Chicken Soup for the Soul with Amy Newmark

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Today I’m going to share with you one of my most popular pieces on Medium. If you don’t know what Medium is, it’s a place where writers can get their short pieces published, either by themselves, or in someone else’s publication. I started getting published on Medium in April, mostly in two publications which feature interesting stories and great writing. This story appeared in a publication called The Narrative Arc, and it’s called Me versus the Male Directors of a Private Club and it talks about what I had to do to be able to play tennis on Saturday mornings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. We are having so much fun with our latest book about miracles--because the stories are so surprising, and they are for EVERYONE, not just people who are religious. We have the most amazing coincidences in this book and I love sharing them on the podcast, so today I’m going to do it again, starting with a story from one of our regular writers, Tara Flowers, about the miraculous things that happened to her at a funeral that she didn’t want to attend for someone she didn’t know. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul and today I’m sharing a couple of stories about really cool coincidences from Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miracles, Angels & Messages from Heaven. I’m not a religious person but I love making these books because so many of the stories we get are truly miraculous, no matter what your beliefs, and they just go to show that wonderful things can happen when we least expect them. Like the first story in the book – and by the way I always put one of my absolute favorites first in every book. This story by Christy Hoss is about a place that is already miraculous, and that’s Disneyland, but what happened to Christy’s family was particularly inspiring. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today I’m going to share five ways you can lead a happy life of kindness, compassion and paying it forward, with five stories from our bestselling book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Kindness Matters. You know there’s a lot of conversation these days about getting back to kindness in our society. Scientific studies have shown that “doing good” is not only beneficial for the recipient of the good deed, but also for the person doing it, making that person happier and healthier. So, here are five ways you can make kindness part of how you live your life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today I’m going to continue sharing stories with you from our newest book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Your 10 Keys to Happiness. This is a collection of stories that illustrate what I believe are the ten keys to happiness based on my reading of tens of thousands of personal revealing stories from our writers. I’ve already talked about the power of gratitude to change your life on this podcast, and today I want to talk about the power of forgiveness, because I believe that without learning how to use forgiveness you can’t be truly happy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Today I’m going to share a couple of stories from Chicken Soup for the Soul: Too Funny! This is a collection of hilarious stories that are bringing sunshine into our readers’ days and we’ve gotten a lot of very positive feedback from them. No one is safe in these true stories— from spouses to parents to children to colleagues to friends and even pets. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today, with a couple of doggone funny stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Today I’m going to share with you one of my most popular pieces on Medium. If you don’t know what Medium is, it’s a place where writers can get their short pieces published, either by themselves, or in someone else’s publication. I started getting published on Medium in April, mostly in two publications which feature interesting stories and great writing. This story appeared in a publication called Crow’s Feet, and it’s called “My Determined, Distraught and Demented Dad” and it’s about how self-care is not selfish, it’s actually how you survive when you are engaging in eldercare, especially for someone with dementia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark and today I’m going to share a couple of very cool stories about miraculous coincidences with you from our latest Miracles book. If you are under the impression that Chicken Soup for the Soul is a Christian publisher, that is not true. We are for everyone, of every religion or no religion. We publish a book about miracles, angels, etc. almost every year, and some of the stories are by religious people and some are not. What unites these stories is that they make you say wow when you hear them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. You know, we put out a book about miracles and other unexplainable things every year or so, and one of my favorite topics in those books is what people can learn from their dreams. We have a whole chapter about why you should listen to what your dreams are telling you in our latest book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miracles, Angels & Messages from Heaven. We find that people somehow access all kinds of useful knowledge in their dreams, and today I’m going to share two stories about that, one in which Kristi Adams is warned ahead of time about a potentially deadly situation, and the other in which Lisa Marlin receives some very useful advice from her late mother. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and I want to welcome you to our 1000th podcast episode. 1000! I’ve been doing this for eight years, originally with five new episodes per week, which were very short, then moving to three longer episodes per week. Then I tried two episodes per week for the last few weeks but people didn’t like that, so starting this week we’re going back to three episodes per week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and we’re talking about dogs these days, with stories from our new bestseller Chicken Soup for the Soul: Me and My Dog. How do dogs do it, anyway? The act as our therapists, they manage to brighten even the darkest days, they’re frequently hilarious, and sometimes they’re even superheroes. And they make sure great companions, helping us to achieve our goals with their steadfast company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and we’re talking about dogs because I’m sharing stories from our latest bestseller, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Me and My Dog. This new book is about all the magic that we experience as dog family members. Those dogs brighten even the darkest days, they’re frequently hilarious, and sometimes they’re even superheroes. They can even be our therapists. It just seems to come to them naturally. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Have you ever had a miraculous save from a potential disaster? Maybe even a fatal accident? We get these stories all the time from our writers, and we included some great ones in our latest book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miracles, Angels & Messages from Heaven. You don’t have to be a religious person to enjoy these stories. They’re just plain cool. And I’ll be sharing a lot of them with you over the next couple of months because they make for great storytelling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. We’ve been talking all summer about how you can step outside your comfort zone and make your world bigger, and also feel empowered, energized, enthusiastic, and excited. Lots of good e words. We’ve heard about from our writers who tried lots of things that scared them, including parasailing, roller coasters, mud runs, zip lining and more. And today I have a story from you about an Albert Einstein impersonator who describes in fascinating detail his first and probably only time skydiving, and another story from someone who faced her fear of sharks, etc. and ended up communing with sea turtles as she tried snorkeling for the first time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Today I’m going to share with you one of my most popular pieces on Medium. If you don’t know what Medium is, it’s a place where writers can get their short pieces published, either by themselves, or in someone else’s publication. I started getting published on Medium in April, mostly in two publications which feature interesting stories and great writing. This story appeared in a publication called Crow’s Feet, and it’s called It’s Amazing How Much You Can Accomplish in 60 Seconds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today I’m going to share a couple of stories with you from Chicken Soup for the Soul: Attitude of Gratitude, stories about how if you look for the silver lining, you’ll find it. That’s the attitude I try to cultivate: Whenever something bad is happening to me I start looking for the silver lining. That’s not to say that the silver lining will necessarily offset the entire bad thing, but at least it’s a spot of good in the middle of the bad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today I’m going to share a couple of stories from Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miracles and the Unexplainable, stories about people who express their faith that God will provide and then experience miracles in which their prayers are answered. What I’ve learned from working on these books is that these true stories of answered prayers, angels, breathtaking coincidences, miraculous healing, and messages from heaven show us that miracles are all around us if we open our eyes to them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today I’m continuing to share stories with you from our newest book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Attitude of Gratitude. This is an important topic and one of the keys to happiness in my experience. We are constantly getting stories from people who have turned their attitudes around by actively counting their blessings and focusing on what they have instead of what they lack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Today I’m going to share with you one of my most popular pieces on Medium. If you don’t know what Medium is, it’s a place where writers can get their short pieces published, either by themselves, or in someone else’s publication. I started getting published on Medium in April, mostly in two publications which feature interesting stories and great writing. This story appeared in a publication called The Narrative Arc, and it’s called “Forgiveness is Incredibly Liberating,” with the subtitle: How you can change your life in one second, just by deciding Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Have you ever wished you had more friends? Or you’ve moved and you don’t know anyone? I think we all come to that point in our lives. Friends move away, or we grow in different directions, or we start over in a new community, or we get divorced and discover that we just lost half our friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Do you ever feel like you’re missing out because you’re starting to resist doing new things? It definitely makes you feel like your world is getting smaller, and it’s one of the themes we see all the time in the stories we receive. People feel empowered and energized when they do something different, and especially when they do something scary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and for the next couple of weeks we’re going to be talking about dogs. We have a new book out called Chicken Soup for the Soul: Me and My Dog. Which is all about the magic of sharing life with a dog. After all, they keep us company, provide so much unconditional love, share in the ups and downs of our lives, and definitely make every day an adventure. And they can be remarkably human, even needing a little therapy, just like their human family members. And sometimes that therapy comes in the form of a cat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and we’re talking about dogs these days, because we have a fabulous new dog book. It’s called Chicken Soup for the Soul: Me and My Dog and it’s about all that magic that we experience as dog family members. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and I have something really cool to talk about today. We have released our first coloring book! It’s based on our Chicken Soup for the Soul book called Angels & Miracles and it is a full-fledged, super-high-quality adult coloring book that ALSO contains 29 full stories from that Angels & Miracles book! