What Makes Love Last: How to Build Trust and Avoid Betrayal by John Gottman, PhD
John Gottman is the inventor of the “Love Lab,” a facility at the University of Washington in Seattle, where Gottman conducted research with volunteer couples by subjecting their long-term romances to scientific scrutiny. The Love Lab is a studio apartment, and couples agreed to be observed in their relationships there. By studying people in real life situations for decades, Gottman arrived at seven key principles that can improve couples’ odds of keeping their relationships alive. These principles have proved fruitful for Gottman in his work with couples, but he began to see there was more he was missing.
What Makes Love Last is Gottman’s insight into the fact that what injures couples more than any other factor is betrayal. Do you trust your partner? Gottman does not mean just the betrayal of adultery, but other types of betrayal as well; choosing anything– work, friends, children– over one’s significant other. Gottman shares his newest fundamental principle for making relationships work in the face of betrayal of all sorts in this easy to read book that places healing and repair first.
The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey through Anguish to Freedom by Henri Noun
Henri Nouwen was a Dutch Catholic priest, professor, writer and theologian. Nouwen famously suffered from loneliness and a need for interpersonal connection, which he wrote about openly. Nouwen is noted for his ability to write with profundity, but also with simplicity, making his style both unique and compelling.
The Inner Voice of Love is Henri Nouwen’s personal journal. It was written during the most difficult period of his life, when he lost his self-esteem, his energy to live and work, his sense of being loved, and his hope in God. Although he experienced great anguish and despair, he was still able to keep this journal in which he wrote a spiritual message to himself each day that developed out of his conversations with his friends and supporters.
For those of us who have suffered through the pain of broken relationships, or who suffer from the loss of a loved one, this book about the inner voice of love offers courage, hope, and new life.
Written By: Nan Long, MS, CSAT