A new year invariably brings thoughts of change, of self-improvement, of new beginnings. So it is with Cosimo: as we celebrate our new blog, I’ve been taking a look throughout January at our library’s worth of books, current and classic, on topics of self-help, personal development, and refreshening the mind, body, and spirit. I’ll finish with a quick rundown of classic titles to motivate you toward your fresh start in 2007.

The Foundations of Personality, by Abraham Myerson: how our perceptions of character influence all of our everyday interactions

Memory: How to Develop, Train and Use It, by William Walker Atkinson: revealing secrets hidden for almost a century, this book will teach you to train the eye as well as the ear to improve your ability to recall names, faces, numbers, music, facts, and much more

How to Talk: Meeting the Situations of Personal and Business Life and of Public Address, by John Mantle Clapp & Edwin A. Kane: a classic of developing confidence and poise when talking to absolutely anyone, full of sound, solid advice for becoming a more thoughtful and resolute speaker

Advice to Young Men, by William Cobbett: quaint and charming lost work offers 1829’s finest advice on why a young man should not sport with the affections of a young woman, why it’s best to avoid buying anything on credit, why it may be wise not to introduce servants into your household, and more

Live and Be Young, by Vance Thompson: 1920 guidebook to maintaining a cheerful, youthful outlook that today offers a laugh-out-loud hilarious — if unintentionally so — “defense” of privilege, conformity, vapidity, and social discrimination

(Technorati tags: self help, personal development)

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A new year invariably brings thoughts of change, of self-improvement, of new beginnings. So it is with Cosimo: as we celebrate our new blog, I’ve been taking a look throughout January at our library’s worth of books, current and classic, on topics of self-help, personal development, and refreshening the mind, body, and spirit. I’ll start wrapping up with a quick rundown of modern titles to motivate you toward your fresh start in 2007. (Check back in a few days for a brief look at classic titles of the genre.)

Walking the Point: Male Initiation and the Vietnam Experience, by Daryl S. Paulson: military service as call to adventure, initiation, and return home with a new identity as a hero, a veteran

The Perfect Horoscope: Following the Astrological Guidelines Established by Edgar Cayce, by John Willner: why today’s horoscopes are faulty, and why these “perfect horoscopes” match personas with awesome precision and provide greatly enhanced forecasting capabilities

River of a Thousand Tales, by Rao Kolluru: a journey to the East and to the West, outward and inward, and beyond, unveiling mind and matter, nature and nurture, mindfulness and meditation, the individual and the universal

Flowers That Heal: Nutrition, Aromatherapy, Flower Essences & Other Secrets of the Fairies, by Judy Griffin: “Judy’s book… is wonderful, the mythology, the humor, the recipes… The mind of Judy Griffin is fertile, spiritual, beautiful…” –Francine Morrison, MD

Looking for God in All the Wrong Places, by Marie Jones: a spiritual field guide that uses humor, insight, and experience to examine the people, places, and things we often mistake for our Higher Power

(Technorati tags: self help, personal development)

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A new year invariably brings thoughts of change, of self-improvement, of new beginnings. So it is with Cosimo: as we celebrate our new blog, I’ll take a look throughout January at our library’s worth of books, current and classic, on topics of self-help, personal development, and refreshening the mind, body, and spirit. If you’re ready for a fresh start yourself, stay tuned throughout the month for some ideas to get you motivated.

Succeeding With What You Have, by Charles M. Schwab, is a candid essay — first published in American Magazine in November 1916 — by one of the United States’ most astounding rags-to-riches stories. Here, Schwab, one-time president of Carnegie Steel, U.S. Steel, and Bethlehem Steel, offered his secrets for success. Surprisingly, he didn’t believe that genius was required — he believed in hard work. “For thirty-six years I have been moving among workingmen in what is now the biggest branch of American industry, the steel business,” Schwab wrote. “In that time it has been my good fortune to watch most of the present leaders rise from the ranks, ascend step by step to places of power. These men, I am convinced, are not natural prodigies. They won out by using normal brains to think beyond their manifest daily duty.” This is fascinating look at the path to success, one filled with surprising insights, written by one who traveled it.

(Technorati tags: Charles Schwab, business advice)

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A new year invariably brings thoughts of change, of self-improvement, of new beginnings. So it is with Cosimo: as we celebrate our new blog, I’ll take a look throughout January at our library’s worth of books, current and classic, on topics of self-help, personal development, and refreshening the mind, body, and spirit. If you’re ready for a fresh start yourself, stay tuned throughout the month for some ideas to get you motivated.

With Cosimo Reports, Cosimo brings to readers important government documents covering vital issues of our day. Understanding Mental Health Issues, issued by the U.S. Surgeon General’s office, recognizes the inextricably intertwined relationship between mental health and physical health and well-being, and emphasizes that mental health and mental illnesses are important concerns at all ages. Laying down a challenge to the nation — to our communities, our health and social services agencies, our policymakers, employers, and citizens — to take action to continue to attend to needs that occur across a lifespan, from the youngest child to the oldest among us, this volume includes links to helpful and informative web sites related to mental health programs, research and media articles, clinical centers and key national mental health organizations. Says Donna E. Shalala, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services:

For too long the fear of mental illness has been profoundly destructive to people’s lives. In fact mental illnesses are just as real as other illnesses, and they are like other illnesses in most ways. Yet fear and stigma persist, resulting in lost opportunities for individuals to seek treatment and improve or recover. This seminal report provides us with an opportunity to dispel the myths and stigmas surrounding mental illness.

