Linda Carroll - Love Cycles : Mastering the Five Essential Stages of Love read online MOBI, DJV, DOC
9781608683000 English 1608683001 In Love Cycles, veteran couples therapist Linda Carroll presents a groundbreaking model of the five natural stages of romantic relationships -- the Merge, Doubt and Denial, Disillusionment, Decision, and Wholehearted Love -- and a guide for navigating through them toward lasting love. Love Cycles helps readers understand where they are in the cycle of their relationship and provides a clear strategy for how to stay happy and committed, even in difficult times., In the movies, romantic couples manage to stay crazy-in-love for the entire length of their relationship, despite substantial trials and tribulations. Rarely do these stories describe the true, shape-shifting nature of intimate relationships and the inevitable mutation of rapture into reality as we encounter the ordinary disappointments and transgressions of shared daily life. But there's redemption here. For a genuine relationship can only begin after the love potion dissolves and we plunge into the messy business of loving an imperfect person--and of being hugely imperfect lovers ourselves. Love Cycles is the first book to squarely face this reality and to celebrate it as a singular opportunity. The book demonstrates that our own inner development is both the prerequisite and the hidden reward of intimate relationship. Despite its reputation as a two-person connection, a love partnership is essentially an inside job. In Love Cycles , seasoned couple's therapist Linda Carroll offers a new model for enduring love--five essential cycles that each couple must enter and courageously move through in order to arrive at genuine intimacy. Serving as a kind of "North Star" for couple relationships, the book helps us navigate our way toward rewarding and sustainable connection. Using examples from the author's thirty years of couple's therapy experience, Carroll offers fresh insights on love's five journeys interwoven with stories of numerous people who are on this path, including one appealing but stumble-prone couple, Megan and Charlie, whom we follow through each of the cycles. Love Cycles also shows us that the goal of our lives is not to find someone to complete us--simply because that never works. Completion of ourselves is the path to the good life. As it drives home this message, the book challenges a primary tenet of many current relationship books, which is the notion that only partners that end in happy coupleship are successful. Regardless of the outcome of a relationship, we can all win the prize of deeper self-connection. Carroll also shows that over the course of a long relationship, a couple may enter and re-enter various of the five stages. Love Cycles emphasizes the necessary task of grappling with our own frailties as they emerge in relationship and to learn to accept and sometimes change those not-so-stellar sides of ourselves, which then--and only then--will free us to truly love our partner. Carroll drives home the message that we can't change another person and it's not our job to do so. The book pulls no punches: some hard work lies ahead. Courage is a prerequisite here, and so is a healthy dose of humility. But the rewards are enormous: the chance to develop a stronger, more resilient self and a truly joyful and authentic intimate relationship., The notions that passion always peters out, that there's a "seven-year itch," and that honeymoons are over once reality sets in are clichés with truth to them. But that doesn't mean that long-term love is impossible. As veteran couples therapist Linda Carroll shows, love "cycles," including Doubt and Denial, are part of genuine intimacy, rather than signs of its demise. In fact, asserts Carroll, it is by courageously moving through what comes after the rapturous initial Merge cycle that we get to authentic intimate relationship. As crucial as our willingness to navigate stormy waters of Disillusionment and Decision is embracing the inner personal development that is both a reward of and prerequisite for Wholehearted Loving. The goal, that Carroll demonstrates how to attain, is to become our best self and share that self -- joyfully and honestly -- with another.
9781608683000 English 1608683001 In Love Cycles, veteran couples therapist Linda Carroll presents a groundbreaking model of the five natural stages of romantic relationships -- the Merge, Doubt and Denial, Disillusionment, Decision, and Wholehearted Love -- and a guide for navigating through them toward lasting love. Love Cycles helps readers understand where they are in the cycle of their relationship and provides a clear strategy for how to stay happy and committed, even in difficult times., In the movies, romantic couples manage to stay crazy-in-love for the entire length of their relationship, despite substantial trials and tribulations. Rarely do these stories describe the true, shape-shifting nature of intimate relationships and the inevitable mutation of rapture into reality as we encounter the ordinary disappointments and transgressions of shared daily life. But there's redemption here. For a genuine relationship can only begin after the love potion dissolves and we plunge into the messy business of loving an imperfect person--and of being hugely imperfect lovers ourselves. Love Cycles is the first book to squarely face this reality and to celebrate it as a singular opportunity. The book demonstrates that our own inner development is both the prerequisite and the hidden reward of intimate relationship. Despite its reputation as a two-person connection, a love partnership is essentially an inside job. In Love Cycles , seasoned couple's therapist Linda Carroll offers a new model for enduring love--five essential cycles that each couple must enter and courageously move through in order to arrive at genuine intimacy. Serving as a kind of "North Star" for couple relationships, the book helps us navigate our way toward rewarding and sustainable connection. Using examples from the author's thirty years of couple's therapy experience, Carroll offers fresh insights on love's five journeys interwoven with stories of numerous people who are on this path, including one appealing but stumble-prone couple, Megan and Charlie, whom we follow through each of the cycles. Love Cycles also shows us that the goal of our lives is not to find someone to complete us--simply because that never works. Completion of ourselves is the path to the good life. As it drives home this message, the book challenges a primary tenet of many current relationship books, which is the notion that only partners that end in happy coupleship are successful. Regardless of the outcome of a relationship, we can all win the prize of deeper self-connection. Carroll also shows that over the course of a long relationship, a couple may enter and re-enter various of the five stages. Love Cycles emphasizes the necessary task of grappling with our own frailties as they emerge in relationship and to learn to accept and sometimes change those not-so-stellar sides of ourselves, which then--and only then--will free us to truly love our partner. Carroll drives home the message that we can't change another person and it's not our job to do so. The book pulls no punches: some hard work lies ahead. Courage is a prerequisite here, and so is a healthy dose of humility. But the rewards are enormous: the chance to develop a stronger, more resilient self and a truly joyful and authentic intimate relationship., The notions that passion always peters out, that there's a "seven-year itch," and that honeymoons are over once reality sets in are clichés with truth to them. But that doesn't mean that long-term love is impossible. As veteran couples therapist Linda Carroll shows, love "cycles," including Doubt and Denial, are part of genuine intimacy, rather than signs of its demise. In fact, asserts Carroll, it is by courageously moving through what comes after the rapturous initial Merge cycle that we get to authentic intimate relationship. As crucial as our willingness to navigate stormy waters of Disillusionment and Decision is embracing the inner personal development that is both a reward of and prerequisite for Wholehearted Loving. The goal, that Carroll demonstrates how to attain, is to become our best self and share that self -- joyfully and honestly -- with another.