Friendship Development

Sometimes our soul mates live down the street. Melissa finds hers when she opens the door for her new neighbor, Elizabeth. Over many years, their lives become intertwined as they support each other through pregnancy and motherhood, divorce, bereavement, and starting over. This is the story of finding a life partner under a different roof.

When Amy Daughters reconnected with her old pal Dana on Facebook, she had no idea how it would change her life. Though the two women hadn’t had any contact in 30 years, it didn’t take them long to catch up—and when Amy learned that Dana’s son Parker was doing a second stint at St. Jude battling cancer, she was suddenly inspired to begin writing the pair weekly letters. When Parker died, Amy—not knowing what else to do—continued to write Dana. Eventually, Dana wrote back, and the two became pen pals, sharing things through the mail that they had never shared before.

Loneliness Dissolved by Alec Alpert is a thought-provoking book exploring loneliness's complex nature from a metaphysical perspective. The author draws from firsthand experiences and insights from Eastern and Western traditions to provide readers with a comprehensive understanding of the root causes of loneliness and practical insights on how to transform their relationship with it. One of the key takeaways from the book is that loneliness is a universal experience that is not necessarily dependent on being alone. The author discusses that emotional independence and freedom can be achieved ...

In this meditation on celebrity, power, and a simple thank-you, Mindy Kaling takes the next charmed step in her path from Conan intern to mogul: picking up the entire tab for a famous A-lister. It’s an investment, right? He’ll be blown away by her class. They’ll be best friends forever. Forty thankless seconds later, who wouldn’t spiral into self-doubt, second-guessing, over-rationalizing, and anxious obsession?

Many of us have been there. Because of life changes—kids are grown and gone, divorce, relocation, retirement, death, health issues—we ponder what’s next and try to determine a direction for our lives. We’re often stuck—wanting to do something but not knowing what that something is. And how do you figure it out? When she desired a purpose, a passion, friends, and a community, Pamela Lamp devised a project for herself. She took those first few steps—steps anyone can take —to find herself and begin the journey she wished to travel.

Highly Productive Teens With MAD Social Skills is book 1 of a 5-book series. This first volume of the series covers the social skills aspect that will empower your teen to succeed while promoting effective teaching of social and communication. Beautifully written with a warm and authentic style, inside this practical blueprint for teens, you'll uncover a rich collection of life-changing strategies and advice to help teenagers thrive emotionally, socially, and beyond.

Move over idealised BFFs, glossy gal pals and indestructible work wives. Meet the bad friends. The dangerously romantic school girls of the 1900s. The office gossips of the 1930s. The mum cliques of the 1950s. The angry activists of the 1970s. The coven – women who choose to live together in old age – of the present day. These ‘bad’ friends broke the rules about femininity they didn’t write. Their relationships were controlled, patrolled and judged too intimate, too consuming and in some cases, too powerful.

As one of the biggest parenting stars on social media, mother-of-three Louise Boyce knows a thing or two about navigating the craziness of family life. Now Louise shares her expertise in Mama Still Got It, a hurtling gallop through the ‘real’ parenting calendar. From drop-kicking the kids through the school gates in September, to the perils of using a public loo with your toddler, via the existential dread of an unexpected nursery call to tell you ‘there’s nothing to worry about’ (sure), this book covers all the highs and lows of modern motherhood.

The Circling and Authentic Relating Practice Guide is the most comprehensive digital resource available on the Authentic Relating movement. In addition to a practice guide with many examples of what to do and say in groups, it also contains a history of the movement, a section on precursors (which include Integral Theory, Non-Violent Communication, and "we-space"), an extensive resources section, sample leader formats, and instructions for starting your own groups, either in person or online.

Sometimes it can seem as if friends are more work and pain than they're worth, with friendship challenges that we have to endure and struggle through. Life gets in the way of our well-intentioned efforts to connect. Conflicts and differences over serious issues divide us and make us think that we could never be close to a person ever again. How can we build real relationships that are life giving and pass the test of time? Bryan Loritts mines one of the Bible's least-known books for insights into how friendships can flourish even in the midst of sin and brokenness.

Rachel feels like she doesn't fit in - until she finds heavy metal and meets Fern, a kindred spirit. The two form their own band, but the metal scene turns out to be no different from the misogynist world they want to change. Violent encounters escalate, and the friends decide there's only one way forward....

Jesus’ pattern for church living was one of family - of brothers and sisters living in intimate, life-giving community with each other. With story, sensitivity, and hope, Beyond Awkward Side Hugs invites us to leave behind eroticized, fear-based patterns and move toward gendered, generous relationships between men and women of character as we love one another as Jesus did.

Temple Grandin is the most famous person with autism in the world. Whether you know her from the HBO movie Temple Grandin, her decades of work in the meat and cattle industry, or her unmatched contribution to the autism world, surely you know a thing or two about Temple. Well, prepare to meet a whole new side of her! Temple's close friend and author, Anita Lesko, conducts personal and unique interviews.

Pat Conroy was America's poet laureate of family dysfunction. A larger-than-life character and the author of such classics as The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini, Conroy was remembered by everybody for his energy, his exuberance, and his self-lacerating humor. Michael Mewshaw's The Lost Prince is an intimate memoir of his friendship with Pat Conroy, one that involves their families and those days in Rome when they were both young - when Conroy went from being a popular regional writer to an internationally best-selling author.

David Bradford and Carole Robin taught interpersonal skills to MBA candidates for a combined 75 years in their legendary Stanford Graduate School of Business course Interpersonal Dynamics (affectionately known to generations of students as 'Touchy Feely') and have coached and consulted to hundreds of executives for decades. In Connect, they show listeners how to take their relationships from shallow to exceptional, along the way offering time-tested strategies for giving feedback, negotiating boundaries and working through disagreements.

As an awkward high schooler, Wednesday struggled to find her place in Grand Rapids. Until a handsome senior encouraged her to believe how talented, smart, and wonderfully different she was. Naturally, Wednesday fell for him...He was falling, too. For another boy. Yet this one-sided crush proved life altering, paving the way for a string of “boyfriends” who offered Wednesday something deeper than physical connection.

Renee Kapuku and Courtney Daniella Boateng have one goal - to see women win. With their own friendship spanning a decade, their mission to reinvigorate sisterhood and redefine womanhood has turned into a global community of women helping each other to reclaim their power. Join these 'online big sisters' as they draw from their intimate experiences to teach, guide and show you how to embrace the power of friendship and community in an authentic way.

Since early 2020, Dolly Alderton has been sharing her wisdom, warmth and wit with the countless people who have written in to her Dear Dolly agony aunt column in The Sunday Times Style. Their questions range from the painfully—and sometimes hilariously—relatable to the occasionally bizarre. They include breakups and body issues, families, friendships, dating, divorce, the pleasures and pitfalls of social media, sex, loneliness, longing, love and everything in between.

Friendship is good for your health. Studies show that loneliness is as deadly as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day. Still, we are not taught how to be good friends to one another. We cancel plans, lose touch, blame technology, and neglect our non-romantic loved ones. In Good Friends, author Priya Vulchi explores friendships across history, continents, and identities to show how friendship can open up new levels of joy and community in your life. What is the meaning of friendship, these miraculous bonds with once-strangers? How do you begin friendships? End them? Keep them vibrant?

A speaker, teacher, and compelling storyteller, Lisa Whelchel writes from her heart and her head, sharing her story and helping women understand how to cope with the strengths and weaknesses of friendship, and basing all her advice on the foundation of our ultimate relationship with the Savior.