Build More Wealth Now: Take Baby Steps to Overpower Procrastination
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Simply being able to pay your bills each month is not enough. Unexpected job loss. Medical emergency. Natural disaster. In an instant, an unforeseen event can put you on shaky financial footing if you’re not prepared. And retirement? Forget about it.
The good news is, it’s not too late, and it doesn’t matter where you start. It just matters that you follow a proven plan for building wealth and that you begin now, says author and financial planner Edward R. Williams.
“I grew up thinking that the number one priority with money is finding a way to get the bills paid,” he says. “There were never any conversations about saving and investing. I fell into many of the same traps as an adult. It felt like every time I saved a little bit of money, something would happen that would require that money I had saved.”
Williams hit rock bottom when his diabetic father needed surgery and asked the younger Williams to help cover some of the expenses. But he wasn’t able to. Feeling powerless and ashamed, Williams endeavored to create an actionable, practical system for building wealth. The result is what Williams calls The Wedge™, a framework for building wealth through insurance, investments, and retirement and estate planning.
His new book, Wealth Building for Beginners: Your Manual for Taking Control of Your Financial Future, Now! details the top three personal obstacles to overcome and how to do so; provides step-by-step instructions for building The Wedge™; and offers ways to sustain and optimize financial habits.
Williams shares his own financial ups and downs that he weathered before he found success, and uses a personable approach that makes financial concepts easy for readers to understand. Ultimately, Wealth Building for Beginners is an instruction manual for ordinary people that encourages readers to take baby steps to overpower procrastination and use that momentum for building wealth.
Author Edward R. Williams is an experienced and knowledgeable advisor, and registered representative who works with investment products, stock, bonds, annuities, mutual funds, life insurance, estate planning and retirement strategies. After working as an investment banker on Wall Street in New York and London, he launched his own financial services company, Williams Financial Group LLC. Over the past 23 years, he has helped numerous individuals and businesses plan for a successful financial future.
The Williams Financial Group is currently known for working with faith-based communities and instituting the cutting-edge “wedge” process to help congregation members achieve wealth.
As a planner, his focus is on helping clients make well-informed decisions regarding the best financial tools for achieving their individual goals. He believes in developing client relationships based on integrity, accountability and excellent service.
For more information, please visit www.EdwardRwilliams.com, or follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram at Edwrwilliams.
Wealth Building for Beginners: Your Manual for Taking Control of Your Financial Future, Now! Publisher: Williams Financial Group ISBN-10: 1648588042 ISBN-13: 978-1648588044 Available from Amazon.com, BN.com, Walmart.com and www.edwardrwilliams.com
Trish Stevens Julie Williams Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
Black Sheep: A Blue-Eyed Negro Speaks of Abandonment, Belonging, Racism, and Redemption (This press release may be reprinted in part or in its entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet or used by any means of social media sharing.)
With an afterword by My Haley, PhD, widow of Alex Haley, famed author of Roots and Malcom X
Ray Studevent walked hesitantly toward the door of the nursing home and prayed that his Momma, now in the throes of dementia, would recognize him. Surely, the blue eyes would give him away. The blue eyes that his Momma originally equated with hatred and brutality.
White on the outside, Black on the inside, Ray grew up on the eastern side of the Anacostia River, the Blackest part of the Blackest city in America not long after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the D.C. race riots. There were guidelines if you were Black; different rules if you were White; but only mixed messages for mixed-race children like Ray, who had to fight for acceptance and struggle to find his identity.
Black Sheep: A Blue-Eyed Negro Speaks of Abandonment, Belonging, Racism, and Redemption is the unforgettable true story of Ray’s struggles as a mixed-race boy learning to fight the ghosts of his past to find trust and love. Abandoned by his White, heroin-addicted mother and Black, violently alcoholic father, Ray found salvation at age 5 when he was adopted into a loving, stable home by his father’s uncle Calvin and his wife, Lemell. But that is just the beginning of the story.
Lemell is suddenly widowed and must raise Ray and her two daughters as a single mother in Chocolate City. Each time she looks into Ray’s blue eyes, she sees the Klansmen who tormented her family as she grew up in segregated Mississippi.
Ray and Lemell must navigate the minefields of society’s outward racial tensions while inwardly, Lemell does her best to overlook her emotional scars and suppress her justifiable resentment toward White people when she looks into Ray’s blue eyes.
