Friendship Development

Since 2021, tens of thousands of people have devoured the Ask Shameless weekly columns on dating, friendship and self-development, written by the Shameless podcasters and a team of talented young Australian writers. In 4 am, Zara and Michelle have curated forty of their very best columns alongside ten brand-new ones - plus the follow-up replies from many of the original contributors, updating listeners on what happened next. From navigating toxic friendships and romantic dilemmas to finding the courage to pursue your dreams, these are the conundrums that keep us up at night.

Heroes and Laughter – May the Fourth Be With You! Join Imani, Tommy, and Maya on an adventure-filled day celebrating six special occasions in this delightful children's book perfect for readers ages 6-9! In this charming installment of the "What Shall We Do Today?" series, three curious friends discover that May 4th isn't just one special day—it's six wonderful celebrations all at once! When Maya arrives with an exciting flyer, the children embark on a magical journey to the local fire station where Star Wars Day, International Firefighters' Day, Anti-Bullying Day, World Laughter Day, ...

It was early evening and a new acquaintance had come to retrieve his daughter from a play date. Instead of driving up in a minivan, he arrived by water, tacking his sailboat smartly across a squiggly channel in the marsh, throwing a rope overboard, and zipping back home, his gleeful daughter riding in the wake. Who knew you could do such a thing? And how could you resist befriending a man such as that?

Friendship is one of the most important yet most underrated necessities of life. A sense of connection and belonging is a key part of being human, and there are boundless benefits from having close friends who know everything about you, can help you out in a pinch, can be there with you through all the joys and hardships of life, and for whom you can be such a friend in turn. But making and keeping friends becomes increasingly difficult when we become adults with busy careers, family responsibilities, and dispersed locations.

Science journalist Lydia Denworth takes us in search of the biological, psychological and evolutionary foundations of this important bond. She finds that the human capacity for friendship is as old as humanity itself, when tribes of people on the African savanna grew large enough for individuals to seek meaningful connection with those outside their immediate families. Lydia meets scientists at the frontiers of brain and genetics research and discovers that friendship is reflected in our brain waves, our genomes and our cardiovascular and immune systems.

In his late teens Tom Macher rebelled against a world that seemed stacked against him. Raised in a broken family and estranged from an absentee father suffering with AIDS, Macher turned to alcohol to escape the painful loneliness of his reality. In quick succession, he is kicked out of school, and then his mother's house, sent to a boys' home in Montana, and later, a halfway house in a truck-stop town of Louisiana. It was there that Macher encounters a community of young men struggling to survive.

At some point in the course of Paul and Mark’s friendship, Mark acquired—legally and with required permits—five firearms. Those weapons lived with them in their college apartment. It was a non-issue for the two best friends. They were inseparable. They were twenty-two-year-old boys at the height of their college experience, unaware that everything was about to change forever. The bullet ripped through two walls before it struck Paul’s skull.

If you have just undergone a breakup, then get this step-by-step guide to getting over it, written especially for women. It is written by a person who has gone through breakup and lost loved ones. In this step-by-step guide, you will discover how to overcome and endure the pain caused by the break up.

When poet Amy Key was growing up, she looked forward to a life shaped by romance, fuelled by desire, longing and the conventional markers of success that come when you share a life with another person. But that didn't happen for her. Now in her forties, she sets out to explore the realities of a life lived in the absence of romantic love. Using Joni Mitchell's seminal album Blue - an album that shaped Key's expectations of love - as her guide, she examines the unexpected life she has created for herself.

In this zippy listen packed with true-life stories, Jen Nash explains how the opportunity to connect is everywhere and how we can get more than we ever dreamed of out of life if we make the effort to lean in and say hello. Whether you want to go to more parties, get a better job, make more money, or be a better person—listening to this book can give you practical strategies for doing it all. A happier, more successful, and more fulfilling life is within your reach, and The Big Power of Tiny Connections will show you the way.

Leah Dean is a tribe formation expert with a simple, yet powerful formula for building a tribe that stands the test of time. In Assemble the Tribe, Leah shares this formula and shows you how to shift to a tribe mindset by first discovering the value that you bring to every connection you make.

Alexandra Collier was a writer living in a light-filled Brooklyn brownstone in New York with the man she loved. But when she woke up to a ravenous hunger to have a baby that her partner didn't share, she had to make a choice between love or a future family. From defying her family's expectations to searching for sperm and navigating pregnancy alone, Ally deftly takes us through the ecstatic, complicated and demanding path to becoming a solo mother by choice.

By uniting mindfulness and self-compassion, this practical guide on the benefits of kindness is filled with simple tips and anecdotes that will help you live a happier, more fulfilling life. Do you criticise yourself on a daily basis? Are you always comparing yourself to others? Kindfulness is there for you. This practical, uplifting guide combines the two hot topics of the moment: mindfulness and self-compassion.

Where Did We Go Wrong? left readers asking, "Who got shot?" Where Did We Go Wrong Again? continues immediately after the shooting, with one of the beloved central characters critically wounded and another murdered. The bonds of friendship and love are tested after this tragedy, causing all involved to make irrational decisions that complicate their lives even more. Nothing will ever be the same as everyone is forced to make monumental, life-altering decisions.

CNN news anchor Brooke Baldwin explores the phenomenon of “huddling", when women lean on one another to provide each other support, empowerment, inspiration, and the strength to solve problems or enact meaningful change. Beyond the headline-making huddles of recent years such as the #MeToo movement, the Time's Up initiative, and the 2018 midterm elections, when women won a historic number of seats across the country, Baldwin tells the stories of women of all ages, races, religions and socio-economic backgrounds who are huddling in all segments of society.

During a particularly painful time in her life, Sarah Zacharias Davis learned how delightful and wounding women can be in friendship. She saw how some friendships end badly, others die slow deaths, and how a chance acquaintance can become that enduring friend you need. The Friends We Keep is Sarah's thoughtful account of her own story and the stories of other women about navigating friendship. Her revealing discoveries tackle the questions every woman asks.

Everyone wants to do something to improve race relations, but many of us don't know where to start. In Life-Changing Cross-Cultural Friendships, lifelong friends Gary Chapman and Clarence Shuler will show you how. Through important lessons they have learned, you will learn how to begin and grow authentic friendships across racial and ethnic barriers.

An inspirational guide to the 6 core qualities of healthy communities, for anyone looking to build community as a source of connection and a vehicle for social change.

In an ever changing and exclusive "me" world it is increasingly difficult to find people that would be our permanent group of friends. It is hard to even imagine a squad that won’t change members every so often. But what if you aren't the type to move out of your comfort zone? What if it is hard for you to make new friends? Are you going to just do things on your own or are you going to suffer in silence around people who don't really get you? The answer is NEITHER. You have to find a way to be able to gain the kind of friendships that would be lasting and meaningful.

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.