Game night is finally here and it could not be completed without a delicious dessert to go with a fabulous fun game of Ticket to Ride™. Before you prepare what routes you will be embarking on tonight, make sure you try these mouth watering brownies that can be found in the newest and only Ticket to Ride™ – The Official Cookbook. 

Thimbleberry or Raspberry Brownies from Ticket to Ride™ – The Official Cookbook

If you’re lucky enough to have access to thimbleberries, the subtle, tart-sweet Midwestern berries similar to raspberries, try them swirled into a pan of rich, fudgy brownies. This recipe uses berries in three forms: fresh, freeze-dried, and jam—to really highlight the fruit flavor.

Makes: 8 servings | Active time: 15 minutes | Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1 tablespoon plus 1 cup softened unsalted butter, divided

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup self-rising flour

3⁄4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup dark chocolate chunks

1 cup fresh thimbleberries or raspberries (see note)

1⁄2 cup freeze-dried raspberries,crushed

1⁄4 cup raspberry jam

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 12 x 9-inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon butter.
2. In a large bowl, beat the 1 cup butter, eggs, sugar, flour, and cocoa powder with an electric mixer or by hand until smooth.
3. Gently fold in the chocolate chunks and fresh berries.
4. Pour the batter into the greased pan and top with the crushed freeze-dried raspberries and dollops of jam.
5. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting.

Note:

Thimbleberries are very delicate so they’re rarely produced commercially. Feel free to use raspberries for an almost-as-good result.

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Enjoy game night with Ticket to Ride™ – The Official Cookbook and these brownies and remember you can pre order the Official Cookbook today! 

All aboard! We’re going to our next destination.

How was Washington D.C.? Did you enjoy those delectable Half-Smoke Sausage Bites? I bet they were absolutely delicious. Now, get settled and get your Destination Tickets ready, we’re heading to Nashville! As part of our sneak peek series to the Ticket to Ride™ The Official Cookbook, we’re loading the train and heading South! So, gather your ingredients, don your chef’s hat, and get ready to turn up the heat in your kitchen as we make this Southern classic… Hot Chicken!

Brace yourself for a fiery adventure with this Nashville Hot Chicken recipe from Ticket to Ride™ The Official Cookbook!

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Hot Chicken from— Ticket to Ride™ The Official Cookbook

Nashville’s best-known poultry is sweet, spicy, crispy, and juicy. After the chicken is fried to a perfect golden brown, it’s slathered in a coating made from leftover frying oil, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and brown sugar. This combo of sweet and spicy ingredients is sure to make things steamy as your route takes you through Tennessee.

Makes: 4 servings | Active time: 40 minutes | Total time: 2 hours 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1½ cups dill pickle juice
8 or so bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces (thighs, breasts, legs, wings)
2 cups flour
¼ cup cornstarch
3 tablespoons Creole seasoning
1½ cups buttermilk
⅓ cup Southern-style hot sauce, such as Frank’s RedHot
2 quarts neutral oil, such as peanut or vegetable
⅓ cup ground cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon light or dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Pour the pickle juice into a large ziplock bag. Add the chicken pieces and let them sit in the brine in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or up to overnight.

2. Set out two shallow dishes. In the first, mix together the flour, cornstarch, and Creole seasoning. In the second, pour the buttermilk and hot sauce.

3. Dunk each chicken piece into the flour mixture, then the buttermilk mixture, then back in the flour mixture. Place the breaded pieces on a wire rack set on a baking sheet.

4. Pour the oil into a large pot—it should come about a third to halfway up the pot sides—and heat over high heat until the oil reaches 350°F. (To check the temperature, use a cooking thermometer dipped into the oil or clipped to the side of the pot.)

5. Use tongs to carefully place half the chicken pieces in the oil. Fry for 7 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces (small thighs will cook faster than large breasts). Repeat with the remaining chicken pieces, then turn off the heat.

6. To make the spicy oil for the chicken, transfer at least a cup of the used cooking oil into a heatproof bowl. Add the cayenne pepper, paprika, brown sugar, chili powder, garlic powder, and salt, then mix everything together. Use a brush to coat the cooked chicken pieces with the spicy oil.

