God wants us to live in joy. We can be sure of that, because He tells us so, often! If we follow Jesus, we should have joy. But that doesn't mean it's easy. Most of us experience fleeting moments of happiness. Maybe sometimes, amazingly, even days, weeks, or months of it. But we're not in the habit of joy. Inevitably, something will happen to knock us out of our joy.One of the reasons the book and film of Pollyanna is so beloved is the emphasis on gladness. Pollyanna faced many external difficulties with faith and a joyous determination to see the best in everything. Dig deeper into the spiritual truths about living a joyful life contained in the story with this journaling devotional. There's a devotional for each chapter of the original story, with a quote from the book, my personal response to the issue the chapter raised, questions to think about, and relevant Bible verses. Take the time to ponder and journal your answers, and feel your joy grow!This book provides space to write your own notes, prayers, and responses, but doesn't include the text of the original story.

A thorough exploration of the critical topics and issues facing family communication researchers today The Sage Handbook of Family Communication provides a comprehensive examination of family communication theory and research. Chapters by leading scholars in family communication expand the definition of family, address recent shifts in culture, and cover important new topics, including families in crisis, families and governmental policies, social media, and extended families. The combination of groundbreaking theories, research methods, and reviews of foundational and emerging research in family communication make this an invaluable resource that explores the critical topics and issues facing family communication researchers today.

This is story number two (first one is Marnie's Journals) and a continuation of a troubled woman whose main wish in life was to find a way to die and had attempted suicide many times to escape her troubled mind. According to her journals, the suicidal attempts failed, and she ended up living with the pain and agony she was trying to escape from. She felt trapped in a life she no longer wanted, and no matter what she did, she was unhappy, depressed, disregarded, and did not want to go on living. In this story, this troubled woman reveals the final chapters of her journals that are disturbing to read. The reader will be enthralled with Marnie's Journals: Part 2--the Final Journey.

Appearing first as a weekly serial in The Christian Herald, Eleanor H. Porter's Pollyanna was first published in book form in 1913. This popular story of an impoverished orphan girl who travels from America's western frontier to live with her wealthy maternal Aunt Polly in the fictional east coast town of Beldingsville went through forty-seven printings in seven years and remains in print today in its original version, as well as in various translations and adaptations. The story's enduring appeal lies in Pollyanna's sunny personality and in her glad game, her playful attempt to accentuate the positive in every situation. In celebration of its centenary, this collection of thirteen original essays examines a wide variety of the novel's themes and concerns, as well as adaptations in film, manga, and translation. In this edited collection on Pollyanna, internationally respected and emerging scholars of children's literature consider Porter's work from modern critical perspectives. Contributors focus primarily on the novel itself but also examine Porter's sequel, Pollyanna Grows Up, and the various film versions and translations of the novel. With backgrounds in children's literature, cultural and film studies, philosophy, and religious studies, these scholars extend critical thinking about Porter's work beyond the thematic readings that have dominated previous scholarship. In doing so, the authors approach the novel from theoretical perspectives that examine what happens when Pollyanna engages with the world around her—her community and the natural environment—exposing the implicit philosophical, religious, and nationalist ideologies of the era in which Pollyanna was written. The final section is devoted to studies of adaptations of Porter's protagonist.

All students and professors need to write, and many struggle to finish their stalled dissertations, journal articles, book chapters, or grant proposals. Writing is hard work and can be difficult to wedge into a frenetic academic schedule. In this practical, light-hearted, and encouraging book, Paul Silvia explains that writing productively does not require innate skills or special traits but specific tactics and actions. Drawing examples from his own field of psychology, he shows readers how to overcome motivational roadblocks and become prolific without sacrificing evenings, weekends, and vacations. After describing strategies for writing productively, the author gives detailed advice from the trenches on how to write, submit, revise, and resubmit articles, how to improve writing quality, and how to write and publish academic work.

A searing look at the effects of post traumatic stress on soldiers and their families, seen through the eyes of teenage Hayley. Hayley is struggling to forget the past. But some memories run too deep, and soon the cracks start to show. Stunning, hard-hitting fiction from an award-winning writer.

In Memoriam for Julia Gardner.

"The most important book at the borderland of psychology and politics that I have ever read."—Martin E. P. Seligman, Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology at that University of Pennsylvania and author of Learned Optimism Why are we devastated by a word of criticism even when it’s mixed with lavish praise? Because our brains are wired to focus on the bad. This negativity effect explains things great and small: why countries blunder into disastrous wars, why couples divorce, why people flub job interviews, how schools fail students, why football coaches stupidly punt on fourth down. All day long, the power of bad governs people’s moods, drives marketing campaigns, and dominates news and politics. Eminent social scientist Roy F. Baumeister stumbled unexpectedly upon this fundamental aspect of human nature. To find out why financial losses mattered more to people than financial gains, Baumeister looked for situations in which good events made a bigger impact than bad ones. But his team couldn’t find any. Their research showed that bad is relentlessly stronger than good, and their paper has become one of the most-cited in the scientific literature. Our brain’s negativity bias makes evolutionary sense because it kept our ancestors alert to fatal dangers, but it distorts our perspective in today’s media environment. The steady barrage of bad news and crisismongering makes us feel helpless and leaves us needlessly fearful and angry. We ignore our many blessings, preferring to heed—and vote for—the voices telling us the world is going to hell. But once we recognize our negativity bias, the rational brain can overcome the power of bad when it’s harmful and employ that power when it’s beneficial. In fact, bad breaks and bad feelings create the most powerful incentives to become smarter and stronger. Properly understood, bad can be put to perfectly good use. As noted science journalist John Tierney and Baumeister show in this wide-ranging book, we can adopt proven strategies to avoid the pitfalls that doom relationships, careers, businesses, and nations. Instead of despairing at what’s wrong in your life and in the world, you can see how much is going right—and how to make it still better.

As Pollyanna grows up she continues her philosophy of gladness, bringing happiness to all those around her.