"Marriage provides amazing opportunities for personal growth and incredible experiences of intimacy, but partners do not arrive at that coveted relationship groove by chance."
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The Marriage Whisperer:
Tips to Improve Your Relationship Overnight by Patt Hollinger Pickett, Ph.D. MSI Press
book review by Sherokee Ilse
Whether couples are having marital troubles or are seeking to enhance their relationship, the practical, commonsense suggestions within this book will most assuredly help. Over 70 couple scenarios present very real life marital difficulties. They are easy to relate to and are offered in a non-judgmental fashion. The author clearly understands the various dynamics that impact how couples navigate their life issues. She also has an amazing handle on why difficulties may be occurring and what can be done to improve them. With a wise, sensible, and professional touch, she invites the reader to consider respectful options and accommodations. The inclusion of tables, lists, and short paragraphs, which offer specific ideas on what needs to be done and how one can proceed, makes this a user-friendly support to couples.
The six chapters addressed are: Beginning Your Journey, Habits and Chores, Speaking and Hearing, Arguments and Disagreements, Analytical and Emotional Functioning, and Sex and Intimacy. One overarching theme sets the stage for the book, "Marital intimacy thrives forever when anchored on five qualities: honesty, respect, fairness, flexibility, and emotional expressiveness."
A few thoughtful recommendations include, "Distribution of power in a relationship is critical," "Marriages don't advance to the next level of intimacy without conflict resolutions skills," and "Loving communication is essential." From how to disagree respectfully to dealing with differences in upbringing, the list of common concerns in many marriages finds itself on the pages.
This is the type of book to be read from front to back in a slow fashion giving time for deep consideration and practice. Yet, readers can also choose a chapter or a scenario that represents a current marital concern and dig in. When a "positive attitude" and "willingness to change" are combined with the advice Dr. Pickett offers, relationship enhancement seems inevitable.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review