Your vagus nerve is the largest and most important nerve in your body. It carries messages to and from your brain, gut, heart and other major muscles and organs. However, common issues like inflammation, stress, or physical trauma can interfere with the nerve’s ability to function. Luckily, there are tons of quick-and-easy ways to exercise the nerve, strengthening its function and restoring your body to good health. Packed with easy-to-follow exercises and activities, Activate Your Vagus Nerve will show you how to unlock the power of the vagus nerve to heal your body and get back to a state of balance, all through vagus nerve stimulation.

What is the Vagus Nerve?

The vagus nerve (VN) originates in the brainstem—essentially the trunk of the brain that senses, processes, and regulates the vast majority of the automatic functions of the body. For the most part, we do not have to consciously think about these functions to make them happen. These functions are called autonomic and are regulated by your autonomic nervous system.

1. Beating of the heart
2. Blinking of eyelids
3. Breath rate and depth
4. Constriction and dilation of blood vessels
5. Detoxification in the liver and kidneys
6. Digestion in the digestive tract
7. Opening and closing sweat glands
8. Producing saliva and tears
9. Pupil dilation and constriction in eyes
10. Sexual arousal

Inside the brainstem are various clusters of neuron cell bodies called nuclei. Here, neurons take in information from other cells throughout the body. These nuclei have different functions and are distinguished with Latin-derived names. Nuclei are like a router on a home internet network connection. Some information comes into the router through your cable connection or telephone line, the information is processed in the router, and other information is then sent out from the router to your computer, television, and any other electronics that are connected to your network.

There are two main types of neurons, and they send information in one of two directions. The first are afferent neurons, which receive information about what is taking place in and around the body. Afferent neurons take information from the body toward the brain, called afferent information. The second are called efferent neurons, which send out information with regulatory or motor effects (called efferent information) to various organs and structures throughout the body, so efferent information is carried from the brain, toward the body.

The vagus nerve is connected to four different nuclei within the brainstem. Eighty percent of the information transmitted by the VN is afferent information, meaning that the most common direction that information flows in the VN is from the organs of the body to the brain. The remaining 20 percent of the neurons in the VN have an efferent signal, from the brain to the body, leading to specific functions taking place in each cell and organ. It’s intriguing to learn that most medical students are shocked at the fact that only 20 percent of the VN’s function is efferent, as it has so many efferent effects on the organs—just imagine then the amount of information that this nerve relays back to the brain, more than four times as much as the information it relays away from it.

Like the wires of your home network connection, the bundles of neurons within your nerves send information along their length using electrical signals, which, upon reaching the end of the nerve, lead to the release of a chemical signal called a neurotransmitter. These neurotransmitters will bind to receptors on the receiving cells, leading to an effect in the cells at the end of the connection. The major neurotransmitter utilized by the VN is called acetylcholine (ACh for short), which has a major anti-inflammatory effect in the body.

Managing the inflammatory system is one of the most important functions of the VN; it is the major inflammatory control system in the body and has far-reaching effects on your personal state of health and disease. Many of the health conditions that my patients suffer from are due to high levels of inflammation in certain organs and systems, from the digestive tract to the liver and even the brain.

Inflammation is an important response within the body to keep us safe from bacterial and viral invaders, physical trauma, and other things that should optimally not enter the body. When inflammation levels are not kept in check and become chronic, the effects can be wide-ranging and lead to many different health conditions. Some common conditions correlated to high inflammation levels include:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Cancer
• Crohn’s disease
• Diabetes
• Heart and cardiovascular disease
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS)
• Ulcerative colitis

As well as any condition that ends in the suffix –itis Most of the organs affected in these conditions are innervated (or connected) by the VN. Thus, it is not just possible but highly likely that the VN is working suboptimally and not having its anti-inflammatory effect on these organs, leading to chronic inflammation and disease.

It’s important to remember that these conditions do not occur in isolation and if one of these conditions is present, another is likely to be taking place. The same signals are sent through the vagus nerve to and from nearly each internal organ, so if inflammation levels are not controlled in one organ, the same is likely occurring in other areas.

Exercises for Vagus Nerve Stimulation

Simple Breathing Exercise to Stimulate Your Vagus Nerve

The first and most effective way to positively affect your vagus nerve is to learn to breathe correctly. Simply put, rapid, shallow, chest breathing is a sign of stress, which activates the sympathetic branch, while slow, deep, belly breathing is a sign of rest, which activates the vagus nerve.