Black Sheep takes readers on an emotional journey and reveals universal truths through faith and great humor. It is a search for who we are, where we fit and who we can become. Imagine a book where The Notebook meets The Help.
About the Author Ray “Ben” Studevent was a mixed-race child whose unique look led him to fight a racial identity crisis his entire life. Each time he entered a room, he had to decide whether it was better to be Black or White. His personal and career journeys ebbed and flowed, taking him to prison, fatherhood and gigs in comedy clubs, modeling and stock-market research. In all these varied experiences, he realized that race played a critical role. Visit his website at: raystudevent.com.
Black Sheep Publisher: HCI Books Release Date: May 4, 2021 ISBN-10: 0757323812 ISBN-13: 978-0757323812 Trade Paperback, 288 pages Available wherever books are sold
Trish Stevens Lindsey Mach Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
Embrace Your Imperfections and Embark Upon a Healing Journey with God as Your Guide
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Crippling fear permeated every aspect of Christine Soule’s life from an early age and followed her into adulthood. Her past of brokenness — abuse, dysfunction, addiction and other trauma — could have very well defined her future. But once she turned to God and let Him lead the way, she found a path toward a brighter future.
“The key is discovering who you are in Christ — your true identify. And that’s especially significant if you, like me, have a past of brokenness,” Soule writes in her inspirational story, Broken and Beautiful. “So much of how we see ourselves revolves around the demands our society places on us, insisting we live up to its expectations. Don’t listen to the world. Listen to God.”
Soule’s life was a jumbled pile of broken pieces. Her father was married seven times; her mother four times. Between her parents’ divorce when she was 5 years old and the day she allowed the power and presence of God into her heart, she watched her sister have an affair with her adoptive father; met 15 siblings she never knew at her biological father’s funeral; turned to drugs and alcohol; got pregnant at 17; had twins less than two years later; and became a victim of human trafficking. She had to break the cycle for the sake of her children. With nowhere else to turn, she dropped to her knees and prayed. And that’s when everything changed.
Broken and Beautiful is Soule’s remarkable story of how God took the pieces of her broken, astonishingly dysfunctional life and transformed it all into a breathtaking mosaic of joy and purpose.
“The places where you feel hopeless are exactly what He wants to redeem and fill with beauty, dignity and strength. He has a plan for your pain. A wonderful intention for your failures. A purpose for your hardest, darkest stories,” Soule writes.
Told with honesty and surprising touches of humor, Soule shares her journey from drug- addicted stripper to exuberant Jesus lover with a passion for helping others embrace God’s love. Broken and Beautiful is a raw, authentic story of hope, from a place of experience.
Author Christine Soule lives with the love of her life, Mitch Soule, in Seattle. They have five kids and three wonderful grandchildren. She is the founder and CEO of Providence Heights (www.providenceheights.org), a nonprofit created to house women and children in need and to provide counseling, education and jobs.
Broken and Beautiful: Let God Turn Your Mess into a Masterpiece ISBN-13: 979-8662957619 Available from Amazon.com (Broken and Beautiful), providenceheights.org and christinesoule.com
Parents and Educators: Both Can Help Children Attain Academic Heights
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Children who arrive at school with an emotional commitment to learn are ideally equipped to excel academically. A second factor in their learning success is the set of values that guides the lessons they’re taught during their most impressionable years (preschool–grade 5). These are among the insights of Dr. Cornelius Grove, who has spent decades exploring the cultural factors that affect children’s performance in classrooms.
Consider Dr. Grove’s 138-page book for parents, The Drive to Learn: What the East Asian Experience Tells Us about Raising Students Who Excel. Here he explores the ways in which East Asian parents instill in their children respect for academic knowledge and receptiveness to the formal learning process. After a seven-chapter explanation of cultural values underlying East Asian parents’ mindset, he offers three chapters revealing their specific supportive practices. It’s an outline for action for American parents who deeply value academic learning.
A Mirror for Americans: What the East Asian Experience Tells Us about Teaching Students Who Excel, is the 148-page companion volume to the above book. Dr. Grove examines the school side of the learning equation. East Asian lower-grade lessons gain the advantage because of their tenacious, narrow, yet multifaceted focus on the day’s topic. He addresses, among other things, how East Asians regard teaching and the reasons for pupils’ math superiority. Choice magazine (June issue) “highly recommends” this book for “general readers through faculty.”
