Wish I Knew Before Loving You; The Relationship Manual
This book covers all phases of a relationship. As mentioned in the title, it is a manual on how to initiate, maintain and in some cases, how to terminate a relationship that is not right for you.
This instructional guide is broken down into five chapters. Chapter one "Anatomy of a Relationship" defines a healthy relationship by its ability to provide the encouragement to grow as a person, and how it allows you the space to feel happy and whole. This chapter also explores the six critical elements of a healthy relationship. It gives the reader a brief course in analytical theory, or how the mind works. The main divisions of the mind are conscious and subconscious, they both influence our decisions when choosing a mate.
Chapter two "Who Do You Love" teaches us how to evaluate and investigate a potential mate, looking into their past life and help us make predictions of what type of person they will become in the future. It also gives helpful hints on how to build a template of key characteristics to look for to increase the chances of experiencing a happy, healthy relationship.
Chapter Three, "There will be Problems," is the longest chapter. It explores the differences in Men's brains and Women's brains and how these differences are translated into typical male and female thinking patterns. This chapter offers insights on how to use these differences as assets, rather than points of conflict. There is gender-specific advice on how to co-exist with members of the opposite sex.
Chapter four, "A Failure to Communicate" is my personal favorite. Failure to communicate is essentially a failure at problem-solving. This chapter connects effective communication skills to effective conflict resolution. It is in this chapter that the reader learns mature communication techniques. This is the adult program where you learn how to recognize and properly label negative feelings and how to verbalize them in a calm non-threatening way without blaming your mate. The reader is instructed on how to offer his/her mate positive feedback on how their actions affect him/her and better ways of responding to you without triggering hostility and resentment.
Chapter five is the last chapter, it is called "The Terminator." This chapter informs the reader on when it's time to "pull the trigger" on a relationship. It explores the various techniques and methods on how to accomplish the task of termination. It also offers the reader clear advice on how to terminate the relationship in dangerous situations. Lastly, this chapter discusses how to heal, mentally, physically and spiritually once the relationship is over.