Breath is our one window into the autonomics.
—Dr. Jared Seigler

The vast majority of us have not learned to breathe correctly. In fact, we have subconsciously trained ourselves to forget the correct mechanics of breathing. If you haven’t yet completed the paradoxical breathing pattern test on page 128, I highly recommend doing it now. Correct breathing patterns are directly linked to autonomic nervous system function and altered breathing patterns tell the body that it is under stress.

This fact is even more amplified once you realize that the average person takes approximately 23,040 breaths per day.

When we want to learn the best, most efficient, and most effective way to breathe, we must look toward leaders and examples that live amongst us. Consider some of the greatest vocal and instrumental performers of our time. If you have ever attended a concert or opera, you have likely noticed that exceptional singers and instrumentalists can sing an entire set of songs without much of a break. In songs recorded by greats such as Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, and Celine Dion, the artists rarely sound as though they are out of breath or unable to hold a note because they trained their breathing patterns. Opera singers are some of the most effective breathers on the planet; they have learned to control the function of their diaphragm while holding the vibration of their vocal muscles.

Another group to consider are high-performing professional athletes. These are the best of the best—those who do not crumble under pressure. Stars like Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, Nolan Ryan, Ken Griffey Jr., and Babe Ruth all had one thing in common—they were all able to control their stress levels by ensuring that their breath patterns stayed optimal while they were performing. To perform at such high levels, these performers trained themselves to remain calm under high-stress circumstances by using a slow, calm, and comfortable breathing pattern. You, too, can learn to create an optimal breathing pattern that can signal to your body that you are not under stress, thus allowing optimal signaling via the vagus nerve and parasympathetic nervous system.

Multiple research studies have shown that slow breathing exercises are highly effective in improving heart rate variability. One study showed that slowing your breath rate to six full breaths per minute for five minutes was effective in increasing HRV immediately. If this is individualized, the effect on HRV is even more effective. Determining the slow breath rate that is optimal and feels right for you individually will have the greatest positive effect on your HRV levels.

Here are simple steps to practice this exercise:

1. Sit up straight without allowing your back to rest against anything.
2. Exhale completely to remove all air from your lungs.
3. Put your right hand on your chest and your left hand on your belly, just above your belly button.
4. Take a deep breath in through your nose for five to seven seconds, allowing only your belly to rise (feeling only your left hand rising).
5. Hold that breath for two to three seconds.
6. Exhale through your mouth for six to eight seconds, allowing your belly to fall (feeling only your left hand falling).
7. Hold your breath, without any air entering your lungs, for two to three seconds.
8. Repeat steps 4 through 7 as many times as you feel comfortable or for a set period of time.

Take five minutes per day to practice deep belly breathing on your own and your body will thank you. For best results, perform this practice multiple times per day, especially during periods of stress. Even a single minute of concentrated focus on slow, deep breathing can have significant positive effects on your mood, stress levels, and overall health. Work to focus your attention on breathing in through your nose rather than your mouth to make this exercise even more effective when you are practicing it.

If you have already learned to practice this simple deep breathing exercise and are up for something a little more challenging and advanced, I recommend trying the Wim Hof breathing exercise. Wim Hof is a Dutch “daredevil” according to Google, however in learning his method, I now see him as a visionary. He is also known as the “Ice Man” as his training and methodology involves the use of breathing exercises and cold exposure as well as commitment to the practice.

Learn more exercises and techniques to boost vagus nerve stimulation with Activate Your Vagus Nerve.

What about true crime has us all coming back for more? A new podcast? Immediately subscribed and downloaded all the episodes to listen! A new documentary? Binged it with all the lights out even though it’s creepy! A new book? Yes, I need to read it all in one go. Cults still dominate the news cycle and continue to fascinate us. But what are cults? How do you identify one and know the warning signs before you’re, well, in one?

In Cults: A True Crime Collection, Wendy Biddlecombe Asgar leads you down the dark path of what happens when true believers go too far with the shocking stories of the world’s most infamous and horrific cults. From The Order of the Solar Temple to the NXIVM cult to Charles Mansion, you will learn what led these leaders and their followers to commit such terrible crimes like mass murders and human sacrifices.

If you want to learn more, keep reading for a sneak peek of the book! And don’t forget to pick up a copy of Cults: A True Crime Collection.

Do Cults Still Exist?

It’s hard to imagine being swept up by a charismatic cult leader to the point where you’d do anything they said and follow any order they gave, including murder or another bizarre criminal act. But everyday people have and continue to join cults, which often promote a very different message than the one they use to lure people to join.