“People who’ve had experience in unfamiliar cultures often remark that they now see their own culture with fresh eyes,” Dr. Grove explains. “It’s as though they’ve looked into a mirror and seen alternative possibilities for themselves. They realize that their usual ways of doing things are not etched in stone; instead, they’re choices. Different choices could be made.”
Although each book effortlessly stands alone, The Drive to Learn and A Mirror for Americans combine to encourage complementary reassessments by parents and lower-grade teachers about the more impactful roles they could be playing in upgrading the academic performance and the eventual college readiness of the youngest Americans.
For more detailed overviews, visit TheDriveToLearn.info and AMirrorForAmericans.info.
Author Cornelius N. Grove holds a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Johns Hopkins and a Doctor of Education from Columbia. He has had a decades-long fascination with the cultural factors that affect children’s ability to learn in school. At a 2005 conference in Singapore, he spoke about the two instructional styles found around the world. In 2013 he wrote The Aptitude Myth: How an Ancient Belief Came to Undermine Children’s Learning Today, a historical study of why most Americans believe that inborn ability determines school performance. For two recently published encyclopedias (2015 and 2017), he wrote entries on “pedagogy across cultures.” And now with A Mirror for Americans and The Drive to Learn, he is revealing the complementary roles home and school play in strengthening children’s academic capabilities.
The Drive to Learn: What the East Asian Experience Tells Us about Raising Students Who Excel Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, Maryland) Hardback: 978-1-4758-1509-2 Paperback: 978-1-4758-1510-8 eBook: 978-1-4758-1511-5 Available from Amazon.com, Rowman.com, Barnesandnoble.com and other booksellers.
A Mirror for Americans: What the East Asian Experience Tells Us about Teaching Students Who Excel Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, Maryland) Hardback: ISBN 978-1-4758-4460-3 Paperback: ISBN 978-1-4758-4461-0 eBook: ISBN 978-1-4758-4462-7 Available from Amazon.com, Rowman.com, Barnesandnoble.com and other booksellers.
Trish Stevens Teresa Hinojosa Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 832.569.5773 Direct 281.333.3507 Phone [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com
(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing.)
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It seems that every day the news gets worse. Mass killings. Officer-involved shootings. Social upheaval. The pandemic. And everyone just trying their best to adjust to a new normal amid swirling unrest. It’s a lot for the brain to process. Do we react with fear? Anxiety? Anger? Or can we teach our brains to push pause and unpack the facts first, instead of allowing the seemingly endless stream of negative news to impact our mental, emotional and spiritual health?
Timothy R. Jennings, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist, master psychopharmacologist and highly sought-after speaker who regularly addresses the topic of brain health to both non-medical and medical audiences. His subjects include Major Depression in the Primary Care Setting and the Neurobiology of Depression, Alzheimer’s Dementia, Psychotherapy in Clinical Practice, Spirituality in Medicine, Depression and its Spiritual and Physical Connections — among many others.
A common thread among his discussion topics is how anxiety-inducing news and events can activate the brain’s stress pathways — thereby increasing the body’s inflammatory factors, diminishing immune response and increasing vulnerability to viral infections and cancer. The good news is, we can rewire the way our brains react to negative news and stressful events, and Dr. Jennings can explain how.
As a Christian psychiatrist, Dr. Jennings also speaks to design principles that, when embraced and followed, can lead to a better understanding of the world and bring about more peace.
As the world searches for a clear path toward physical and mental recovery, Dr. Jennings is uniquely poised to address the very serious subject of brain health from both scientific and spiritual perspectives — a much needed and welcomed approach during these extremely distressing times.
Dr. Jennings operates a private practice in Chattanooga and has successfully treated thousands of patients. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Life-Fellow of the Southern Psychiatric Association.
Trish Stevens Helen Cook Senior Publicist Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 903.654.0938 Direct 281.333.3507 Office [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com
Why Meditation Matters in Your Connection with God
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Can meditation help enrich our spiritual experiences and deepen our understanding of God? Yes, it can, says psychiatrist and author of The God-Shaped Brain Timothy R. Jennings, M.D.
“When we practice biblical meditation, we exercise the brain circuits of reason, thoughtful contemplation, and admiration for God,” Dr. Jennings says. “We grapple with concepts beyond our current understanding, stretching our abilities, which develop ever-increasing, more complex brain circuitry. These higher cortical regions grow stronger, as does our wisdom and our capacity for self-governance and manifesting the fruits of the Spirit.”
