Do You Know How to Survive by Laughing in the Face of Trauma?

On Aug. 23, 1987, 26-year-old Selonia Reed was found dead in the parking lot of a

gas station in Hammond, Louisiana. Nearly forty years after her death, on Jan. 30, 2023,

her husband Reginald Reed was sentenced to life in prison for her murder.

But that’s far from the entire story.

In this interview, Reggie Reed shares his tragic and unbelievable story that promises to keep you on the edge of your seat.

The events surrounding the unsolved murder of his mother and the subsequent indictment and trial of his father are heart-wrenching. He faced difficult situations several times and felt like there was no solution or way out. Personal struggles, failures, and challenging circumstances caused him to feel overwhelmed and powerless.

Reginald L. Reed Jr. is an author and an accomplished professional in the pharmaceutical industry. He holds a master’s degree in business and global marketing.

Reggie will show you that feeling helpless or hopeless is a normal part of the human experience, and it’s okay to seek support and help during those times. Sharing feelings with someone you trust or seeking professional help can make a big difference in overcoming those emotions. You must realize that it is okay not to have all the answers and ask for help when needed. 

Do not miss this amazing true story.

Reggie Reed when his mom was murdered 

Selonia Reed

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As featured in Newsweek and A&E's Cold Case Files

A Publishers Weekly Memoir and Autobiography Spotlight Read

A Goodreads "Great Reads About Mental Health" Top 50

"A Memoir that plays out more like a true crime story." — A Trauma Survivor Thriver’s Podcast

"My heart was pounding as I experienced what was happening in the courtroom. If you enjoy digging deeper into the fallout of true crime, consider picking up The Day My Mother Never Came Home. Reed has done a great job of sharing his deepest emotions." — Pick a Good Book

"More than a memoir. A life-changing masterpiece of one man’s ability to face multiple life traumas head on." — Reader Paula

Reed invites you into his journey of healing and the pursuit of justice.

With raw vulnerability, he delves into the depths of his trauma, offering glimpses into the psychological impact on his life while also offering a powerful message of hope and resilience. Reed’s story highlights the indomitable spirit that can arise from even the darkest of circumstances.

The Day My Mother Never Came Home is not simply a true crime tale; it is a testament to the power of the human spirit and the importance of shedding light on the truth. With each turn of the page, you will find yourself captivated by the narrative. Follow Reed’s journey as he grapples with raw emotions and questions the complexities of true justice. This book will leave an indelible mark on your heart and mind, compelling you to reflect on the fragility of life and the strength it takes to overcome tragedy.

If you seek a gripping story that will remain with you long after you have finished reading, The Day My Mother Never Came Home is a must-read. Join Reed on this transformative journey as he reclaims his voice and sheds light on the darkest corners of his life.

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Have You Borrowed Trouble When You Dwelt on What Did Not Happen?

At twenty-two, Jennifer Cramer-Miller was thrilled with her new job, charming boyfriend, and Seattle apartment. After she received a devastating autoimmune diagnosis, she soaked a hospital pillow with tears and grappled with words like “progressive” and “incurable.”

Unwillingly, she crossed over from thriving to kidney failure. Her chances of survival hinged upon the expertise of doctors, the generosity of strangers, and the benevolence of loved ones.

But what kind of life would that be?

Jennifer Cramer-Miller is an author and speaker who focuses on stories of hope. Her new memoir, Incurable Optimist: Living with Illness and Chronic Hope, received an International Impact Book Award, a Book of Excellence Award, and a starred review from Publishers Weekly. She serves as the Board Chair for the Minnesota National Kidney Foundation (NKF), an NKF PEER Mentor, and a Donate Life ambassador. As a patient advocate, she helps others manage uncertainty, move forward with hope, and find some joy. 

Everybody has something to deal with and uncertainty does not discriminate. Usually, Jennifer is the only person in the room who has had four kidney transplants but not the only one who has suffered trauma.

Jennifer's interview will equip you with skills to deal with trauma on any level. 