Thousands of cults around the world are active today, and it’s estimated that between 2 and 5 million Americans have been involved in a cult at some point in their life. Certainly not all cults commit murder or force their members into mass suicide. And it’s true that only the most extreme, gruesome, and nefarious cults ever make it into the news. But many cults do share similar characteristics, such as an unwavering faith in an absolute leader and an intense devotion to an ideological cause, that lays the groundwork and possibility for criminal acts to take place.

What Are Cults?

Cults are defined as groups of people who have joined together or an ideological cause, such as religion, politics, science fiction, or self-improvement, and are under the total control of a charismatic leader to whom they are completely devoted. Cult beliefs are all-consuming, and cults usually isolate themselves, shunning the outside world to prevent conflicting viewpoints, including from the news and media, to permeate the tight-knit group. The cult leader, who can be alive or dead, is always right, has important information that only they know (such as the day the world will end or biblical secrets), and cannot be questioned by his or her followers.

You don’t look for cults; cults look for you. A common misperception is that only unintelligent and easily impressionable people can be stupid enough to be swept up by a cult. Many recruits are “normal” people who may be lonely and searching for answers.

What About Cult Leaders?

To gain followers, cult leaders need to have enough clout and persuasion to convince members to leave their old lives behind and join their cause.

On the surface, cult leaders express a goal of living in a better world—think of Jim Jones’s utopian society—but these figures are in actuality driven by a desire for money, sex, power, or a combination of those three things.

They provide a spiritual answer that their followers have been craving, and might share it, if you leave behind your family, turn over your assets to the group, and drop all shreds of individuality to become part of a collective cause.

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of Cults: A True Crime Collection! In this book, you’ll about Charles Mansion, Heaven’s Gate, Vampire Clan, Jim Jones, The People’s Temple, and more.

It’s not a successful game night until you have a good group of people, a fun game, some friendly competition, and delicious food. And you can have all of that with the first-ever official Ticket to Ride™ cookbook!

Before you choose your train colors and get giddy with the Destination Tickets you’ve chosen, prepare the most mouth-watering recipes inspired by routes throughout the United States and Canada. Travel from coast to coast while enjoying New York-style pizza paired with San Francisco’s iconic mai tai. Or experience New Orleans’s shrimp po’ boy and top it off with Little Rock’s decadent possum pie.

Wherever you need to go in the game, we’ve got a recipe for you. To celebrate the release of the book, we’re giving you an exclusive look at one of the recipes. Enjoy this yummy Half-Smoke Sausage Bites recipe to serve as an appetizer for your next game night!

Washington, DC’s Half-Smoke Sausage Bites from Ticket to Ride™ – The Official Cookbook

An icon of cuisine in Washington, DC, half-smoke sausages are a regionally unique take on the hot dog. If you don’t have a Destination Ticket that routes you through DC to pick up these spicier, more coarsely ground sausages, you can also substitute any cased, smoked sausage to make these little bites. Pair with pickled onions and deli mustard, or simply grab and go.

Makes: 4 servings | Active time: 30 minutes | Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1 sheet frozen puff pastry

1 large onion

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

8 ounces smoked sausages (see note)

1 egg, beaten

3 tablespoons sesame seeds or everything bagel seasoning

1/2 cup deli mustard

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Instructions

1. Defrost the puffed pastry in the refrigerator according to the package directions, then cut into strips the length of a sausage, wide enough to roll around the sausage.

2. To pickle the onion, slice it paper-thin and add to a bowl with the vinegar and salt. Let sit for at least 45 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 425°. Sear the sausages in a large pan on the stovetop over medium-high heat until browned on the outside, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove and let cool.

4. Place a whole sausage on a piece of puffed pastry. Roll it up so that the pastry covers the sides of the sausage. The ends will stick out. Repeat for the remaining sausages, then place the rolls on a baking sheet and brush with the beaten egg. Sprinkle the tops with sesame seeds or everything bagel seasoning.

5. Cook in the oven until the puffed pastry is golden brown and crisp, about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove and let rest for 5 minutes.

6. Slice into ½-inch rounds and plate with the pickled onions, mustard, and—for extra heat—sprinkle with crushed red pepper flakes.

Note

Half-smokes are ubiquitous in DC; even the Washington Nationals baseball team has deemed them their “official dog.” Despite this, they are harder to find once you’ve left the city limits. It’s worth the online trip (and the shipping) to get the real thing!

