My Mother's Rules: A Practical Guide to Becoming an Emotional Genius by Lynn Toler

From the Publisher

Lynn Toler was, if anything, an achiever. At thirty-three, after Harvard, Penn Law School, and a decade as a successful lawyer, she was elected to a municipal judgeship-a black woman in a mostly white community, and a Republican in a district where Democrats held a 5:1 majority. Once on the bench, responsible for adjudicating the countless minor squabbles and foibles among her town's residents, she realized that it was one person's teachings in particular that helped her when dealing with those offenders: her mother, a woman who possessed remarkable grace, strength, and simple insight.

Her mother's "rules" for a life that saw her grow up the daughter of a poor teen mother who endured a husband who suffered mental illness and alcoholism, while raising Lynn and her equally successful and well-adjusted sister, provide the grounding for Lynn's story of her life, her family, and her career. The worldview that shaped them is based on learning how to conquer anger and become immune to insult. Lynn shows how the mindset of "a black woman who knew how to make things work" taught her about the power of knowing how to manage one's emotional business-lessons that this book offers in wrenching stories written in gracefully spare and powerful prose. My Mother's Rules is an unforgettable memoir that will captivate readers with its illustrations of how to rise above the most difficult circumstances and find peace and success in life.

Lynn Toler received her BA from Harvard University and her JD from the University of Pennsylvania before spending ten years as a practicing attorney, and then seven years as administrative judge of Cleveland Heights Municipal Court. In 2001, shehosted the TV show Power of Attorney, and her new show, Judge Lynn Toler,is scheduled to debut in January of 2007.

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