In his new publication, Meditation: Biblical Method Versus Eastern Method, A Guide to a Bible-based Experience with God, Dr. Jennings documents the differences between biblical and Eastern meditation; describes divergent meditation methods and their impact on brain function and character outcomes; and demonstrates how readers can engage in healthy biblical meditation. Also included is a simple test to help readers determine which form of meditation they’re practicing.
Dr. Jennings describes Eastern meditation as a form of self-anesthesia that relieves transient emotional distress (like pain medication for an injury) without providing an actual cure for the problem.
Alternatively, biblical meditation is like surgery for the soul, he explains. It takes one through the valley of the shadow of death, removes the cause of the emotional distress and cures the problem, resulting in genuine peace for the soul.
The Bible tells us to meditate upon God’s word and God’s wonders in creation, and Meditation can help readers understand the practice of biblical meditation so they can heal their hearts and minds, and return to their oneness with God and with each other.
Author Timothy R. Jennings, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist, international speaker and founder of Come and Reason Ministries. He operates a private practice in Chattanooga and has successfully treated thousands of patients. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Life-Fellow of the Southern Psychiatric Association.
Dr. Jennings is also a prolific author whose books include The God-Shaped Brain: How Changing Your View of God Transforms Your Life; Could It Be This Simple? A Biblical Model for Healing the Mind; The Aging Brain: Proven Steps to Prevent Dementia and Sharpen Your Mind; and The God-Shaped Heart: How Correctly Understanding God’s Love Transforms Us.
To download a free copy or to order a printed copy (while supplies last) of Meditation: Biblical Method Versus Eastern Method, or to learn more about Dr. Timothy R. Jennings and his approach to brain and body health, please visit: www.comeandreason.com.
Trish Stevens Helen Cook Senior Publicist Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 903.654.0938 Direct 281.333.3507 Office [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com
Pivot Your Perspective: 10 Reasons Why the Future is Bright
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It’s natural to invest a lot of time and energy into building a career and making money. After all, we need roofs over our heads and food on our tables. But what if we invested that same amount of effort into being truly, authentically happy?
“I thought that by having the house, the wife, the 2.5 kids, the vacations and the material things, I would be happy,” says Life Coach Michael Taylor. However, in spite of “having it all,” he still felt something was still missing.
Today, Taylor describes himself as an “irrepressible optimist,” and it’s all thanks to changing his perception of “success,” following his own gut and breaking free from the construct of societal expectations. He reveals his transformational journey along with insights drawn from science, spirituality and psychology in his new book, The Good News Is, The Future Is Brighter Than You Think!
Taylor challenges readers to look within their own minds and hearts to uncover the keys to authentic fulfilment. Along the way, he shares his
• 10 reasons to be optimistic about the future; • 4 pillars of a joy-filled life; and • 3 ways to know you are doing what you love.
The Good News Is dives deep into topics such as what it means to be human, divine intelligence and evolution, recognizing a higher power, creating meaningful connections, and so much more.
“If you’ve been looking for a resource that inspires you and motivates you and lights you up, this is the book for you!” Taylor adds.
Author Michael Taylor is uniquely positioned to spread hope and optimism. A high school dropout, he overcame a divorce, bankruptcy, foreclosure, depression and being homeless for two years on his way to becoming a successful entrepreneur, motivational speaker, radio and TV host, and author of nine best-selling books. He has dedicated his life to empowering men and women to reach their full potential by transforming their lives from the inside out.
Taylor is President and CEO of Creation Publishing Group, a company that specializes in creating programs and products that empower men and women to live extraordinary lives, and Too Cool Club, a company that develops transformational education programs for youth. He has been featured in the Amazon.com bestselling book Motivational Speakers America and in USA Today magazine about the changing roles of manhood and masculinity in society. He has won numerous awards for his dynamic speaking style, and he is an Amazon.com bestselling author.
He is the host and producer of two TV Channels on the Roku Network, Don’t Believe The Hype and Shatter The Stereotypes, and hosts two podcasts of the same names available on most podcast platforms like Spotify and iTunes.
Most importantly, he has been blissfully married for 18 years to the woman of his dreams and he is a proud father of three grown children.
To learn more about Coach Michael Taylor, please visit www.coachmichaeltaylor.com.
The Good News Is, The Future Is Brighter Than You Think! Publisher: Creation Publishing Group ISBN-13: 978-0996948777 Available from Amazon.com
Trish Stevens Jennifer Smith Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