(Technorati tags: mental health, government report, Surgeon General)

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A new year invariably brings thoughts of change, of self-improvement, of new beginnings. So it is with Cosimo: as we celebrate our new blog, I’ll take a look throughout January at our library’s worth of books, current and classic, on topics of self-help, personal development, and refreshening the mind, body, and spirit. If you’re ready for a fresh start yourself, stay tuned throughout the month for some ideas to get you motivated.

Sheila Grant has successfully re-imaged over five hundred women since 1985. She worked as a fashion director for TV shows on CBS and NBC, then started her own Image consulting firm, taking individual clients, and conducting seminars and workshops for women. She also became a Ford model at the age of forty-three, after her own re-imaging. Now, she shares her secrets in Any Woman Can!: How to Get a New Look and a New Life. In this inspiring and affirmative book, Grant reveals how you don’t have to be rich, thin, or young to get a new image and a new life. All you need is the will to change, and this book tells you exactly how to do it. In a friendly and accessible voice, Grant offers woman-to-woman advice and practical exercises in wardrobe, makeup, hair, body, voice, posture and more, including dating advice for the 40+ woman. Sheila also shares her own personal story, full of triumphs and tribulations, to demonstrate that if she could re-image her own 40+ self to find confidence, happiness, a new job, and a husband — then any woman can!

(Technorati tags: Any Woman Can, Sheila Grant, makeover)

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A new year invariably brings thoughts of change, of self-improvement, of new beginnings. So it is with Cosimo: as we celebrate our new blog, I’ll take a look throughout January at our library’s worth of books, current and classic, on topics of self-help, personal development, and refreshening the mind, body, and spirit. If you’re ready for a fresh start yourself, stay tuned throughout the month for some ideas to get you motivated.

Upon his election as Lord Rector of St. Andrew’s University, Peter Pan author Sir J.M. Barrie delivered an inaugural address in which he sought to inspire the youth sitting before him. His stirring words on the subject of “courage” are just as invigorating today, more than eight decades after they appeared in book form in 1923. In Courage, Barrie advised young people never to ascribe to an opponent motives meaner than your own; to know what you mean; to insist on helping; to learn how world-shaking situations arise and how they can be countered; and to doubt those who deny you the right of partnership. Charming, candid, and stimulation, Barrie’s address is a rousing example of how he championed the spirit of young people. Of his daring comments, he said, “I sound to myself as if I were advocating a rebellion, though I am really asking for a larger friendship.”

(Technorati tags: Courage, J M Barrie)

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In 2000, Cosimo’s sister imprint, Paraview, published Spiritual Places In and Around New York City by Emily Squires and Len Belzer. For 2007, Cosimo is updating the book with new places and more info on each place, and we’d like you to share your favorite soothing spots in the Big Apple with us, for possible inclusion in the updated edition.

Spiritual Places In and Around New York City brings together places that Emily Squires — an Emmy-winning television writer and director — and Len Belzer — writer, producer and host of his own nationally syndicated radio show, “The Comedy Hour” — have found valuable in maintaining their own personal sanity amid the frenetic pace of the city. Each sketch lends spiritual insights and a sensual feel of the place that invites readers to plumb for themselves the mystery and depths of its sacredness. Entries on Communities, Day Trips, Gardens, Museums, Learning and Healing Centers, Libraries and Bookstores, Nature Walks, Restaurants, Overnights, as well as Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, and Sufi places of worship.

What locations in and around New York City put you at ease and restore your soul? Share them in the comments section here. We’ll consider all suggestions of the upcoming revised edition of Spiritual Places In and Around New York City.

(Technorati tags: spiritual places, New York City)

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A new year invariably brings thoughts of change, of self-improvement, of new beginnings. So it is with Cosimo: as we celebrate our new blog, I’ll take a look throughout January at our library’s worth of books, current and classic, on topics of self-help, personal development, and refreshening the mind, body, and spirit. If you’re ready for a fresh start yourself, stay tuned throughout the month for some ideas to get you motivated.

Cosimo’s book of the month for January is Other Voices, Other Scripts, by P. Williamson. For all those working toward recovery from compulsive sexual behaviors, here’s a year’s worth of daily readings with a truly unique approach, a collection of messages spoken by a variety of “voices.” The reader “hears” men and women growing toward recovery — exploring the origins and effects of sex addiction and considering ways to change. But “inner voices” speak and answer too, expressing courage, harsh judgment, defensiveness, pride, despair — and hope. The goal of this kind of interior dialog — the kind of self-talk that we all experience at times — is the evolution of self-knowledge resulting in an integrated sense of self. Reflecting experiences of sex addicts recovering through the adaptation of AA’s Twelve Steps, this is as inspiring for individuals as it is useful for Twelve Step groups.

(Technorati tags: Other Voices Other Scripts, sex addiction, Twelve Steps)

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