help individuals to find their perfect mates and form real and lasting partnerships.

Identity struggles and failed relationships can be difficult topics, but Gooden faces these obstacles with candor and transparency. She knows how a bad relationship can hinder people from going forward and trying again, and hopes her work will help all readers find themselves, so they can experience the healing that self-actualization offers.

Gooden says, “Finding your needle should be fun, not something to fear. Just relax and be yourself. Call it ‘fellowshipping’ because when you set expectations, you can end up hiding the truth to conform to what you think someone else wants.”

 

Book Pick of the Week: COVID Lockdown Insanity

In his data-based, eye-opening book, COVID Lockdown Insanity, biochemist and immunologist Hugh McTavish, Ph.D., takes a fascinating, deep dive into “lost time of life” from deaths of despair and time spent depressed caused by the lockdown response — numbers rarely examined or talked about during the past two years. He shares his findings related to pandemic mitigation measures in hopes of influencing an enlightened approach for future crises.


“Lockdowns were just a catastrophic mistake — one of the worst public policy disasters and mistakes ever,” Dr. McTavish said in a recent interview. “They threw 1 in 5 Americans, 19.3 percent to be precise, into moderate to severe depression.”

Calling the dramatic uptick in depression, drug overdoses and suicides “entirely predictable,” Dr. McTavish delivers an unflinching look into deaths of despair, “lost time of life” and other unsettling consequences of the lockdown response in his new book, COVID Lockdown Insanity. In it, Dr. McTavish reveals the staggering human toll of long-term isolation coupled with the shuttering of lifelines like churches and workplaces.

Dr. McTavish’s careful examination of the scientific evidence related to COVID-19 transmission and his analyses of both the human and economic costs of the lockdown strategy illuminate the dysfunctionality of the government’s policy response. In the end, he lights a path toward making more enlightened decisions that offer hope of real solutions.

In the book, Dr. McTavish dissects the data that shows:
 

- The COVID lockdowns threw 63 million Americans into major depression.

- All evidence suggests that the lockdown response to COVID failed to decrease COVID deaths at all.

- Even if the lockdowns prevented 200,000 COVID deaths, which they probably did not, the lockdowns caused three times more loss of life in increased suicides, drug overdose deaths, cancer deaths and heart disease deaths than they saved in prevented COVID deaths.

- For every 1 COVID death prevented, the lockdowns caused these harms: 1/3 of a death of despair (suicide or drug overdose); 316 people thrown into major depression; 127 people out of work; 350 students out of school; 1,640 people denied the right to live their lives as they wish and made at least a little less happy.

- Mask wearing has “little or no effect” on COVID cases or deaths.

- Hand washing and hand sanitizer use is the best intervention and could dramatically reduce COVID deaths, but this was underemphasized.

- Asymptomatic people very rarely spread COVID.

- Children do not spread COVID, and closing schools had no effect on COVID spread at all, and we knew that by the summer of 2020, and CDC staff wrote a paper saying so in January 2021.

 Draw your own conclusions, but this book will ask and answer a lot of questions.

Book Pick of the Week: The Change Guidebook

Many of us know we need a change, an overhaul of the way we “do” life. We feel the need to move forward, but we aren’t sure where to place our feet to take those first steps.

The Change Guidebook from Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino, founder of The Best Ever You Network, ends the search for self-help that works, serving as a life-long companion guide and resource to complement your life. It offers 10 points for making a change or adapting to unforeseen circumstances, and allows you to become a change master by using the provided solutions to change, grow and become your bravest and boldest self. These points are a process that you can engage in and turn to in times of need, crisis, or to alter your life’s course.

“The extreme demands of our modern world constantly challenge our alignment. I passionately believe that nearly everything revolves around our ability to manage our time and how we make or deal with change. Our attitude in how we approach each moment provides the insight to cherish them all with gratitude, no matter the happenings," Hamilton-Guarino says. "I wrote this book from my heart, truths and energy to yours to help you feel and be your best. As I share my own obstacles and victories in my life, I also welcome over 20 other contributors, who have also taken the time to share their stories with the world.”

