The American Heritage Dictionary defines the term "fairy tale" as a fictitious, highly fanciful story or explanation. Can such a narrative furnish pragmatic advice on important topics like sound thinking, overcoming indecisiveness, stress reduction, emotional self-management, and getting along better with others? This book, Practical Fairy Tales for Everyday Living, shows that it can. Practical Fairy Tales for Everyday Living provides twenty-five highly fanciful stories featuring characters who successfully battle a variety of personal problems and mishaps through the formulations of general semantics, a science-based "self-help" system designed to assist individuals to better evaluate and understand everyday difficulties. (Steve Allen, polymath and author of numerous books, including Dumbth: 81 Ways to Make Americans Smarter, lists as Idea Number 81: Learn general semantics.) While the stories are not true in the literal sense of that word, the British pundit G.K. Chesterton observed that "Fairy tales are more than true-not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten." Some of the stories you will find here contain plot elements from familiar literary classics and children's fairy tales. Other yarns offer completely original scenarios. All the stories have in common a desire to inform and entertain with a bit of humor. That was my purpose in writing these tales, and I hope that is your experience in reading them.

A book of natural wonders, practical guidance and life-changing empowerment, by the author of the word-of-mouth bestseller If Women Rose Rooted. 'To live an enchanted life is to pick up the pieces of our bruised and battered psyches, and to offer them the nourishment they long for. It is to be challenged, to be awakened, to be gripped and shaken to the core by the extraordinary which lies at the heart of the ordinary. Above all, to live an enchanted life is to fall in love with the world all over again.' The enchanted life has nothing to do with escapism or magical thinking: it is founded on a vivid sense of belonging to a rich and many-layered world. It is creative, intuitive, imaginative. It thrives on work that has heart and meaning. It loves wild things, but returns to an enchanted home and garden. It respects the instinctive knowledge, ethical living and playfulness, and relishes story and art. Taking the inspiration and wisdom that can be derived from myth, fairy tales and folk culture, this book offers a set of practical and grounded tools for reclaiming enchantment in our lives, giving us a greater sense of meaning and of belonging to the world.

"The true story of a girl in search of happiness and love :a search that leads her through the wild and unpredictable world of friendships, dating, heartbreak, and loneliness."--Amazon.

Current approaches to the drug problem are not working and almost everyone agrees that more effective solutions are needed. This comprehensive volume offers a dynamic new approach to understanding and solving the drug problem. This text applies the techniques and formulations of general semantics to investigate and make recommendations about various aspects of drug abuse. General semantics, a process problem-solving approach based on the primacy of the scientific method and importance of language as a shaper of thoughts and perceptions, has a proven record of success in problem-solving across a wide variety of disciplines and fields. Topics examined include American drug history and policy, the legalization issue, drugs and creativity, treatment, and prevention. A chronological overview of drug-taking in human history and a resource guide are provided. One chapter offers an in-depth description of an effective drug abuse prevention model and a program using the model.

A lavishly illustrated reference to the world of modern fairies shares practical advice for recognizing good and bad fairies and includes eight cautionary tales about fairy encounters in New York.

As interest in folklore increases, the folktale acquires greater significance for students and teachers of literature. The material is massive and scattered; thus, few students or teachers have accessibility to other than small segments or singular tales or material they find buried in archives. Stith Thompson has divided his book into four sections which permit both the novice and the teacher to examine oral tradition and its manifestation in folklore. The introductory section discusses the nature and forms of the folktale. A comprehensive second part traces the folktale geographically from Ireland to India, giving culturally diverse examples of the forms presented in the first part. The examples are followed by the analysis of several themes in such tales from North American Indian cultures. The concluding section treats theories of the folktale, the collection and classification of folk narrative, and then analyzes the living folklore process. This work will appeal to students of the sociology of literature, professors of comparative literature, and general readers interested in folklore.

"Smart and sassy relationship expert Siggy Flicker is your new fairy godmother. Having matched more than a thousand couples and embraced her own second chance at love, she knows finding a prince is no picnic. Now she's sharing the keys to building a fairy-tale romance, beginning with an honest assessment of what you really want to be happy. To help readers create the healthy, lasting relationships they deserve, Siggy is sharing her honest, empowering advice, including: Define the relationship you want. Set an intention and true love will follow. Forget what looks good "on paper." Sure he's Mr. Right, but is he right for you? Take a break from your dating rut with a Dating Cleanse. Step back and reevaluate your dating behavior. Learn how to make the most of the first five minutes. First impressions are important, so send the right signals. Happily-ever-after means forever. Continue to work hard to keep your relationship strong and passionate. Featuring practical exercises, real-life success stories, and lessons Siggy learned the hard way, Write Your Own Fairy Tale is a wake-up call for everyone looking for love--and a guide for making sure you get the happiness you truly deserve"--

Fairy tales are part of our culture and history. They have been with many of us since we were children. During the last 20 years there has been an increasing interest in psychoanalytically-orientated interpretation of fairy tales, opening them up as a medium for therapy. The authors show that fairy tales can be used in therapy and guidance in a number of ways and on many different levels. They found that using such stories in their daily work proved beneficial for staff-members and patients alike, generating a response of interest, attention and sensitivity, underlining their point that fairy tales have an impact on, and importance for, everyone.

Letters from Linda M. Montano is an anthology of writings by one of the seminal performance artists of the last century. It provides an autobiographical and historical record of Montano's artistic practice over the last thirty years, collecting together stories, fairytales, letters, interviews, manifestos and other previously unpublished writings. At the same time, the book acts as a 'how-to' manual for aspiring performance artists, offering practical guidance for students and a range of exercises that Montano has used in her teachings and workshops. Finally, Letters from Linda M. Montano represents a performance in itself, in which the artist considers the process of writing, creating and bringing the work to fruition as another form of 'endurance performance' similar to that of her durational works 14 Years of Living Art and Blood Family Art. COVER PHOTO COURTESY OF GISELA GAMPER.