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Have fun playing Ticket to Ride™, and don’t forget to cook and eat your way through the Ticket to Ride™: The Official Cookbook!

It’s (almost) officially the end of award’s season, and the ultimate wrap-up is the star-studded Academy Awards. The Oscars showcase the year’s best in film, directing, screenplay writing, production, and so many more categories. All of these nominees are winners in our books as they’ve given us so many laughs, tears, and some of the most beautiful cinematic shots. We’re here to give back to these films. So! What Ulysses Press book is most like these Oscar nominated films? Keep reading to find out!

Poor Things | The Overwhelmed Brain

Starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, and Willem Dafoe, this Best Picture nominee follows Bella Baxter as she discovers the pleasures, and horrors, of the real world and herself. This wildly imaginative and over the top film is a take on human relationships, feminism, autonomy and so much more. We see Bella explore the world outside of Godwin’s home and she struggles to see how humans suffer, criticize, and please. The Overwhelmed Brain is here with expert advice on personal growth and decision-making for deeper thinkers who want more than affirmations and clichés.

Oppenheimer | How Pi Can Save Your Life

The Oscars nominated this film in 13 different categories making it the most nominated film. This star studded cast with actors like Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., and Emily Blunt has been a powerhouse this awards season. So, after being the face of the atomic bomb, a 3-hour historical film, and the award season sweep, it might be nice for the Oppenhomies to relax and read How Pi Can Save Your Life. They’ll learn how to survive random and ridiculous scenarios through the power of math equations.

Barbie | The Big Book of Horse Trivia

Hi Barbie! This highly anticipated film released alongside Oppenheimer to make the event of the summer. Of course we only watched Oppenheimer for the light-hearted jokes and Barbie for the REAL hard hitting facts. You know who else loves the most stimulating books? He’s just Ken! Where he sees love, she sees someone looking at book of horses..? Ken loves truly the most philosophical and most-thought provoking literature out there. So, be a ten and find out more about horses with The Big Book of Horse Trivia. Can you feel the Kenergy?

Anatomy of a Fall | Teach Your Dog to Talk

This French legal film made waves in the international film world this year. Trying to prove her innocence in her husband’s death, Sandra Voyter, portrayed by Sandra Hüller, has the court and all the evidence against her. The only witness to the crime? Her blind son and his guide dog Snoop. This would be the perfect situation where you wished you would have finally taught your dog how to talk.

The Holdovers | The Ultimate Teacher Appreciation Gift Book

Set in 1970’s winter, Paul Giamatti plays Paul Hunham, a strict professor at a New England boarding school for boys. Disliked by the students, staff, and sometimes it feels like life, Hunham is just a teacher trying to better his students. Maybe his strict teaching and grading can be changed with some appreciation.

Good luck and congrats to all the nominees!

The process of breaking up and being left to deal with the aftermath can take a toll on you. Especially if the breakup involved infidelity, broken trust, and financial betrayal. But expert psychotherapist and relationship specialist Lisa Brateman, LCSW, has created a guided workbook on how to recover from a breakup. Through journaling prompts and helpful exercises, The Courage to Walk Away will help to heal and empower you for the future.

If you want to learn what comes next after infidelity and heartbreak, we have a sneak peek into the workbook!

How to Recover from a Breakup

There is life after betrayal.

If you are dealing with the aftermath of a painful and life-altering breakup—made worse by the emotional turmoil when trust has been breached and vows have been broken—you are not alone. You may already know that nearly 50 percent of all marriages in the US end in separation or divorce. Not all are caused by infidelity, of course, but that’s up there as one of the primary causes (or perhaps as the nail in the coffin of unhappiness). The figures are sobering. An estimated 41 percent of first marriages, 60 percent of second marriages, and 73 percent of third marriages in the US end in divorce. In fact, there is a divorce in this country every forty-two seconds—the time it likely took you to read this paragraph! And these statistics don’t include all the couples living together without being married.

Yet there is no reason for you to suffer when you can take steps toward a healing that you might not yet think to be possible.

The Fear of Loneliness

There is, of course, a vast difference between being alone (which can be emotionally satisfying) and being lonely (which is not). Some of the loneliest people I’ve ever met are couples who no longer feel comfortable with any kind of intimate behavior, yet they don’t know what to do about it. Your partner can be sitting next to you on the sofa, yet there is nothing about their presence that makes you feel cherished or supported. If this is the case, it can be a relief when the relationship ends.

