Control breeds fear. Fear forces submission. Submission becomes Habit. Bound by fear and oppression of "would-be protectors," the Creature of Habit is restricted to a life of sameness and isolation...until his spark of curiosity can be suppressed no longer. Desperate to find answers beyond the Compound walls where he lives, Creature disobeys his protector and embarks on a quest to find "unfettered thought and freedom." Along the way, he grapples with deep-seeded feelings of worthlessness and insignificance, as well as habitually self-destructive behaviors. Forced to look at the painful realities in his life, Creature discovers that the freedom he seeks is not at the end of a physical journey, but at the end of a spiritual one-his own. Guided by the wisdom of those who have gone before, the Creature of Habit must summon great inner strength to face his fears and throw off the lies of his past. Only then can he embrace genuine hope and find true unfettered thought and emotional freedom.

Beloved pastor Steve Poe helps Christians identify and break free from the destructive patterns that are keeping them from the joy-filled, flourishing life Jesus promised. We all have both good and bad habits in our life. Creatures of Habit reveals how to remove bad habits and replace them with godly ones. But it's not a matter of working hard, of "pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps." That approach simply doesn't work. True transformation is God's work--our job is to listen, obey, and put into practice what he's already directing us to do. Steve Poe has pastored large, growing churches for more than thirty-four years, and during that time he has counseled hundreds of people. He's seen that poor choices often become bad habits that in turn cause people a lot of problems. Hundreds of things can become a bad habit in our lives, but Poe focuses on the most common, among them: anger, lust, worry, cynicism, pride, self-centeredness, and greed. Each chapter provides insights, biblical examples, and tangible tools that will help you break the bad habits that can become spiritual strongholds in your life.

A woman diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder reveals her harrowing journey from abuse to recovery in this #1 New York Times bestselling autobiography written by her own multiple personalities. Successful, happily married Truddi Chase began therapy hoping to find the reasons behind her extreme anxiety, mood swings, and periodic blackouts. What emerged from her sessions was terrifying: Truddi’s mind and body were inhabited by the Troops—ninety-two individual voices that emerged to shield her from her traumatizing childhood. For years the Troops created a world where she could hide from the pain of the ritualized sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her own stepfather—abuse that began when she was only two years old. It was a past that Truddi didn’t even know existed, until she and her therapist took a journey to where the nightmare began... Written by the Troops themselves, When Rabbit Howls is told by the very alter-egos who stayed with Truddi Chase, watched over her, and protected her. What they reveal is a spellbinding descent into a personal hell—and an ultimate, triumphant deliverance for the woman they became.

"Utterly romantic." --Jenny Han, NYT bestselling author of To All the Boys I've Loved Before The bestselling author of Windfall and The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight returns with a meet-cute romance about Hugo and Mae, two teens who are thrown together on a cross-country train trip that will teach them about love, each other, and the futures they can build for themselves. It's the perfect idea for a romantic week together: traveling across America by train. But then Hugo's girlfriend dumps him. Her parting gift: the tickets for their long-planned last-hurrah-before-uni trip. Only, it's been booked under her name. Nontransferable, no exceptions. Mae is still reeling from being rejected from USC's film school. When she stumbles across Hugo's ad for a replacement Margaret Campbell (her full name!), she's certain it's exactly the adventure she needs to shake off her disappointment and jump-start her next film. A cross-country train trip with a complete stranger might not seem like the best idea. But to Mae and Hugo, both eager to escape their regular lives, it makes perfect sense. What starts as a convenient arrangement soon turns into something more. But when life outside the train catches up to them, can they find a way to keep their feelings for each other from getting derailed? "One of the loveliest, most touching romances of 2019 thus far that gets at the nature of something deeply buried in all of our hearts." --Entertainment Weekly "This warm, romantic, never overly sentimental story is told with humor and heart....A deeply satisfying read about a life-changing journey full of poignant moments." --Kirkus, starred review

Celebrates the beneficial effects that animals have on humans and describes how their therapeutic potential is being increasingly acknowledged by the medical community. Demonstrates achievements of Assisted Animal Therapy in reducing stress, preventing heart attacks, and treating children with physical and mental disabilities, and looks at programs that train dogs to help disabled people with daily chores. The writing, by a British "environmental psychologist," is filled with anecdotes and the author's personal point of view. The book was originally published in Great Britain in 1999 by Simon and Schuster UK. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

As profiled in the New York Times Magazine… Based on the author’s twenty-five years of experience as a veterinarian and veterinary behaviorist, The Soul of All Living Creatures delves into the inner lives of animals – from whales, wolves, and leopards to mice, dogs, and cats – and explores the relationships we forge with them. As an emergency room clinician four years out of veterinary school, Dr. Vint Virga had a life-changing experience: he witnessed the power of simple human contact and compassion to affect the recovery of a dog struggling to survive after being hit by a car. Observing firsthand the remarkably strong connection between humans and animals inspired him to explore the world from the viewpoint of animals and taught him to respect the kinship that connects us. With The Soul of All Living Creatures, Virga draws from his decades in veterinary practice to reveal how, by striving to perceive the world as animals do, we can enrich our own appreciation of life, enhance our character, nurture our relationships, improve our communication with others, reorder our values, and deepen our grasp of spirituality. Virga discerningly illuminates basic traits shared by both humans and animals and makes animal behavior meaningful, relevant, and easy to understand. Insightful and eloquent, The Soul of All Living Creatures offers an intimate journey into the lives of our fellow creatures and a thought-provoking promise of what we can learn from spending time with them.

The title of my book Creatures of Habit is really all about my journey of addiction and alcoholism. As my addiction took over, it seemed at some point all about the maintenance of staying loaded. The fun of it all quickly slipped away, and it was all about maintaining my high. My hopes and dreams slowly slipped away, and it became all about the drug. Family and friends were a thing of the past, and my entire life revolved around methamphetamine. Creatures of Habit is a book about my twenty-year journey with methamphetamine and how I finally broke the habit and started to recover. I only knew what I knew at the time, and it has taken a lot of hard work to unravel my insanity of addiction and to replace that with focus, foundation, dedication, purpose, and the desire to learn. Creatures of Habit is about how a twenty-year meth user turned his life around and managed to not only get family and friends back in my life but those relationships are better than ever before. New relationships are solid, and I'm no longer putting myself in harm's way. I believe in something much greater than myself today.