Spanning two-plus decades, this family love story explores loss and acceptance, moving forward with uncertainty, and forging a path to joy. Four kidney transplants later, Cramer-Miller is here to shine a bright light on people helping people in difficult times with a story that will make you want to hug the humans you love. Because sometimes it’s the sorrows that threaten to pull us apart that ultimately unite us in hope.

2024 International Impact Book Awards Winner: Family and Medical

Book of Excellence Award Winner: Family

Publishers Weekly, starred review, PW Book of the Week, August 2023

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Incurable Optimist

Many of you shared that reading Incurable Optimist made you feel more optimistic, 

and you wanted a way to keep it going. 

 One Lovely Thing is a journal to help you find beauty amidst bummers.

Fill these pages with your joys, sorrows, snippets, songs, the trivial, the tremendous, anything, and everything. Sure, we all have bummers, but I believe (even on lousy days) we can find one lovely thing. And seeking loveliness helps lift us as we muddle through.

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One Lovely Thing Journal!

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Did You Realize Your Body Is a Machine Capable of Healing Itself?

Allan had hit rock bottom after eight years of trying and failing. He had never felt more miserable. But a phone conversation with my daughter got me thinking differently.

Coach Allan is a National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) Certified Personal Trainer, a Precision Nutrition Level II Master Health Coach, and a Functional Aging Institute (FAI) Certified Functional Aging Specialist. He has earned specialties in Fitness Nutrition, Corrective Exercise, Behavior Change, Performance Enhancement, and On-line Personal Training.

When Allan was looking for resources to fix his health and fitness, he was frustrated that there were no podcasts or books for people over forty except for chair yoga and stretching.

He started working on earning various certifications to fix himself and publish his findings. 

In his interview, Coach Allan shows us how to make getting fit easier. He is the host of the 40+ Fitness Podcast, the largest and longest-running health and fitness podcast for people over forty. 

It is practical, informative, and easy to follow – get started NOW.

 

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As we age, it can get more difficult to lose weight and stay fit. Decades of poor exercise and eating habits make achieving wellness after age forty substantially different from staying healthy in our twenties. Stop wasting time with fad diets and training programs designed for millennials. This all-inclusive fitness guide will get you where you need to go.

In The Wellness Roadmap, certified personal trainer Allan Misner provides powerful tools for middle-agers who want to live happier, healthier, and fitter lives. He helps us understand our bodies' unique needs and abilities while offering invaluable direction for choosing sustainable training, nutrition, and recovery plans that suit our specific fitness goals. He introduces the concept of the wellness GPS to kees us focused along the way.

It is never too late to get healthy and fit. The Wellness Roadmap shows you the way to a better life.

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How Do You Deal with Grief that Can Lift Your Skin Off the Bone?

Several times throughout Carrie Pierce’s life especially the last three years – there were moments of despair. Without any warning, as she and her mother were moving to Idaho to start a new life, her mom went into kidney failure overnight. She was diagnosed with a highly advanced multiple myeloma. 

You may be able to relate to the trauma and the strength it takes to push through, stay focused, and win like Carrie had to due to her being alone in a new community and devastated after losing her parents.

Carrie E. Pierce has written professionally for more than twenty years, most of them spent writing acclaimed health and wellness articles and books for midlife readers.

She attained her dream of working in the film, radio, and television industry. She has been published many times and co-hosted two acclaimed, internationally syndicated radio shows. She is the co-director of Morgan Pierce Media & Publishing.

During her writing career, Carrie discovered the need for quality children's literature that could be enjoyed by parents and grandparents as they read aloud to them.

Eager to fill this niche, she began crafting quality stories that contain important life lessons, written in a style that does not talk 'down' to children but, instead, encourages them to learn new words and ask questions as they gain important tools for overcoming fear, pushing past loss, and accepting themselves as they are.

Carrie speaks from experience with an honest voice that holds nothing back. 

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Tommy Tomlinson was a five-year-old boy with a small body, a big bedroom closet, and even bigger fears about just what, exactly, lived in that closet between the hours of midnight and five a.m. each night.

This tale of rollicking adventure takes the reader on a life-changing journey through the process of overcoming fear and conveys many important and heartfelt lessons along the way.