There can also be hidden triggers for loneliness after a relationship ends. Seeing the closet and dresser drawers and garage empty can give you a huge jolt that leaves you feeling sad and lonely. Unexpected triggers can also sneak up on you.

There are many things to miss when a relationship ends, and they can make you feel lonely. But the more you do things on your own, the less jarring it will feel over time.

Fighting the Loneliness

If you’re feeling lonely, try to take steps to make yourself feel better. The longer you avoid doing anything proactive, the longer it can take to not feel so alone. Loneliness should not be discounted—it’s practically an epidemic in this country, and it can have serious health effects. In fact, in 2023 the National Institute on Aging released a study showing that the health risks of being isolated for a lengthy period of time are equivalent to smoking fifteen cigarettes a day.

To start, do something for yourself. Tell yourself “I deserve this”—because you do! And sometimes the best thing is to do something for someone else. Redirecting your attention to something out of your range of experience—whether it’s volunteering at an animal shelter or a hospital, or any kind of volunteering that brings you into contact with other people—will feel good. And don’t forget to set up regular check-ins with your friends.

If you are interested in the prompts and exercises in this chapter, don’t forget to pick up your copy of The Courage to Walk Away, which is out now!

February is Black History Month! Celebrate by reading from this list of books by incredible Black authors. From cookbooks to poetry to mythology to self-help, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Make sure to add these to your TBR shelf to read during Black History Month and beyond!

Books to Read for Black History Month

Own Your Greatness and Your Unstoppable Greatness

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If you want to tackle that inner voice that tells you that you can’t do something or that you’re not good enough, then you have to check out Own Your Greatness and Your Stoppable Greatness! These two guided workbooks will give you the tools you need to conquer self-doubt, realize your true worth, and enjoy your success. Make sure to check out Dr. Lisa Orbé-Austin’s appearance on The TODAY Show, where she got to chat with hosts Hoda and Jenna about imposter syndrome!

Introduction to Igbo Mythology for Kids

Introduction to Igbo Mythology for Kids is a collection that explores the most popular Igbo myths, folktales, and legends that will immerse kids in exciting stories of tricksters, shapeshifters, and heroes. It’s the perfect book for kids who love Greek mythology or are obsessed with the Rick Riordan series (books and TV show)!

Healing with Copper

Yvelette Stines is a seasoned health and wellness writer, and she has written Healing with Copper, a guide on the benefits and best uses of copper to transform your life! Consumed in the right quantities, these essential metals can boost brain function, alleviate fatigue, strengthen your immune system, and relieve symptoms of various chronic illnesses!

I Own My Magic: Self-Talk for Black Women

It’s important that when you practice self-care, you’re also practicing self-love! G. Michelle Goodloe has written a book of inspiring prompts, meditations, and reflections. I Own My Magic is a celebration of Black female identity that will encourage you to honor your true power and show strength in everything you do.

The Mayonnaise Book

Mayo is so much more than just a condiment! In The Mayonnaise Cookbook, Erin Isaac will teach you 50 recipes that feature mayonnaise, including potato salad, chocolate cupcakes, elote street corn, and more. And of course, you will learn how to make your own mayonnaise!

The Magical Girl’s Guide to Life and The Magical Girl’s Self-Care Coloring Book

How about self-care with a side of anime? In The Magical Girl’s Guide to Life, Jacque Aye wants you to transform into your most magical self with this one-of-a-kind, manga inspired self-care guide designed to help you discover and harness your inner power! With fun exercises, journal prompts, and personality tests, you’ll quickly learn everything you need to know about your magical girl self, including your magical girl name, what type of power you possess, and what cute companion will perfectly complement your magical girl journey.

And if self-care means taking time to relax your mind, then try out The Magical Girls’ Self-Care Coloring Book! You will still experience self-love and self-esteem benefits just in a very cute and unique coloring book.

The Routine Building Handbook

Believe it or not, you can juggle it all and achieve work/life balance! In The Routine Building Handbook, discover the power of creating, starting, and maintaining daily routines that will help you decrease your stress levels, improve our sleep, and build a productive (and joyful!) life in this practical and easy-to-use guide.