By using the tools provided within this book, readers will experience the joy of living life as someone firmly grounded in values, anchored by a consistent moment-to-moment practice of gratitude. These principles have been widely used to achieve goals from changing careers to weight loss, becoming a college athlete, and more, and have been proven to change many lives.

About the Author

Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino is the founder of The Best Ever You Network and co-founder of Compliance4. Through these companies, she has helped individuals and organizations around the world be their best and achieve world-class excellence with gratitude-based behavior and belief systems. She is one of America's foremost personal and corporate development consultants specializing in mindset, strategy, leadership and taking action.

Elizabeth is also the author of the award-winning personal development book Percolate: Let Your Best Self Filter Through (Hay House) and multiple children’s books as a contributor and author. Elizabeth and her husband live in Maine with their four sons, two dogs and three rescued cats. Visit her website at besteveryou.com.

Book Pick of the Week: Easy and Fun Paint Magic with Water

You can read it, you can paint in it!

A new children's activity book series called Easy and Fun Paint Magic with Water. In this series, just add water! These books provide a fun and mess-free painting activity. Using the provided paintbrush, simply wet with water and watch the colors magically appear on each black-and-white illustration within this kid's painting book as it comes to life.

There are four books in this series: Animals, Dinosaurs, Fairies and Friends, and Unicorns and Friends.

These would make lovely Easter basket gifts. Looking forward to checking them all out!

Here are two of the offerings:

https://bookshop.org/books/easy-and-fun-paint-magic-with-water-animals/9781641241724

https://bookshop.org/books/easy-and-fun-paint-magic-with-water-dinosaurs/9781641241731

A fun (and mess-free!) painting activity book for kids ages 3-6, Easy and Fun Paint Magic with Water: Animals features 12 simple and whimsical line art designs of awesome animals, from giraffes and kangaroos to iguanas, monkeys, camels, and more. Using the provided paintbrush, simply wet with water and watch the colors magically appear on each black-and-white illustration as it comes to life! With a stiff cardboard backing to prevent unwanted leaks, parents can rest assured while their children paint and have a blast using water to create stunning works of animal art! Each page within this kid's painting book comes with perforated edges so finished artwork can be easily removed and put on display.

Amazon Pick of the Week: The Binge Watcher's Guide to the Golden Girls

A must read if you are a Golden Girls fan!

Thirty years after it first aired, The Golden Girls is one of the most popular shows in syndication and available to view on multiple streaming services. The show ran for seven seasons, collecting a staggering 58 Emmy nominations and 11 wins along the way, and over the years, this hit comedy about four fierce and sassy 50+ roommates in Miami charmed millions of viewers with its incomparable wit. Above all, The Golden Girls celebrated the strength and depth of the friendship between its four iconic characters - Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia- who have been adopted by multiple generations and attracts both gay and straight viewers.

This beloved television show from the 1980s, created by Susan Harris, the iconic creator of the series Soap, and one of the writers of the trailblazing, feminist show Maude, hasn't lost its fanbase over the decades. It seems to be the one thing that all the generations, from baby boomers to millennials, agree on: They love "The Girls," especially Betty White, who proved to be one of the most all-time adored entertainers.


“It’s a comfort food. It’s one of the best shows to have on when you’re sick. And it’s endlessly quotable with your girlfriends. It’s the Steel Magnolias of TV shows,” said author Marissa DeAngelis

The Binge Watcher's Guide to The Golden Girls is meant to be a companion as you binge, giving you a quick recap of each episode and where it fits in the series, with a favorite quote, notable goofs and inconsistences, and some behind-the-scenes drama. Books and downloads are available on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles Nook, iTunes, and Kobo.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Binge-Watchers-Guide-Golden-Girls/dp/1626016151