Love Between Equals

Learn how to successfully negotiate conflicts and deepen our most intimate relationships in this practical and thoughtful guide by an experienced Buddhist teacher, psychotherapist, and couples counselor. A committed relationship, as most people see it today, is a partnership of equals who share values and goals, a team united by love and dedicated to each other’s growth on every level. This contemporary model for coupledom requires real intention and work, and, more often than not, the traditional archetypes of relationships experienced by our parents and grandparents fail us or seem irrelevant. Utilizing the wisdom of her years of personal and professional practice, Young-Eisendrath dismantles our idealized projections about love, while revealing how mindfulness and communication can help us identify and honor the differences with our partners and strengthen our bonds. These practical and time-tested guidelines are rooted in sound understanding of modern psychology and offer concrete ideas and the necessary tools to reinforce and reinvigorate our deepest relationships.

"...any couple contemplating marriage or reevaluating an existing one will find powerful information and encouragement here for a true marriage of minds." -- Kirkus Reviews "Pepper Schwartz is remarkable. She explains to us the possibilities for relationships that remain for so many a fantasy. This book is a necessity for anyone who wants to understand how partnerships work but more importantly wants to really love." -- Wendy Wasserstein, Playwright: author of Isn't It Romantic?, The Heidi Chronicles, and The Sisters Rosensweig

This book is a philosophical study of love between equals, intended for the general reader. The Introduction explains the importance of analytic philosophy. Subsequent chapters deal with (1) love as desire or need, (2) love as intrinsic friendship, (3) the politics of love, (4) altruism and paranoia, (5) justice and communication, (6) sex, and (7) the value in loving an equal, together with some remarks on the human condition in general and the importance of reason in dealing with it. A brief list of further reading is appended.

Learn how to successfully negotiate conflicts and deepen our most intimate relationships in this practical and thoughtful guide by an experienced Buddhist teacher, psychotherapist, and couples counselor. A committed relationship, as most people see it today, is a partnership of equals who share values and goals, a team united by love and dedicated to each other’s growth on every level. This contemporary model for coupledom requires real intention and work, and, more often than not, the traditional archetypes of relationships experienced by our parents and grandparents fail us or seem irrelevant. Utilizing the wisdom of her years of personal and professional practice, Young-Eisendrath dismantles our idealized projections about love, while revealing how mindfulness and communication can help us identify and honor the differences with our partners and strengthen our bonds. These practical and time-tested guidelines are rooted in sound understanding of modern psychology and offer concrete ideas and the necessary tools to reinforce and reinvigorate our deepest relationships.

Polly Young-Eisendrath´s Women and Desire: Beyond Wanting to Be Wanted was first published by Harmony Books in 1999. Since then, it has become a classic read for those readers– to use a cinematographic expression – who want to use analytical psychology to shed light on what women want. This book, when first published, was described (and still is) as “provocative and vital.” More than 20 years after its publication, this book still shows effectively “how to break out of this double bind so that” women “can encounter the challenges of choice and responsibility for our own desires.” The author “wisely uses mythological and personal stories to help us take control of our sexual, relational, material, and spiritual lives.” Therefore, “If you feel confused, resentful, or trapped in a life that does not seem to be fully yours, then you can find a clear path to your true self, once and for all, with the help of Women and Desire.” This book is the second of the series titled Jungianeum: Re-Covered Classics in Analytical Psychology curated by Stefano Carpani.

Love is to the spiritual Universe as gravity is to the physical world. An understanding of love as the only true power, the fundamental and basic structure of all life and being, leads to a new view of life and truth that leads to wholeness, happiness and healing. Love Equals Power provides an entertaining and compelling discussion of the big questions of life, offering answers that are both radical and inspiring. Drawing on her own lifelong experience with spiritual healing as well as her wide-ranging research of different spiritual practices and theories, Eileen McBride argues that all true knowledge lies within us and is accessed through love. Love Equals Power provides not only the ideas but also the practical strategies to harness all the power needed to find spiritual solutions to human problems, to heal our bodies and lives, and to create the life we truly desire.

Why is love so difficult? Is there such a thing as a soulmate? Why can't I find someone to love me just the way I am? Why does the person I gave my heart to in the early days now feel so distant or even dangerous? When love goes bad, is there a way to turn things around? If we lost each other along the way, can we find each other again? In the wake of betrayal, can trust ever be rebuilt? In this helpful and enlightening book, expert couples therapist, Dr. Chelsea Wakefield, explains why couples who begin with such hopeful expectations become disenchanted, withdraw into self-protection or become entangled in unresolvable conflicts. She provides step by step guidance out of these shadowlands, and teaches six essential "love capacities” any couple can develop that will open the path to a soulful, enduring relationship.

Couples—discover how to navigate conflict and foster a more loving, trusting, satisfying relationship with this guide by two seasoned experts. What holds a couple together? Why are we afraid of intimacy? How can we keep our hearts open to one another in the midst of hurt and resentment? In this provocative book, Don and Martha Rosenthal, acclaimed workshop leaders and founders of The Heartwork Center, help couples move through conflict and difficulty toward the love and trust essential to satisfying relationships. Based on nearly two decades of highly successful couples workshops, as well as the Rosenthals’ own 35 years as committed partners, this book is a rare combination of timeless wisdom and practical guidance. Written in clear, accessible language, it offers workable strategies for listening to your partner with an open heart; asking for change; giving and receiving; dealing with anger; and releasing one’s own feelings of guilt, fear, and defensiveness. Yet it does all this with a spiritual depth that is both rare and compelling. By embracing as material the full range of our feelings, the messiness of our imperfections, it speaks compassionately to the human condition we all share. Learning to Love is a spiritual guide to relationship that truly works. Its unique strength lies in showing partners how to use their inevitable conflicts as the means to a deeper intimacy. And its fruits, to those willing to cultivate them, are the tools and resources that can make the sharing of unconditional love a daily reality. Praise for Learning to Love “[A] deeply insightful and inspiring guide to love. Highly recommended.” —Marianne Williamson