Chicken Soup for the Soul with Amy Newmark

Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with today’s Chicken Soup for the Soul for you, and today I’m sharing two stories about how volunteering can change everything for you. The biggest beneficiary of volunteer work is usually the person doing the work, not the one receiving the help. And I know that I’ve read in the past that doing volunteer work is often suggested by mental health professionals for their patients who are depressed or grieving or going through some other kind of difficulty.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with today’s Chicken Soup for the Soul inspiration from a book that’s perfect for the new year: Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Forgiveness Fix. We made this new book because I’ve read tens of thousands of personal, revealing stories from our writers during the twelve years I’ve been doing this job, and I’ve come to understand that forgiveness is an essential key to happiness. Why is forgiveness so important? It’s because of the emotional weight we carry when we don’t forgive. This may be the New Year’s resolution that you’re looking for; it works instantly and it’s easy. You just have to decide to put the past in the past, where it belongs, and move forward without that anger and resentment that you’ve been taking everywhere with you. You also may want to use the new year as an impetus to apologize; if you’ve been thinking about it, maybe this is the time to just do it.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul and today we’re going to talk about how dogs can unite a family. That shared love for a dog can bond a family that needs a little help in that area, or just continue to keep the bonds strong.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul and today’s inspiration and advice come from Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tough Times Won't Last But Tough People Will. I’ve been talking about these stories for the last couple of months now, and this will be the last podcast episode that shares with you these stories of resilience, positive thinking, and overcoming obstacles. Today I want to talk about five role models for weathering tough times—all drawn from stories in the book.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul and today’s inspiration and advice come from Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tough Times Won't Last But Tough People Will. One of the topics we cover in the book is redemption—and how it’s possible to come back from a big mistake or self-destructive behavior and become a new better version of yourself. In a dramatic example of that, let me share John Apel’s story with you.

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Hey everyone, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today we have a special guest for Friend Friday, Lisa Marshall, who has become a real expert on Alzheimer’s and dementia and especially early onset Alzheimer’s. 

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul and today’s inspiration and advice comes from Chicken Soup for the Soul: Navigating Eldercare & Dementia. This new collection of stories contains the emotional support and practical tips that you need as you navigate the world of eldercare, especially when Alzheimer’s or other dementias are part of it. You’ll feel less alone and more empowered in your new role after you read these stories. And today I want to talk about something that every family caregiver needs to work on, and that is self-care.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Time for a little history… When Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul was published in 1997 it quickly became the go-to source of comfort and advice for a whole generation of teenagers, selling more than ten million copies around the world. That book has continued to support teenagers as they go through their adolescence and remains one of our most popular titles. Now we’ve revised and updated it with three dozen new stories added to the existing, classic stories from the first edition, including ones about being a teenager during the pandemic, social media and technology, and many other modern-day issues. Stories that were out of date were removed, so that teenagers will not feel like they’re reading their parents’ Chicken Soup for the Soul instead of their own. 

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. And today we’re talking about Chicken Soup for the Soul: I’m Speaking Now; Black Women Share Their Truth in 101 Stories of Love, Courage and Hope. And it’s not just stories—we have a dozen powerful poems in this collection as well. Today we’re going to hear Stephanie Gates read her poem from the book. It’s called “I Am Not Safe” and this is something we need to talk about.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. And today is going to be fun because I’m going to share a couple of stories from our new humor collection–Chicken Soup for the Soul: Read, Laugh, Repeat—and to make it even more fun, these are holiday stories and I’m always up Christmas stories in the middle of the summer. So let’s start with a story by Janell Michael, who decided to create one of those meaningful, homemade gifts when her children were 19 and 17 and she was feeling overwhelmed by how soon they would truly be on their own. She wanted to do something for Christmas that would show them how much she loved them.

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