The Secrets of a Soulful Marriage: Creating and Sustaining a Loving, Sacred Relationship (Paperback)

"Your partner can and should meet all of your emotional needs." "All disagreements can and should be resolved." “Great relationships require little maintenance.”

Old models of marriage such as these are crumbling. Divorce rates remain high. Many people are skeptical and mistrustful about having real love in their lives. It's clear people need new models to help them connect with each other in meaningful, lasting ways. It's time to break free from old patterns of commitment and to forge new pathways for healthy, thriving, deeply loving relationships.

This hope-filled resource for developing soulful, mature love is aimed at committed couples who are looking to build, maintain and glorify the sacred in their relationship. It creates a context for couples to honor the gradual movement from physical “flight-fight-freeze” body-based survival to more heart-filled, communication-oriented love, to spiritual awakening and soul-purpose fulfillment. It encourages couples―as individuals and as partners―to let go of dysfunctional, hurtful, restrictive behavior in favor of liberating self-concepts and belief systems. It provides solutions for communicating and problem-solving more effectively, allowing each partner in the relationship to experience more emotional intimacy, joy and sexual pleasure. The book provides relationship information, practical tools and inspirational, real-life stories. It also offers a banquet of spiritual practices for couples of all faiths―or none―to bring these new models into focused action.

Jim Sharon, EdD, and Ruth Sharon, MS, have been married for over forty years. Jim has worked as a licensed psychologist; Ruth has been a professional counselor―both serving in private practice since 1977 and leading seminars and retreats for over four decades. They specialize in couples therapy, coaching for soulful couples, personal development and conflict resolution. Jim is the editor of Ordinary Men, Extraordinary Lives: Defining Moments and the author of the Holistic Health Inventory. Ruth is the author of Be Your Best Self: Yoga for Families and Conflict: A Way to Peace.