Lasting Love: The 5 Secrets of Growing a Vital, Conscious Relationship

by Gay Hendricks, Kathlyn Hendricks

In this long-awaited follow-up to their seminal Conscious Loving , Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks take on two of the most pressing problems that sap vitality and energy from our committed how to forge a closer relationship that still allows each partner full creative autonomy, and how to generate the passion and preserve the harmony essential to keeping long-term partnerships alive and blooming.

Lasting Love grew out of the Hendricks' laboratory of their 23-year marriage as well as their 10-year study of more than 2,000 long-term, committed couples. They discovered that the most common couples conflicts could be traced to at least one of five root

* An imbalance between the creative energy each partner contributes to the relationship
* A lack of emotional honesty
* An unwillingness to accept responsibility for everyday issues
* Deep-seated commitment problems
* A deficiency of daily appreciations

Using these insights as a starting point, the Hendricks devised a program based on five vital actions that simultaneously lead to a deeper flow of intimacy between partners and greater creative freedom for each

* Spend time expressing your own creativity rather than focusing on "fixing" your partner
* Eliminate the barrier to speaking and hearing the truth about everything
* Break the cycle of blame and criticism
* Make commitments you can really stand by
* Become a master of verbal and nonverbal appreciation

Filled with helpful real-life scenarios and straightforward advice, Lasting Love is an essential guide for anyone involved in a long-term relationship who wants it not only to last but to flourish.

Genres: Relationships, Nonfiction, Self Help

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 17, 2004

About the author

Dr. Gay Hendricks has served for more than 30 years as one of the major contributors to the fields of relationship transformation and body-mind therapies. Along with his wife, Dr. Kathlyn Hendricks, Gay is the author of many bestsellers, including Conscious Loving, At the Speed of Life, and Five Wishes.

Gay received his PhD in counseling psychology from Stanford University in 1974. After a 21-year career as a professor at the University of Colorado, he founded The Hendricks Institute, which offers seminars in North America, Asia, and Europe. He is also the founder of a new virtual learning center for transformation, Gaia Illumination University.

Throughout his career, Gay has done executive coaching with more than 800 executives, including the top management at such firms as Dell Computer, Hewlett Packard, Motorola, and KLM. His book, The Corporate Mystic, is used widely to train management in combining business skills and personal development tools.

In recent years he has also been active in creating new forms of conscious entertainment. In 2003, along with movie producer Stephen Simon, Gay founded the Spiritual Cinema Circle, which distributes inspirational movies to subscribers in more than 70 countries around the world. He was the executive producer of the feature film Conversations with God, and he has appeared on more than 500 radio and television shows, including Oprah, CNN, CNBC, 48 Hours, and others

Reviews

[Joana Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is filled with wisdom and helpful exercises to see and understand the unconscious patterns that ruin our relationships. It's also a good way to establish a greater level of connection and understanding towards your person, since it demands to be read with a partner. It reenforces that the pathway to grow a healthy and loving relationship resides upon compassion, appreciation (instead of criticism), commitment (instead of 'compromise') and truth.
I was surprised to see the low ratings on this book because I find it very enlightening!

[Gigi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every person on this planet who is in any kind of relationship should not only read this, but truely apply the secrets (which are logical and solid ideas)! What a wonderful world this would be!

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has some good insights but it was often too vague to be helpful. The exercises were not structured enough with clear enough directions.