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Do you ever think that maybe you should focus a little more on stepping outside your comfort zone and broadening your world? I think we all have the tendency to stop doing new things… because it’s easier. But then we’re surprised when we try doing something new, or going to a new place, or meeting a new person, and we really enjoy it. Saying “yes” is something that we can ALL do, and it only takes a second to just plain decide that you will make that your new policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Today I’m going to share with you my most popular piece on Medium. If you don’t know what Medium is, it’s a place where writers can get their short pieces published, either by themselves, or in someone else’s publication. I started getting published on Medium in April, mostly on two publications which feature interesting stories and great writing. One of my most popular stories appeared in a publication called The Narrative Arc, and it’s called “You Have Permission to Remove Toxic People from Your Life” which is something I talk about pretty often because it took me so long to figure it out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Do you ever feel like you’re missing out because you’re starting to resist doing new things? It’s really easy to fall into a rut and accidentally let your world become smaller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and we’ve been talking about dogs for the past couple of weeks because we have a fabulous new book out called Chicken Soup for the Soul: Me and My Dog. It’s all about the magic of sharing life with a dog. After all, they keep us company, provide so much unconditional love, share in the ups and downs of our lives, and definitely make every day an adventure—especially when a normally very good dog does something very bad! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and we’re talking about dogs for a couple of weeks because we have a new, fabulous dog book out. It’s called Chicken Soup for the Soul: Me and My Dog and it’s about all that magic that we experience as dog family members. How do dogs do it anyway? The act as our therapists, they manage to brighten even the darkest days, they’re frequently hilarious, and sometimes they’re even superheroes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and for the next couple of weeks we’re going to be talking about dogs. We have a fabulous new book out called Chicken Soup for the Soul: Me and My Dog. It’s all about the magic of sharing life with a dog. After all, they keep us company, provide so much unconditional love, share in the ups and downs of our lives, and definitely make every day an adventure. Sometimes they come into our lives in such a special way, as if it were destiny, and that dog was meant to be. And that’s what we’re going to see in today’s two stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Today I’m going to share with you one of my most popular pieces on Medium. If you don’t know what Medium is, it’s a place where writers can get their short pieces published, either by themselves, or in someone else’s publication. I started getting published on Medium in April, mostly in two publications which feature interesting stories and great writing. This story appeared in a publication called Crow’s Feet, and it’s called “How I Knew My Mother Was Having a Stroke.” It’s a useful reminder of how to react if you think you might be witnessing someone having a stroke. Because, as the subtitle of my story says, Every minute counts when the brain is erasing itself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Have you ever surprised yourself by doing something because you’re on a mission and then later you just can’t believe that you pulled that off? Sometimes, we just fly right through our comfort zones because we’re so focused on what we’re trying to accomplish. It’s cool when that happens because I feel like it permanently changes you—you never go back all the way to how you were before. You now know that you can things that you didn’t think were possible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Do you ever feel like you’re missing out because you’re starting to resist doing new things? I know I have to fight against that impulse all the time, that impulse to avoid new things even for simple reasons like I don’t know where to park at whatever place I’m thinking of going. It’s really easy to fall into a rut and accidentally let your world become smaller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and it’s that time of year when we think about resolutions. Many of them involve giving up something, or doing something we don’t really want to do—eating less, exercising more, being more organized, decluttering. But how about a resolution to treat yourself better, to add a little joy into your daily life? There’s nothing wrong with adding some simple luxuries to your life. These are easy, inexpensive ways to treat yourself better and to make your life more fun, and exciting, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today I’m going to talk about resolutions. It’s January, time to think about the ways in which we want to improve our habits, our behavior, and how we interact with the world. Everyone knows the old classics—stop smoking, eat less, exercise more, be neater... and we’re going to talk about some of those resolutions this month. But there are lots of other possible resolutions that are life-changing, or at least life-improving. So, I’ve been proposing some of those to you as well during the past month. And today we’re going to talk about what you can do if you don’t actually know what you want to do with your life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and this month we’re talking about resolutions. If you’ve already abandoned the one you made at the beginning of the year, and you’re looking for a better, more achievable one, I’ve got an idea for you today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Do you ever think that maybe you should focus a little more on stepping outside your comfort zone and broadening your world? I think we all have the tendency to stop doing new things… because it’s easier. But then we’re surprised when we try doing something new, or going to a new place, or meeting a new person, and we really enjoy it. Saying “yes” is something that we can ALL do, and it only takes a second to just plain decide that you will make that your new policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Today I’m going to share with you my most popular piece on Medium. If you don’t know what Medium is, it’s a place where writers can get their short pieces published, either by themselves, or in someone else’s publication. I started getting published on Medium in April, mostly on two publications which feature interesting stories and great writing. My most popular story so far appeared on a publication called Crow’s Feet, and it’s called “What You Shouldn't Say to a Cancer Patient.” I wrote it one night after having a couple of glasses of wine and it’s basically a rant about all the things that well meaning people said to me when I was diagnosed with cancer. So, if you’ve ever had cancer, I think you’ll enjoy this. And if you never know what to say when someone shares their bad news with you, perhaps this will help. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Do you ever feel like you’re missing out because you’re starting to resist doing new things? I know I have to resist that all the time, even for simple reasons like I don’t know where to park at whatever place I’m thinking of going. It’s really easy to fall into a rut and accidentally let your world become smaller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and this month we’re talking about resolutions. Resolutions can be very discouraging, because they are hard to stick to, and we all want to be the best version of ourselves. We also want to make everything perfect—our homes, our entertaining, ourselves. So today I want to share two stories with you about why it doesn’t have to be perfect, stories that we published in our bestselling book of the last sixteen years, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and this month we’re talking about resolutions, and of course among the traditional ones are dieting and exercising. Now that it’s the middle of January you might have already become discouraged. So I thought I would share some tips from a few of our writers who found incremental, reasonable changes they could make that would actually stick—and help them eat less and exercise more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today I’m going to talk about resolutions. It’s January, time to think about the ways in which we want to improve our habits, our behavior, and how we interact with the world. Everyone knows the old classics—stop smoking, eat less, exercise more, be neater... and we’re going to talk about some of those resolutions this month. But there are lots of other possible resolutions that are life-changing, or at least life-improving. So, I’m going to propose some of those to you as well this month. And today we’re going to talk about the power of saying yes to new things. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. So let me ask you this: Are you stuck in a rut? Do you never try anything new? How does it make you feel? I know I talk about it all the time, but our writers send us thousands of stories every year about how energized and empowered they feel when they start saying Yes instead of No to new things. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today we’re going to talk about getting older and having a great attitude about it. In our first story, Geneva Coleman tells us that she was 55 years old when she decided to reinvent herself. The first thing that went was her hair dye. She went silver—on purpose. And she discovered how much healthier her hair was when she stopped dyeing it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Are you competing to be the favorite grandparent? Grandparenting is so different these days—the unconditional love and mutual admiration between grandchildren and grandparents are still the same, but what’s different for many families is they are so spread out. Sometimes they live in different countries, or hundreds of miles apart, or the grandchildren need to see multiple sets of grandparents because of divorces. So grandparents have to get creative—and travel a lot, and use Skype or Facetime, or pair up with other grandparents to share events. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and this month we’re talking about resolutions, and not always the traditional ones like dieting and exercising. There are lots of other possible resolutions that are life-changing, or at least life-improving. So, I’m going to propose some of those to you as well this month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today I’m going to talk about resolutions. It’s January, time to think about the ways in which we want to improve our habits, our behavior, and how we interact with the world. Everyone knows the old classics—stop smoking, eat less, exercise more, be neater... and we’re going to talk about some of those resolutions this month. But there are lots of other possible resolutions that are life-changing, or at least life-improving. So, I’m going to propose some of those to you as well this month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today I’m going to talk about resolutions. It’s January, time to think about the ways in which we want to improve our habits, our behavior, and how we interact with the world. Everyone knows the old classics—stop smoking, eat less, exercise more, be neater... and we’re going to talk about some of those resolutions this month. But there are lots of other possible resolutions that are life-changing, or at least life-improving. So, I’m going to propose some of those to you as well this month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today we’re going to talk about getting older, and having a great attitude about it. In our first story, we hear about what Miriam Van Scott calls The Bon Jovi Challenge. Why? Because not long after she turned forty her husband surprised her with tickets to a Bon Jovi concert. Miriam was excited to head off to New York to hear her old favorites as she had always loved Bon Jovi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today I’m talking about married couples—long-time married couples. You know, the ones who stop actually seeing each other, or who have fallen into some bad habits when it comes to how they treat each other. They’re just TOO comfortable. In their very long marriages and they’re not really trying anymore. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices