Description
Book SynopsisLets you discover the simple, effective strategies that have helped thousands of couples - happily married, having issues, or planning to marry - to develop and protect their love, easily and at your own pace. This book covers one of the key ingredients of the program, like Being Best Friends, and Having Fun Together.
Trade ReviewTwelve hours to a better marriage, questionable; 12 hours to read the book, feasible. Three of the team of authors who wrote Fighting for Your Marriage expand on that title's speaker-listener techniques with advice on commitment, forgiveness, and expectations. The program represents a no-fuss beginning point for couples starting to realize that marriage is hard work. The writing is direct and effective, and the entire exercise is palatably presented like a baseball game (first base is talking, second is having fun, and so on). The usual, undocumented "reference shows" vagaries abound, unfortunately, and advice, though sound, can be both unoriginal ("how you and your partner treat each other is key") and generic ("work to identify and decrease negative behaviors and increase positive ones"). Still, the techniques are workable and deceptively simple (e.g., "soften your tone"), even if they depend heavily on reader determination. Less a rescue manual for troubled marriages than a Cliff's Notes for a successful one, this is an optional purchase for public libraries, which might also consider Laurel Mellin's The Pathway: Follow the Road to Health and Happiness. (
Library Journal, November 15, 2003)
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
Introduction: Stepping Up to the Plate 1
Part I Getting to First
Hour 1: Taking a Positive Attitude 19
Hour 2: Simple Techniques for Talking Safely and Clearly 43
Hour 3: Handling Your Issues 63
Hour 4: Solving Your Problems 83
Hour 5: Great Ground Rules for a Great Relationship 107
Part II Reaching Second
Hour 6: Having Fun 125
Hour 7: Enhancing Your Love Life 143
Hour 8: Sharing Values and Core Beliefs 163
Part III Rounding Third
Hour 9: Meeting Expectations 185
Hour 10: Forgiving 205
Part IV Safe at Home
Hour 11: Being Friends 227
Hour 12: Making the Commitment 243
Epilogue: Keeping the Program in Play 263
Getting More Help When There Are Serious Problems 265
Resources and Training 269
Selected Research and References 271
About the Authors 277