Storytime is a time to create special memories with the children in your life; however, many adults find it challenging to discover appropriate children's literature that's well-written and enjoyable for adults and children alike. Carrie Pierce believes you should be able to feel confident the book you're reading to your children is free from agendas or inappropriate themes, which is why she prayerfully crafted The Tale of Tommy Tomlinson's Tennis Shoes, a superbly written children's chapter book filled with wholesome adventures, higher-level vocabulary that sparks conversation, 15 original and beautiful illustrations as well as time-honored values so your story times can help you create the shared memories you desire.

When read aloud to children, the age range for this book grows to accommodate ages 6-12. Great for boys and girls alike, and makes the perfect bedtime story, spread out over many nights. Beautifully written and extremely poignant, The Tale of Tommy Tomlinson's Tennis Shoes is a must-read if you have young ones struggling with fears, insecurities, or feelings of not belonging.

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High atop Mt. Ellinor, in a thicket not too far below the great Pacific Northwest timberline, lived a small apple tree, a mere sapling. Her name was Abby.

And so, this journey of bravery, blossoming, and overcoming begins...

Abby Apple Tree is written in the style of children’s books of long ago and at times uses larger words and adult grammar to get children engaged deeply, asking questions and learning- not only about language but about the processes of overcoming fear, challenge, and heartbreak as well.

This is a relatively short book and can be read in 2 or 3 segments. Great for naptime, bedtime, or story hour.

If your child or grandchild has fears, insecurities, and/or feels out of place, this is a MUST-READ story!

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What is the Best Way to Maximize Your Potential and Change Your Mindset?

At two years old, Alan Lazarus lost his father in a car accident. Twenty-four years later Alan was in a near-fatal car accident and questioned his life choices as he reached an all-time low.

Through his search, he found the answers he needed and turned them into helping multitudes of people find meaning and purpose. Alan saw a scary pattern in the world. He worked in industrial automation as an outside sales engineer and it scared him. 

He recognized that due to automation, the jobs available to the less educated population were getting exponentially less available as technology continued to innovate, improve, and proliferate exponentially.

A

Alan used to sell equipment that took away jobs, which was going to happen with or without him. But he realized that if we are not a part of the solution, we are a part of the problem.

Alan's mission is to help others design fulfilling lives, maximize their unique potential, and build aligned businesses they love on their own terms. 

Now he helps to empower people to have a bigger, better, and brighter future through the power of self-education and holistic self-improvement, and to help people create their own jobs. 

Alan has a powerful combination of technical expertise and business acumen specializing in peak performance, productivity, organizational design, and individual, team, and business optimization.  He leads a global team at Next Level University, has given hundreds of trainings worldwide, and completed thousands of one-on-one coaching calls with clients.

Alan would be honored to help YOU get to the next level of your life, love, health, and wealth.

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God Knows How to Get Out of You What He Put in You

The year 2018 marked a pivotal year in Steven Foster's life amid despair and loss. He watched as his marriage dissolved, his thriving church slipped through his fingers, and a promising book deal crumbled before his eyes.  

Steven was at rock bottom teetering on the edge of giving up entirely. Yet, in that dark hour a word pierced through the chaos, "You're right on schedule!"

He had walked through three years of numbness and felt both helpless and hopeless. He could not understand why this was happening. Then he realized it was not happening to him but FOR him. As a result, he has emerged stronger and wiser with a passion to help you experience the same.

Steven is a devoted father, coach, author, and pastor from Maryland. Despite encountering a plethora of obstacles, he managed to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and Education from Morgan State University. He founded two companies B3 Community and Your Next Step.

In his interview, he shares how to overcome fear, failure, and self-doubt. He shows us how to make our 'mess' a life-changing message.

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You're Right on Schedule: Overcoming Failure, Eliminating Fear, and Achieving Your Entrepreneurial Dreams

Are you a Christian entrepreneur feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or afraid that you've missed God's timing for your success? Discover how you're exactly where you need to be for a breakthrough!