Myths of the Underworld

Myths of the Underworld is a collection of modern retellings of gods and goddesses of the underworld. In these 10 myths from different cultures around the world, you will learn of forbidden love, acts of vengeance, and naive attractions. You’ll find familiar names, such as Hades and Persephone, but you will also learn about Sedna, the Inuit goddess of the sea and the underworld; Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacíhuatl, the lovers who ruled the Aztec underworld; and more!

The Devotional for Black Women

If you are looking to fully embrace your identity in Christ and understand your God-given purpose, you need to check out The Devotional for Black Women. Chelsea La’Nere Brown provides 52 weeks of practical biblical principles and inspiration for building intimacy with God. You will be empowered through weekly devotional wisdom, journaling prompts, biblical affirmations, and more.

2Fish

Written by Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Jhené Aiko Efuru Chilombo, 2Fish is a collection of poems and a few short stories inspired from experiences in her adolescence through adulthood. If you enjoy her lyrics, then you will definitely love reading her poetry.

Considering booking your spring vacation to Japan? Do it! Curating her very own Japan travel tips, Winnie Liu, author of Moshi Moshi, is here to guide you through your amazing trip to have the BEST experience.

Using her own experience traveling through Japan, Winnie has become an experienced visitor to Japan and wants everyone else to be one! From eating on a budget to which 7-11 snack is the best, she here to help! Check out her tips:

Eating well on a budget:

A great place to experience delicious local cuisine on a travel-budget is at Japanese supermarkets. The plethora of hot and cold prepared foods make from quick snacks to an entire meal. To save even more money, come snag the dishes in the evenings. Some employees will mark up all the food with discount stickers. So, enjoy those late night outings, just make sure you don’t wait up too long before they run out!

Where are the trash cans??:  

Next to vending machines are one of the few places you can find a recycling bin (and on rare occasions a trash bin) in Japan! Thankfully, vending machines are literally on every corner of major cities. The most common ones are for drinks (which often sell hot AND cold drinks). You can find specialty ones for food, gadgets, accessories, and more! 

Travel ALL across Japan:

The JR Group, one of Japan’s largest private railway companies, offers a cost-effective and handy travel option. Only available to foreign tourists called the JR Rail Pass, the pass comes in 7, 14, and 21 day usages. It’s valid for almost all major forms of transportation in Japan provided by the JR Group, including shinkansen (AKA bullet trains). This pass used to be much more cost-effective; prices unfortunately went up around 60% for all passes in October 2023. It may not be as well-priced as it once was, but if you plan to travel around Japan a lot, it could still work for you! Don’t you just love public transportation!

Cash is king!

In Japan, the big chains and department stores will likely accept major credit cards (Visa and Mastercard, on rare occasions Discover and Amex too). But, cash *is the most* reliable payment method. 7-11 ATMs consistently have one of the best exchange rates for Japanese yen from foreign currencies, and the process is extremely simple. Simply insert your foreign debit card into any 7-11 ATM and select the amount of yen you would like. The only catch is you will not see the exchange rate until the money is pulled from your bank account. At which time, you can see how much USD or whatever currency you own was pulled. But it will always be a better rate than airport kiosks and exchange counters in touristy areas!

Scouting restaurants like a local:

Finding delicious restaurants isn’t difficult in Japan. Chances are, just walking around and strolling into random establishments will net you some delicious meals. But if you like to plan ahead or seek out specific places, there are two tips and tricks that will help you find digs popular with locals.

1) Search for cuisine terms on Google using Japanese characters instead of English (e.g. sushi is 寿司 in Japanese).

2) Use Tabelog, a food review site for native Japanese spots that is similar to Yelp. Any place with a 3.5+ rating is actually pretty good from my experience.

In today’s hectic and uncaring world, it’s important to guard the boundaries of your soul. Psychic Shield: The Personal Handbook of Psychic Protection will teach you all the practical and commonsense strategies necessary to defend yourself against any damaging external forces you may encounter.

Whether you’re a skilled psychic, a budding empath, or simply someone looking for answers, Psychic Shield offers a number of practices, meditations, and rituals to help you protect yourself and your inner peace.

The Ancient Art of Psychic Protection

What does psychic protection conjure up in your imagination? An entranced shaman whirling to the beat of a drum? An evangelical minister wrestling with the possessed at the alter? Buffy the Vampire Slayer with stake and hammer? Or is it the exorcist struggling to subdue evil with a well-placed Bible and light-bestowing crucifix? Isn’t it interesting that few of the images that come to mind are familiar or from our own time, except those from TV or movies? We have grown unfamiliar with such strange skills that have become mythologized and distant from our own society.

The art of psychic protection is not a new skill. It is a very ancient one found in every time, place and culture. Throughout the history of the world, ordinary people have been careful to observe wise customs and maintain the boundaries between themselves and spiritual harm. These simple, domestic and ordinary skills were known to everyone. And for the more difficult kinds of psychic disturbance, we have always needed people who can stand at the borders between the known and the unknown, to bring spiritual peace to psychic disturbance, to detect the cause of strange happenings, to arbitrate and calm perturbations in the night, to lead unquiet spirits to their rightful place.

How on earth can we learn this ancient skill? Where can we learn and benefit from the strategies? And why should we learn it at all, you may ask? We desperately need these skills in our times because other people and factors are affecting us all the time and we don’t have a clue what to do about them. We don’t even have a trained set of psychic protectors to call upon anymore: they’re not in any directory. This book will not enable you to set up a business as a certified psychic protector, but it does have rituals, practices and strategies that have been used from ancient times and that still work now. You learn them by implementing them.

One thing that most of our images of psychic protectors have in common is their dynamic way of dealing with psychic disturbance. Psychic protectors don’t meekly apologize for existing and cast a bit of holy water about to disperse the problem; they stand firmly in a place of spiritual support and deal with psychic disturbances forthrightly and confidently.

This is why we begin this book by reminding ourselves just how reality and spirit work in this universe, and try to understand why psychic disturbance happens in the first place. Nothing can replicate spiritual confidence, but we can begin by considering our own connection to spiritual sources of help.

The Cause and Effect of Psychic Disturbance

All around us, every day, we see how the short-term, expedient and greedy actions of people are endangering our world from the global and political level down to the local and personal. By failing to understand how our everyday world is but one side of reality, humankind finds the universe a confusing and dangerous place.
Resistance to the Otherworld and to metaphysical reality impedes our understanding of cause and effect. How we deal with the challenges of physical reality must also be the concern of all who want to live more responsibly.

All deeds, thoughts and intentions have effects upon both physical and metaphysical sides of reality. By disregarding these, we cause, and suffer from, psychic disturbance. But how can we measure the unseen effect on our lives? Throughout this book are scattered many stories of people who have encountered psychic disturbance. You will notice that each of these stories has an epicenter from which shock waves ripple out like earthquake tremors, shaking everything in that person’s life with psychic disturbance. This is the result of cause and effect—something we ignore far too often.

The ripples set up from unconsidered cause and effect are what are called psychic disturbance: these ripples hit the soul first, and when the soul is disturbed, we also experience physical symptoms. If you throw a brick at a window, the glass will shatter. The physical results are clearly demonstrable. But what happens when you harbor ill-will, jealousy or resentment against another person? The metaphysical effect is just as demonstrable. How does it manifest? Well, consider those who live on the receiving end of their neighbors’ racist opinions. They will tell you that it makes them feel unsafe, wary, under threat. Such resentment is experienced by the soul as a feeling of threat and by the instinct as a feeling of insecurity.

By becoming impervious to the metaphysical side of reality, we have ceased to relate what subsequently results from our unguarded acts, words and thoughts to its causation. But becoming responsible for what we say, do, think and intend, as well as for the effects they bring, is the first step to bringing peace to our lives. It will prevent us from bringing psychic disturbance to others.

We cannot stop psychic disturbance from happening, but by tracing it back to the moment that the stone fell into the pool and started the ripple-spread that you now experience, you can begin to change things with the help of your Advocates (see page 20). Better still, you can prevent causing it in the first place. Like a chess player who considers the whole board before moving a piece, you can use these questions to help you determine how any of your
plans or actions might affect the universe.

• From what motivation do my intentions arise?
• What are the consequences of my intended action?
• Who or what might it harm?
• How will these intentions affect me?
• Are my intentions motivated by someone else’s needs, desires, or coercion?
• Who am I trying to please/impress by doing this?

See page 265 for some more questions that help determine your effect on the universe.

We all need psychic protection strategies in ordinary everyday life. Adrift from our soul’s core, we tend to cast about ourselves for solutions, often becoming prey to charlatans who are more psychically streetwise than we are. By noticing cause and effect, we grow wiser and more careful and we will harp less upon how sources of good and evil cause psychic disturbance.