In this guide, you'll learn how to:

● Turn Setbacks into Setups: See how your failures are part of God's plan for your ultimate success.
● Conquer Fear with Faith: Strengthen your faith to overcome fear and uncertainty in your entrepreneurial journey.
● Align with God’s Calling: Ensure your business goals are in harmony with God's purpose for your life.
● Transform Obstacles into Opportunities: Recognize challenges as divine opportunities for growth and innovation.

What you’ll gain:

● A Faith-Fueled Mindset: Develop a mindset that embraces challenges and sees them as stepping stones to success.
● Practical Strategies for Success: Apply proven strategies that align with biblical wisdom to build a thriving, God-honoring business.
● Inspiration from Real Stories: Be inspired by Steven Foster’s personal experiences and the powerful lessons he’s learned on his own entrepreneurial journey.
● And much, much, more!

Take Action Now!

Don't let fear and doubt hold you back. Unleash the entrepreneurial potential God has placed within you. Get your copy of "You're Right on Schedule" today and step confidently into the success He has prepared for you!

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How You Can Misuse Anything Externally to Fill a Void Internally

After more than a decade on a merry-go-round, nine long-term treatment visits wondering if he would ever get it right, Bill Nielsen realized that we can misuse anything externally to fill a void internally. Drugs and alcohol are merely symptoms.  

"No more Band-aids on bullet wounds." This was a statement made by today’s guest, Bill Nielsen. He will share his years of experience as a high-functioning and high-performing sales representative while using substances to cope with stress.

 

His journey has taken him from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the valley. 

Bill Nielsen, the founder of nascent24, is a Recovery and Life Coach who supports executives and professionals who struggle with substance misuse to find freedom from dependency without having to leave their jobs, homes, or families.

He combines his lived experiences with his knowledge, training, and certification as a CRSW (Certified Recovery Support Worker) to walk his clients through his proven three-step process. It is designed to get to the root cause of unhealthy behaviors and sets its clients up for a healthy and successful future.

In addition to 1:1 coaching, Bill is available for sober companionship, speaking engagements, group facilitation, and as a consultant to treatment centers and other programs.

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Would You Have the Courage to Search For Your Adopted Child?

Julie McLaughlin was 18 and pregnant - labeled as a 'good Catholic girl' from a good family. She sang in a group at church and was president of the Catholic Youth Organization. She was embarrassed, ashamed, and felt helpless. That was during an era when teenage pregnancy was not easily accepted. The lesson she learned from that experience has supported her throughout life.

Julie is a retired paralegal and first-time author who won numerous awards as a writer. During her interview, she shares how writing can be a healing tool for each of us. Her story may make you laugh and cry but also give you hope.

Her book, The Gift of Time has allowed her the opportunity to meet adoptees, adoptive parents, as well as other birth mothers. 

There is a twist to this story you never saw coming and will certainly give you the courage to never ever give up hope.

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"Do we have any skeletons in our closet?"

That was the question posed to the author's mother-in-law by a niece after receiving a private message through Facebook from a stranger who said, "I think you are my cousin." This led to a shocking phone call on a normal June day, which altered the author's life.

For forty years, Julie had kept a secret from most of the people in her life. A Catholic girl from a good family in the late 1970s, she had become pregnant in her late teens but was not ready to be a mom. With guidance from her parish priest, Julie went away to live in a home for other unwed, pregnant girls and made the difficult decision to give her baby up for adoption. Not for forty years did she know a thing about him--what his name was, what he looked like, where he lived, or what he did for a living. Until that June day in 2018, when he was revealed to be that baby, now a forty-year-old man. Yet she always had faith that her decision was right as she placed her son in God's hands.

Over two years, this birth mother and biological son get to know each other and enter each other's lives. There are interesting twists and turns. Had their paths ever crossed?

This personal and honest memoir dives into the author's heartache, loss, and guilt. You will laugh, and you might cry. Some who have experienced the real story compare it to a beautiful Hallmark movie. In the end, the hole in the author's heart is filled.

The author hopes this adoption story can bring peace to others who have endured a similar fate.